Devterm CM4 printer prints nothing but "bar codes"

Hi all. I finally got some paper for my devterm printer. Unfortunately, all it prints is the exact pattern of bars no matter what I try to print. I eventually tried

sudo apt install -y devterm-thermal-printer

after reading a forum post. This actually caused the printer to completely stop working and disabled the networking as well. I reimaged last time because I could not figure out why wifi stopped working and nothing seemed to fix it. This time I immediately tried:

sudo apt remove -y devterm-thermal-printer
sudo reboot

Network support came right back up. Now the printer can’t even print the bar code errors anymore. It does nothing at all because the driver is gone. I decided I don’t know what I am doing and I don’t even know if the printer is DOA out of the box. Sucks because this is one of the most fun things about this device.

I tried this command too when the printer made noises and spat out bar code:

echo -en ā€œ\x12\x54ā€ > /tmp/DEVTERM_PRINTER_IN

it spat out more bar code…just about a two inch long bar code of the exact same pattern as the thing does of I print ā€œtestā€ in text editor or geany. Same pattern, just shorter. I am using vonylist 58mm thermal paper as advertised it would print with.

Anyone have a clue what the issue might be?

1 Like

Thanks for reporting this issue just purchased the CM4 processor to use in my A06 DevTerm I use an external thermal printer now and have included my raw notes:

l_susb command displays all devices…

When I use an external USB thermal printer:

USB printers may present themselves to the system differently depending which USB- to-serial chip they use internally. Try the following first:

ls -l /dev/usb/lp0

If the response is something like:

crwxrwxr-x 1 root lp 180, 0 Mar 14 14:11 /dev/usb/lp0

Then this is a recent model. But if instead you get:
ls: cannot access ā€˜/dev/usb/lp0’: No such file or directory

Then try:

ls -l /dev/ttyUSB0

Don’t fret if your USB printer is the ā€œolderā€ model. All of these print images equally

well. Just need to know which it is: /dev/usb/lp0 , or /dev/ttyUSB0 .
Let’s verify we can print something. For a current ā€œ lp0 ā€ model, type:

chmod 777 /dev/usb/lp1

echo -e ā€œThis is a test.\n\n\nā€ > /dev/usb/lp0

echo -e ā€œThis is a test.\n\n\nā€ > /dev/usb/lp1

prints plain test file

cat ā€œtestfinenameā€.txt > /dev/usb/lp1

wher ā€œtestfilenameā€ is the name of your plain text file…

did you ever get this figured out? was your printer module damaged?

I am having the same issue (sorry for necro posting this thread…)

@forbidden64

Well, no. I did have ā€˜ similar idea to what MHam68HC11 suggested. except I found a generic source code for 58MM thermal printer driver, I compiled it and then just added it through the printer menu in the desktop. It even works over bluetooth, but I like the idea of the built in one. Because of the network issue, I assumed the build had some issue and didn’t try using it again. I’m trying out the A06 and haven’t been able to write the image successfully(ordered a new SD card). So, I’ll update this and also try the above if I have the same issue. I really still want that thing to work.

The 58mm driver works on the external, but could not see the internal.

Does anyone know what make that printer is in case it was always DOA?