Interface Cards

 

How to print receipts using an OTG USB Adapter on Android

Overview
How it works
Installing Adapter
Checking Adapter Settings
Configuring Printer
Testing & Troubleshooting

 

Overview
USB On-The-Go, often abbreviated to USB OTG or just OTG, is a specification first used in late 2001 that allows USB devices, such as tablets or mobile phones, to act as a host, allowing other USB devices, such as receipt printers with USB interfaces, to be attached to them.

A USB connection is one of the newer connection types of connection between the computer and the printer.  The data cable connects the USB port on the computer to the USB adapter card on the printer.

Required Components

  •  POS Printer with USB Interface

  • Android phone or tablet

  • OTG USB Adapter

  • USB Printer cable

Printers Covered

  • Star TSP143

How it works

When you plug two devices together using USB there is a one device acting as a host and the other as a client. Simply put the host device supports the client device. Most devices are either dedicated clients or hosts. When you plug a USB client device like a keyboard, the host provides the power and the driver software to interact with the keyboard. Android devices can act as either host or clients. When you plug an Android device into a computer, the Android operating system asks if you want the Android device to ask a host or a client. When acting as a host it controls the device, when acting as a client it is controlled by another device. The OTG USB is a regular USB cable with one of the pins grounded. Plugging an OTG cable into an Android device indicates to the device that it should act as a host to al connections made with the cable. This allows you to plug in ‘dumb’ devices without having the device negotiate with the Android O/S who will act as a host. The host must supply the drivers to interact with the client device.
 


Installing the Cable

Attaching the Cable
Use a standard USB 2.0 printer cable to connect the printer. One end has a male USB type B connector, the other end has a male USB type A plug that goes into the OTG cable. The OTG cable plugs into the tablet or phone.

 

USB (connector on printer end)

USB cards use USB Type B Cables

 

USB Printer Cable
$9.95

Buy null modem serial printer cable
USBAB6

OTG USB Adapter
$3.95

Buy Epson ERC-38 Ribbon Cartridge
OTGUSB1


Connecting a Star Printer to Square Register

 

1. Make sure your Android device supports  USB Host Mode (see below)

 

2. Plug the USB printer cable into the printer

3. Plug the OTG Cable into the Android device. Connect the printer cable to the OTG cable.

4. Open Square Register on the device
5. Turn on the printer
Once the printer is on and connected is should be recognized by Square.
6. Accept the connection when prompted
7. Open up the Printer Settings
8. Create a new printer station
9. Select print options and name the printer
10. Test printer
press the printer test button. Test receipt should print.
11. Print receipts
receipts should now print as needed
NOTE: the cash drawer is not supported when connected through the printer. With Android you must use the USB cash drawer.
   

Star Micronics' TSP100III Utility

Star Micronics TSP100III Utility allows you to do setup, operation test and settings changes easily. It is a free utility from Star Micronics available from the Google Play store or directly from Star at www.star-m.jp/tsp100iii-app.html.

What TSP100III Utility can do
Installation
Ethernet setup
Search for the network printer and connect to it
Change the network setting of the connected printer
 
Details
Confirm printer operation
Confirm cash drawer operation
 
Appendix
Confirm device condition
Confirm device information
Confirm the connection with the device

Settings
Details
Change memory switch

 


Technical Information

To use an attached USB device you need to have:
•A USB OTG (USB On-The-Go) cable
•USB Host Mode drivers loaded on your device
•A version of the Android operating system loaded on that device that supports USB Host Mode
•An Android device (eg phone or tablet) that has built-in hardware support for USB Host Mode
•And finally there need to be drivers on your device, for whatever USb device you're plugging in.

Operating System

USB Host Mode support was introduced in Android version 3.1 (Honeycomb), so if you have Android 3.1, or newer installed on your device then you should have the necessary support for it in your OS, Android 4 also adds additional USB and OTG support. Also, many third-party ROMs add support for USB Host Mode to phones that have the hardware support, but don't have the necessary OS or driver support in the official operating system release.

