Printers and ESC/POS

Where: Configuration → Printers. Who: managers and owners configure printers and routing; cashiers see the status, check the connection and send the test print.

Arenile prints non-fiscal payment receipts, cash closings (Z) and daily sale tickets straight to the ESC/POS thermal printers on the beach network, with no print dialog, with paper cut and cash drawer opening.

Available with the desktop app

ESC/POS printing works when Arenile runs on the establishment’s computer: with the desktop app, LAN mode included. The server must reach the printer on the beach network, which an online server (VPS or Docker) cannot do. On a server installation the Printers page explains this (the entry is not in the Configuration menu): the cash closing prints from the browser, as always, while the non-fiscal receipt exists only on the thermal printer.

/admin/e/…/config/printers

Supported printers

Any ESC/POS thermal printer with a network interface (Ethernet or Wi-Fi) that accepts direct printing on TCP port 9100 (RAW, also called JetDirect or AppSocket). We designed it for:

Brand	Typical models	Notes
Epson	TM-T20II/III, TM-T88V/VI/VII, TM-m30	ESC/POS reference; CP858 character table = 19
Xprinter	XP-58, XP-80, XP-Q200 (LAN/Wi-Fi versions)	Some models use different table numbers
Rongta	RP80, RP326, RP850 (LAN/Wi-Fi)	Epson compatible
Bixolon	SRP-330, SRP-350, SRP-E300	Epson compatible
Others	“Generic ESC/POS” 58 or 80 mm printers	Try the test print

Not in this version

USB or Bluetooth printers and printing from an online installation through a bridge on the cash desk computer are not supported yet: in those cases you print from the browser.

Connecting the printer

1. Connect the printer to the beach network (Ethernet cable to the router, or Wi-Fi with the maker’s utility).
2. Find its IP address: hold FEED while switching it on to print the self-test page, or look at the router’s device list. Give it a fixed IP in the router so the address never changes.
3. In Arenile open Configuration → Printers and press Add printer.
4. Enter Name (e.g. Bar till), IP address or host name and Port (almost always 9100).
5. Choose the Paper width (58 or 80 mm): Characters per line follows (32 or 48).
6. Press Save, then Check: the status becomes Reachable.
7. Press Test print: out comes a page with the establishment name, the printer address, accented letters, the € sign, the styles, a QR code and the cut.

Only local network addresses are accepted (192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, 172.16-31.x.x): a public address is refused, even a host name that points outside the network. The same goes for the computer’s own address (127.0.0.1) and for cloud service addresses: the printer is another device. Developers testing with a virtual printer on the same PC set ARENILE_PRINTERS_ALLOW_LOOPBACK=true.

Printer options

• Character table: CP858 (default) prints € and accented letters on almost every printer. If odd symbols come out instead of à è é, try another Table number (ESC t) from the manual. Characters the table lacks are replaced (€ becomes EUR on CP437).
• Paper cut: full, partial or none; Feed lines before the cut.
• Print the logo: the establishment logo converted to black and white (dithered) for thermal paper.
• Cash drawer: if the drawer is connected to the printer (RJ11 cable), choose the pin (2 is the standard). It opens at the end of the print when the routing rule says so.
• Active: an inactive printer receives no prints.

Routing: which printer for which document

In Routing choose, for each document, the printer and the number of Copies:

• a rule for All registers is the default;
• a rule for one register wins over the default (e.g. the bar prints on its own printer);
• Open drawer opens the drawer at the end of the print (printers with a drawer only, once even when the print is resent);
• with Copies 2 or 3, the second copy onwards carries a COPY mark at the top.

Without a rule the closing and the daily ticket print from the browser and the receipt is not offered. Press Save routing to apply the changes.

Printing from the cash desk

In Cash desk the Print summary and Print Z report buttons use the thermal printer when there is a rule and the printer is active and reachable: Sent to Bar till appears. Otherwise the browser print opens with a notice explaining why (no printer configured, printer inactive or unreachable). After a Take payment, if a receipt printer is ready, the confirmation offers Print receipt (a non-fiscal receipt).

Printing daily sale tickets

With a Daily ticket rule and the printer ready, the ticket of the Quick sale (automatic print after the sale, Umbrellas and Entries tabs) and the Reprint from Today’s tickets go to the thermal printer: Sent to Bar till appears. The ticket shows the number (#037), the day, the zone and the spot or to be assigned (entry tickets list their ticket types), formula, pack and extras, total with the VAT breakdown, payment method, the QR code (the same as on the browser ticket, read at the gate), the line Not valid for tax purposes and, on reprints, REPRINT; if a name was typed at the sale, only the surname is printed, never a phone or email. With Open drawer the drawer opens only on the first print of a ticket paid in cash, never on a reprint or for a voided ticket. Entry tickets use the All registers rule. In the preview the A5 and A4 formats always print from the browser; without a ready printer the receipts do too, as before.

Latest prints and retries

Latest prints lists every print with its outcome. If the printer is off or offline, Arenile retries on its own after 5 seconds, 15 seconds, 1 minute and 5 minutes; then the print is Failed and you can press Retry. While one printer is not answering, queued prints for the other printers still go out. A double click on the same button creates one print; pressing Print summary again later is a deliberate reprint and creates another. If Arenile is closed right while sending a print, it resends it on restart (it may come out twice, without opening the drawer again). The content of finished prints is deleted after 30 days; only the row with the outcome remains.

/admin/e/…/config/printers

Troubleshooting

• Unreachable: check that the printer is on, on the same network as the computer running Arenile, and that its IP has not changed (self-test page).
• Wrong letters: change Table number (ESC t) or Character table.
• Text too wide or too narrow: fix Characters per line (32 on 58 mm, 48 on 80 mm; some 80 mm printers use 42).
• The drawer does not open: try the other pin and check that the rule has Open drawer.