Setting Up A Raw Printer in Ubuntu Linux

Compatibility

• ✅ 2.0 | ✅ 1.9 | ...

This tutorial is for raw printers only. If unsure please see What is Raw Printing?

Background

These steps will allow a USB, Network, Serial or Parallel attached printer to receive raw commands through a WebSocket capable web browser on Ubuntu Linux. If your web browser does not support websockets, see legacy applet instructions below.

Steps

1. Open System Settings > Printers

   

2. Click +Add

3. Set up the printer/port settings:

   For USB Printer:

   Devices: Enter URI

   Enter Device URI: usb://Zebra/LP2844 (example)

   Get this port by issuing the command lpinfo -v |grep usb:

   Note: You don't need the "? location=1a200000" information.

   For Network Printer:

   Devices: AppSocket/HP JetDirect

   Host: 192.168.254.254 (example)

   Port: 9100

   The Host IP address may be configured to use a different address, which is outside of the scope of this tutorial. If AppSocket is not listed, close and relaunch the Wizard and it should appear.

   For Serial Printer

   Devices: Enter URI

   Enter Device URI: serial:/dev/ttyS0 (or serial:/dev/ttyUSB0, etc)

   For USB serial, issue the command dmesg |grep tty

   Insufficient permissions fix: This command grants the logged in user write permission to all serial ports:

   sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER;

   Note: 12.04 users may also need to remove [ModeManager] (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/662881) due to a specific bug, ttylUSB devices don't seem writable by CUPS, so try printToFile('/dev/ttyUSB0'); instead.

4. Click Forward

5. Driver: Select printer from Database > Generic > Forward

6. Models: Raw Queue

   Drivers: Generic Raw Queue > Forward

   

   Note: Some print drivers, such as Zebra ZDesigner or CUPS Zebra driver have dual-mode drivers capable of accepting Raw commands as well as PostScript commands. If Raw printing works with the vendor supplied driver, chose that over the Generic/Raw driver.

7. Printer Name: (ie: zebra)

   Description: Raw Zebra Printer

   Location: Ubuntu PC

You may now print to your printer.

Note: If you receive a message "Printer 'zebra' not found", completely close and restart your web browser so that Java can see the newly added printer.

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To learn how to print from a webpage continue to:

• 2.0 Getting Started
• 1.9 Getting Started

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Legacy Applet Only

Applies to applet version only

The below instructions are only relevant to QZ Print, and do not pertain to QZ Tray 1.9 or QZ Tray 2.0

The sample.html provided with qz print is intended to run from the local file system, however newer Firefox versions may not run the applet unless it is hosted from a web server.
If you experience issues getting the applet to load, running a small LAMP server is recommended. This will run a portable web server on your Ubuntu Desktop. Installing and configuring LAMP is outside the scope of this tutorial.

1. Visit http://www.javatester.org/version.html to confirm Java is installed and running properly.

• If Java is not installed, install OpenJDK Java 7 Runtime using the Ubuntu Software Center (or [click here] (http://apt.ubuntu.com/p/openjdk-7-jre)).

  Note: Oracle Java can be used if necessary, but this process is outside the scope of this tutorial. More information on versions can be found here.

• To enable Java in the Firefox web browser, install Icedtea Java 7 Plugin using the Ubuntu Software Center (or [click here] (http://apt.ubuntu.com/p/icedtea-7-plugin)).

  Note: KDE Desktops may also need "xul-runner" installed.

• If you are running an older version of Java (1.5, 1.6, etc), it has been reported that older versions of Java need to be removed completely for Java 7 to work properly in Ubuntu as the browser will fall back to the older version.

1. In OpenJDK,, the output normally seen in the Java Console is only visible when the web browser is launched from a terminal window.

   In Ubuntu, open a new terminal > Firefox > Enter