Host Mode Drivers

Most devices that have both hardware support and a new enough OS will have the necessary drivers loaded to enable USB Host Mode, but some don't. You can find driver apps on the Play Store for some models that don't have built in drivers. Some models with 3rd party instructions and drivers available are:
•Nexus One
•HTC Desire
•HTC Incredible

Cable

You can't just use a normal USB cable. As these devices can act as both a USB "slave" device (for instance so that you can plug them into a PC and copy music onto your phone, or copy pictures off the phone) and a USB "host" (for example so that you can plug a USB memory stick into your tablet and copy files on or off it) they need some way to tell which they should act as at a given time.

A USB OTG (USB On-The-Go) cable is what is used to tell your device to act as a host, this is like a normal USB cable but it has one of the internal pins connected to Ground at one end to let that device know that it should act as the host (technically pins 4 & 5 are shorted to ground in an OTG cable).

Additionally, as most phones have micro-USB sockets, but most USB dongles have "full-size" USB plugs, as below many OTG cables have a male micro-B USB plug at one end, and a female USB-A plug at the other to convert between the different sized connectors.

Motorola USB OTG cable)
The Motorola Camera Connection kit, which is a USB OTG cable

USB OTG cables can be bought fairly cheaply on places like eBay or the Amazon marketplace, as well as many small electronics shops. You may also find that your device's manufacturer sells an official, branded one, often called something like a "Camera Connection Kit" or "USB Memory Stick Connection Cable". If you're brave you can also find various tutorials on the web on how to make your own OTG cable from a standard USB cable.

USB device drivers

When you plug your USB device into your Android phone or tablet it needs to know what that USB device is and what to do with it. For common devices, like USB memory sticks, or cameras that support PPTP or USB Mass Storage, these will often already be built into the OS. For other USB devices, like Wifi, 3G or Bluetooth dongles there may not be drivers pre-built into the OS, or only drivers for certain specific devices.
 


How can you determine if your device has USB Host Mode (OTG) support?

Some Android devices can act as a USB host, so that you can use other USB devices attached to them. For instance, browse or import the photos stored on a camera from your phone, or copy files onto a USB memory stick attached to your tablet, plug a full-size USB keyboard or mouse into a tablet, or use an external GPS or wifi device.

 

How to determine if device support for USB Host?
When an mobile device acts as a USB host, you can use other USB devices such as USB printer, USB storage attached to it. However, there is not all device has USB Host Mode support. How can you determine if your device has USB Host Mode supported?

  •  USB Host Mode drivers loaded on your device
  •  A version of the Android OS loaded on that device that supports USB Host Mode
  •  An Android device (eg phone or tablet) that has built-in hardware support for USB Host Mode

Android OS
USB Host Mode support was introduced in Android version 3.1 (Honeycomb), so if you have Android 3.1, or newer you should have the necessary support for it in your OS, Android 4 also adds additional USB and OTG support. Also, many third-party ROMs add support for USB Host Mode to phones that have the hardware support.

 


Testing & Troubleshooting

Test your device
There are some apps that can help you test whether you have all of the necessary hardware and software to do this, such as USB Host Diagnostics. Using it to test your device's capabilities is very simple:

  • Install an USB host diagnostics app from the Google Play store. You can install any app by searching "USB Host" including: USB Host DiagnosticsUSB Host Test).
  • Run the app.
  • Tap the Start Diagnostics link (or similar function), and following the directions first ensure that you have nothing plugged into USB on your device and then plug a device (such as a USB flash drive) in when prompted.


USB Host Diagnostics running

If everything works you should end up with a summary screen like this, showing firstly a few details about your device and the running OS, then letting you know whether or not your device says that it supports USB Host Mode, and then the all important final Verdict that lets you know whether testing the Host Mode access worked or not:

USB Host Diagnostics results screen

If everything is working and the app successfully detected your USB device (showing that your USB Host Mode is working) you should have "Yes"s in the ringed sections, and some details showing how much access 3rd party (i.e. non-built-in) apps have to the device. If not, there should be details there to help you track down where the problem is.

 


Reference content from Star Micronics and Stack Exchange

More Information

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