Help- USB host controller ng printer

[eyfifteen]

Hello po. My design project po kame. Magcreate po kami ng device na mag-accept ng files via usb to print directly sa printer. Naghahanap po ako ng pwede makatulong sa amin especially sa pag-communicate sa printer. Sana po matulungan niyo ako.Thanks!

[insomartin]

^ you're out of luck.
sadly sobrang difficult nito. unless gagamit ka nang PC which... a cheat.

di ganun ka simple yung programming. even impossible to a person that don't have any know how on making a off the shelf printer.
may kanya kanya yang driver yan.

[eyfifteen]

quote author=Martin link=topic=19216.msg331949#msg331949 date=1281422310]
^ you're out of luck.
sadly sobrang difficult nito. unless gagamit ka nang PC which... a cheat.

di ganun ka simple yung programming. even impossible to a person that don't have any know how on making a off the shelf printer.
may kanya kanya yang driver yan.


[/quote]


Pero kung sa isang specific na printer lang po ung gagawin namin na device? possible po right?
May mga research na kasi akong nagawa about sa issue of compatibility of printer drivers, problem ko na lang po is wala akong mahanap na resources like e-books on how PC communicates to a printer to command it to print a file. Baka po may ma-refer ka po. Salamat![

[motion55]

Magcreate po kami ng device na mag-accept ng files via usb to print directly sa printer.

What files do you want to print? Word document files? How about JPEG picture files?

[eyfifteen]

What files do you want to print? Word document files? How about JPEG picture files?

uhm....according to my research, the easiest file to print is image files like JPEG.....so I think I would focus on printing image files first.....please help...

[rdpzycho]

for JPEG's, research for PICTBridge. but be warned, hindi beginner level ang programming nito. nasa intermediate to advanced level programming 'to.

[motion55]

uhm....according to my research, the easiest file to print is image files like JPEG.....so I think I would focus on printing image files first.....please help...

Let us break down the tasks you need to do.

1. You need an interface to the USB drive. This is of course a USB host.
2. The software on the MCU must be able to read the USB. This means the MCU software must at least have a form of DOS (Disk Operating System) to read a FAT formatted USB drive.
3. Once it is able read a JPEG file, software must be able to convert it to a raster format suitable for printing.
4. You need another interface to the printer. If you use a USB interface, then you would need a hub to expand the number of USB ports. It is harder to communicate through a hub than directly connected to the USB port. For example, digital cameras directly connected to the printer use USB OTG.
5. As you said you can select the printer. You can select a printer with a parallel port. That would simplify communicating to the printer.
6. You have to write software to send the raster data to the printer following the protocol that the printer knows.

[eyfifteen]

Let us break down the tasks you need to do.

1. You need an interface to the USB drive. This is of course a USB host.
2. The software on the MCU must be able to read the USB. This means the MCU software must at least have a form of DOS (Disk Operating System) to read a FAT formatted USB drive.
3. Once it is able read a JPEG file, software must be able to convert it to a raster format suitable for printing.
4. You need another interface to the printer. If you use a USB interface, then you would need a hub to expand the number of USB ports. It is harder to communicate through a hub than directly connected to the USB port. For example, digital cameras directly connected to the printer use USB OTG.
5. As you said you can select the printer. You can select a printer with a parallel port. That would simplify communicating to the printer.
6. You have to write software to send the raster data to the printer following the protocol that the printer knows.

Ok. Thank you po. I'll research on this things. I'll give you an update kasi honestly hindi ko po alam kung paano sisimulan. At least now I have an outline. Thank you. I'll post my update as soon as possible.

[eyfifteen]

for JPEG's, research for PICTBridge. but be warned, hindi beginner level ang programming nito. nasa intermediate to advanced level programming 'to.

about po sa programming, Printer Command Language po ba yung kelangan namin pagaralan?
Kelangan po talaga namin ng assistance with this project. Baka naman po you know someone who could help us with our problem, especially about sa programming nito. Please.

[motion55]

My suggestion is to buy a starter kit of an MCU that is powerful enough to handle this job. Para sigurado, buy a starter kit of a 32-bit MCU. Also pick one that has USB host interface. Usually sa starter kits may sample programs that can access a USB drive for example. There might be sample programs to print to a PCL printer.

[nucleus]

merong sample sa microchip ng usb host gamit ang DSPIC

http://www.microchip.com/usbprinter/

[motion55]

Pwede ganitong setup.

SDCARD -> SPI interface -> starter/evaluation kit board -> USB Host interface -> Printer

If you will use an SDCARD instead of a USB drive, you will only need one USB host interface to connect to a printer.

[eyfifteen]

Saan po ba dito sa manila may mga available na microcontroller na may USB printing device?
Thanks!

[rdpzycho]

^ try Farnell or RS Philippines.

[eyfifteen]

Guys, may nakita na po ako na pwede namin gamitin. USBWiz ng GHI electronics. Kaso wala po akong mahanap na mabilhan nito dito sa Philippines. Baka po meron kayong alam na pwede kong mabilhan nito.Thanks.

[motion55]

Medyo madaya ang USBWiz, kasi bale implemented na niya ang project requirements ninyo. Halos wala na kayong gagawin. It defeats the purpose of your project. Ewan ko kung tatanggapin ito ng prof ninyo.

[eyfifteen]

hindi naman po siya madaya....may problem pa din po kami if we use USBwiz.....kelangan namin ng programming part na magconvert ng files to .prn format..meron po ba kayong alam na source code for this? thanks po.

[motion55]

hindi naman po siya madaya....may problem pa din po kami if we use USBwiz.....kelangan namin ng programming part na magconvert ng files to .prn format..meron po ba kayong alam na source code for this? thanks po.

In that case, do the project on a PC. Same lang ang gagawin kung converting files to .prn format lang pala ang kailangan gawin.