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Overview

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Fons van der Plas edited this page Dec 4, 2018 · 1 revision

Background

In August 2018, I got my hands on a second-hand thermal receipt printer (Star TSP100), normally used to print receipts in a store. Inspired by the new self-checkout machines at my supermarket (Albert Heijn), I wanted to explore modern, fun applications of the somewhat boring machine. I wanted to explore the appeal of analog and physical media, not in spite of, but because of new technology. Pretty soon I got the idea to print pictures sent from a very minimal, intuitive web site.

See: First Steps

After a basic web server was set up, I could now send a link to anyone, allowing them to instantly print pictures from my printer. I got some great responses, and a friend asked me to make them a second one.

The main challenges with making a second one (and possibly more) were:

  • 🙅 separating the server (responsible for the web page and handling file uploads) and the printer client (an IoT computer connected to a thermal printer, at a different IP address).
  • 💸 using cheaper hardware to bring to costs down from >€160 (€20 RasPi, €140 TSP100) to around €50.
  • ⚙ designing a way for a non-technical user to connect their device to their existing Wi-Fi network.

I managed to solve these problems, and the first prototype (the printi mini) is now ready.

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