PiPrinter

Custom server code for a Raspberry Pi Thermal Printer project.

• API: Web API to print stuff!
• Website: React web interface!
• Discord integration: print out all messages sent to a channel!

3D files for 3D-printed housing available in /CAD directory

Getting Started

1. Install modules: npm install
2. Copy secrets file and edit values: cp config.template.js config.js.
3. Make up at least one access token and put it in API_ACCESS_TOKENS so you can use the web interface. To set up integrations, read below.
4. Create a directory where temporary files created by the server go: mkdir .temp-queue
5. Set up React environment: inside the /web directory, npm install and npm run build
6. Start the server: (from the root directory) npm start

Setting Up the Physical Printer

Generally, I followed this guide, but there are a few things that you should know:

• If you are using a USB connection and gibberish comes out (see this forum post), the baud rate is most likely incorrect. There is no easy way of fixing this if you use the usb: protocol as specified in the guide. However, if you use the serial: protocol (even if you're not using the serial GPIO ports for communication!) you can specify the baud rate like so:

serial:/dev/usb/lp0?baud=9600

(This is the printer URI that worked for me, but your path and baud rate may vary)

Setting Up Discord Integration

1. Create a Discord bot on the Discord Developer Portal.
2. Copy the bot's token and paste it in DISCORD_TOKEN in config.js.
3. Invite your bot to your server by navigating to this URL, inserting your bot's Client ID: https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize?scope=bot&client_id=PASTE_YOUR_CLIENT_ID_HERE&permissions=8
4. Copy the ID of any Discord channels you want messages to be printed out from, and paste them in the ALLOWED_DISCORD_CHANNELS array in config.js.

Setting Up Google Calendar integration

1. Follow the Create Desktop application credentials guide and save the JSON client secret file as google_credentials.json.
2. Make sure to enable the Google Calendar API in the Google Cloud API Library.
3. Include the IDs of the calendars you want to include in the CALENDAR_IDS field of config.js. You can find your Calendars' IDs in the "Integrate calendar" section of Calendar settings.
4. Start up your server, navigate to the web dashboard, and click Print agenda to link your account! You will only have to complete the linking process once.