Support for BIXOLON Label Printers

[zdohnal]

This is the transferred issue from OpenPrinting/CUPS #490 to track the possible future support for BIXOLON printers - please check the CUPS issue for previous information.

@sahayap will try to convert their current classic driver into PR acceptable by LPrint project.

[sahayap]

Dear @michaelrsweet @zdohnal
Thank you for the response,
If we go for LPrint based, we have to develop our driver again, it is a time consuming process.
Since our driver is based on CUPS filters, can't we just integrate our filter driver into rastertolabel source code and send the DIFF and PPD files, is it not enough to support our driver by CUPS? its a easy and faster way to include our printers supported by CUPS.

Please clear me.

Thank you
With Regards,
Sahaya P

[sahayap]

Dear @michaelrsweet @zdohnal ,
Greetings,
We have done an internal review to port our driver to LPrint, as we have no experience with LPRINT and PAPPL, it is challenging for us and we are also worried about the porting time.

We think we should develop a new driver based on PAPPL. Isn't it?

we have couple of questions as well,
Can we use the PPD file for PAPPL?
How long does it usually take to convert a classic raster printer filter to printer application?

Thank you
With Regards,
Sahaya P

[michaelrsweet]

@sahayap In answer to your questions:

Can we use the PPD file for PAPPL?

No. PAPPL (and IPP Everywhere) does not use PPD files - they are an artifact of how I had to do printer drivers in CUPS because (at the time I wrote CUPS) Unix/Linux used a PostScript print workflow.

How long does it usually take to convert a classic raster printer filter to printer application?

A day at most for a typical CUPS raster driver. I can certainly help you with the porting effort, and if you can supply me with a printer I can do more in-depth testing/development as needed.

[sahayap]

Dear @michaelrsweet
Thank you very much for your kind response.

A day at most for a typical CUPS raster driver. I can certainly help you with the porting effort, and if you can supply me with a printer I can do more in-depth testing/development as needed.

You mean, if we send you our rastertobixolon source and PPD files then you can do it us, correct?
If so, we are more than happy to provide you with our source and printer.

Please let us know the address to ship our printer to.

Thank you,
With Regards,
Sahaya P

[michaelrsweet]

@sahayap I'll send you shipping information separately.

I can't promise a timeframe for me to do all of the work...

[michaelrsweet]

@sahayap Can you provide me with an email to contact you?

[sahayap]

Dear @michaelrsweet
Thank you so much for your positive response.

I can't promise a timeframe for me to do all of the work
Sure, Please take your own time, however, please let us know timeline for the worst case, so that we can inform our customers the availability LPrint support for our printers.

Can you provide me with an email to contact you?
my official email id is sahaya@bixolon.com

Thank you
With Regards,
Sahaya P