There are many types of thermal printers available and we are unable to document the configuration for all of them. While IBIS does not provide support for hardware, we are happy to share guidelines for setting up the 2 most common printers used by our customers.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Set up an Epson TM-T88V printer

There are two connection types for your Epson printer, LPT port and USB.  Connecting via LPT port is a dated connection type and is being used less these days in favour of a USB connection.  You may find your new computer doesn't come with an LPT port so you would need to follow the USB instructions.


These instructions may vary depending on which version of Windows you are running. If in doubt, check the manufacturers instructions.


To set up using the LPT Port a basic generic text driver will work.  Follow these instructions for a basic install:

  1. Open the Devices and Printers screen via the Windows Control Panel
  2. Select Add a Printer
  3. If the printer is plugged into your machine select Local Printer, or if it is already installed on another networked computer select Network Printer (a printer on the network needs to be installed correctly and shared online)
  4. When you get to the Install Printer Software screen, under Manufacturer choose Generic and under Printers choose Generic/Text Only then click Next
  5. Your printer should now be installed and you can name it as you like
  6. Once the install has finished, go to the printer, right-click and go to properties.  Make sure the port tab specifies LPT1
  7. Print a test page to ensure the printer install has been successful


If you are using a generic text driver, we do not recommend you set this printer as default as it will limit the fonts available in Word and Excel.


If you are setting up using the USB connection, you will be unable to use the Generic Text printer driver:

  1. Plugin your printer and connect it to your computer
  2. Turn on your computer and the printer
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions.


Set up a Star Micronics TSP100 thermal printer

We are aware that some of our customers use the Star Micronics TSP100 Ticket Printer. The process below documents the set up steps found by some of our clients using this model (please be aware that as this is not our recommended printer, we have not tested these steps ourselves).

  1. Go to your Devices and Printers screen in Windows
  2. Check that the Star Printer is named Receipt.  If not, right-click the printer icon and select Rename from the drop-down menu and change to Receipt
  3. Right-click on the Receipt printer icon and select Properties from the drop-down menu
  4. Select the Advanced tab
  5. Click on Printing Defaults
  6. Click Advanced.  Set all settings as in the diagram below then click OK, and OK again to return to the Receipt Properties window

    Star TSP100 Advanced Options

  7. Click on the Device Settings tab and set all settings as in the diagram below

    Star TSP100 Receipt Properties

  8. Click on the TSP Config tab, then Launch Configuration Application
  9. Click on (highlight) ESC/POS Mode, then click OK
  10. Select Print Job Routing from the list, then tick the box for Enable ESC/POS Routing.  
  11. Click Apply Changes then Close


Sharing printers on a network

  1. Install the printer locally using the above methods
  2. Go to your Devices and Printers screen on your Windows computer and locate your printer
  3. Right-click on the printer, and select Sharing and give the printer a name (you will see a hand icon on the printer if the printer is now shared)
  4. Go to the machine that you want to be able to print, browse to the shared printer and right-click to connect OR use the Add New Printer wizard
  5. Repeat step 4 for each computer on the network that you wish to be able to print


Set a logo to print on Epson TM-T88V thermal printers

The logo MUST be of this format or it will not load or print correctly:

  • All logos should be bitmaps i.e. a logo.bmp file
  • No larger than 10kb
  • The logo must be black & white only (note that they will need to be saved as a monochrome format, not a colour format that's just in black and white)
  • Maximum width: 400 pixels
  • Maximum height: 300 pixels
  • You need to have it ready in this format, IBIS does not do any graphic design for you.

The logo is stored in the memory of the printer and can only be loaded onto the printer using its utility. If you are using an Epson TM-T88V model printer, please contact IBIS to help load your thermal printer graphic as we have a built-in utility we can use to update (provided your printer is plugged into your PC).  


Add a logo to a Star Micronics printer

  1. On your Windows computer go to Start > Devices and Printers
  2. Browse for the Star TSP100 (if you cannot see it here, you have not installed the printer yet), then right-click on the printer and select Printer Properties.
  3. Select Emulation mode ESC/POS mode 
  4. On the printer preferences window, select the TSP100 Config tab, then click Launch Configuration Application.
  5. On the Image List window, select Add New on the right-hand side to add a new logo to printer. 
  6. It will prompt you to choose the picture you want to use as the logo.
  7. Browse your computer to open the file - the file types supported are .bmp; .jpg; .jpeg; .gif.



  8. You can edit settings for your logo:
    • You can name it whatever you like.
    • Adjust the size in millimeters.
    • Adjust the Dither Method: set this to Important: Dither Method should be set to None unless you know what this is about.

  9. Once you have your image the way you like, click Test Print to see it on the receipt and if you like it then click Use Image to save it to the printer memory.
  10. If it does not work correctly, make sure you followed the steps in order and that the Logo you choose it's formatted the way you want it.
  11. On the left panel click on Logos & Cropping 
  12. Click Add, then select the picture that you want to use from the list and set Alignment to Center. 
  13. Click Use to finish saving the picture to the printer memory and then Apply Changes. 
  14. With this step we are done uploading the Logo to the printer - make sure you close the Printer Utility Application.