ppa6-python
Python module for printing on Peripage A6 and A6+
This project is a continued development of the original project made by Elias Weingärtner. This module combined all results of reverse engineering of the Peripage A6/A6+ protocol in a python utility providing interface and CLI tool for printing on this thermal printer.
The original introduction
The Peripage A6 F622 is an inexpensive portable thermal printer. It provides both Bluetooth and USB connectivity. Unlike most other thermo printers it does not seem to support ESC/POS or any other standardized printer control language.
So far, the Peripage A6 F622 can be only controlled using a proprietary app (iOS / Anndroid). There is also a driver for Windows with many limitations, most notably the need of defining a page size before printing; this is a huge limitation, as the Peripage prints on continuous form paper.
The script provided here was built based on an analysis of captured Bluetooth traffic between the printer and an Android device. The Peripage A6 uses the serial profile (BTSPP) and RFCOMM.
Essentially, the script takes an input images, scales it to the printers native X resolution of 384 pixels, and then sends it to the printer.
Current abilities
- Printing text of any length encoded in ASCII
- Printing Images using PIL library
- Printing raw bytes representing image in binary (black/white) form
- Printing a page break of desired size (in pixels)
- Printing using generator/iterator which returns image row by row in form of bytes or PIL Images
- Requesting printer details (Serial Number, Name, Battery Level, Hardware Info and an option the meaning of which i don't know)
- Configuring print concentration (light, gray, black)
- Configuring printer poweroff timeout
Prerequirements
- Peripage A6/A6+ printer
- Python 3
Installation
Install from git clone
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install . --user
Install from pypi using pip
pip install ppa6
Dependencies
PyBluez==0.30Pillow==8.1.2argparse==1.1(for CLI)
Install dependencies with
pip install -r requirements.txt
On windows you may need to install PyBluez 0.3
git clone https://github.com/pybluez/pybluez
cd pybluez
pip install . --user
On raspberry pi it may require to install additional libraries
sudo apt install libbluetooth-dev libopenjp2-7 libtiff5
And in some cases you will have to restart the bluetooth adapter and service on raspberry pi when it fails to connect or device is busy
sudo systemctl restart bluetooth
sudo hciconfig hci0 reset
Identify printer Bluetooth MAC address
On linux:
user@name:~$ hcitool scan
Scanning ..
00:15:83:15:bc:5f PeriPage+BC5F
On windows:
You may use BluetoothCL
PS E:\E\E> .\BluetoothCL.exe
BluetoothCL v1.07
Copyright (c) 2009 - 2014 Nir Sofer
Web Site: http://www.nirsoft.net
syntax:
BluetoothCL -timeout [seconds]
-timeout is optional parameter. The default value is 15 seconds.
Scanning bluetooth devices... please wait.
00:15:83:15:bc:5f Imaging PeriPage+BC5F
CLI usage
On linux
Install module and run
ppa6 <args>
On windows
Install module and run
python -m ppa6 <args>
Options
usage: ppa6 [-h] -m MAC [-c [0-2]] [-b [0-255]] [-p {A6,A6p,A6+}] [-n]
(-t TEXT | -s | -i IMAGE | -q QR | -e)
Print on a Peripage A6 / A6+ via bluetooth
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-m MAC, --mac MAC Bluetooth MAC address of the printer
-c [0-2], --concentration [0-2]
Concentration value for printing (0, 1, 2)
-b [0-255], --break [0-255]
Size of the break that should be inserted after the
print (max 255)
-p {A6,A6p,A6+}, --printer {A6,A6p,A6+}
Printer model name (A6 or A6+/A6p (both allowed))
-n, --newline Force printer to add newline at the end of the printed
text and flush the buffer
-t TEXT, --text TEXT ASCII text that should be printed. Add a line break at
the end of the string to avoid it being cut. String
can be empty, so just page break will be printed
-s, --stream Reads an input from stdin and prints as ASCII text
-i IMAGE, --image IMAGE
Path to the image that should be printed
-q QR, --qr QR String for QR code print
-e, --introduce Ask the printer to introduce himself
Print image example
Print image from file with following break for 100px and concentration set to 2 (HIGH) on A6+
ppa6 -m 00:15:83:15:bc:5f -p A6p -b 100 -c 2 -i honk.png
Print text example
Print some random text followed by newline and break for 100px on A6+
ppa6 -m 00:15:83:15:bc:5f -p A6p -b 100 -t "HONK" -n
Newline is required to fush the internal printer buffer and force it to print all text without cutting
Print Service example
Print 50 text tasks on A6+
import ppa6
import print_service
# Ping battery every 60 seconds
# Send task every 5 seconds
# Try to reconnect after waiting 5 seconds
# Wait 1 second before send after connecting/reconnecting to printer
# Print only after pinging printer and waiting for 1 second
service = print_service.PrintService(60, 5, 5, 1, 1)
service.start('00:15:83:15:bc:5f', ppa6.PrinterType.A6p)
for i in range(50):
service.add_print_ascii(f'number {i}', flush=True)Newline is required to fush the internal printer buffer and force it to print all text without cutting
Suggestions
- Don't forget about concentration, this can make print brighter and better visible.
- Split long images into multiple print requests with cooldown time for printer (printer may overheat during a long print and will stop printing for a while. This will result in partial print loss because the internal buffer is about 250px height). For example, when you print looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooongcat.jpg, split it into at least 20 pieces with 1-2 minutes delay because you will definetly loose something without cooling. Printer gets hot very fast. Yes, it was the first that i've printed.
- Be carefull when printing lots of black or using max concentration, as i said, printer heats up very fast.
- The picture printed at maximum concentration has the longest shelf life.
- Turn printer off then long press the power button till it becomes orange. Release the button and look at the another useless feature.
- Be aware of cats, they have paws
🐾
Code example
View this python notebook for tutorial
Printer disassembly
TODO
- Fix page sometimes get cutted off for some rows
- Fix delays
- Python 2.7 support
- Implement overheat protection
- Implement cover open handler
- Tweak wait timings to precisely match the printing speed
- Implement printer renaming
- Implement printing stop operation
- Reverse-engineer USB driver and add support for it
- FIX: Print randomly gets cropped (some images getting cropped)
- FIX: 1 type conversion is low quality
Credits
- Elias Weingärtner for initial work in reverse-engineering bluetooth protocol
- bitrate16 for additional research and python module
Disclaimer
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.