--- type: entity tags: [parking, hardware, printer, device] sources: [] updated: 2026-06-19 --- # Rongta 80mm thermal printer The chosen ticket/receipt printer: a **Rongta RP-series 80mm network thermal printer** (and the many ESC/POS-compatible OEM clones that share its firmware). Driver `rongta` in `packages/devices` implements [[device-adapter-pattern|PrinterDevice]]. ## Transport & protocol - **ESC/POS over a raw TCP socket on port 9100** (the JetDirect/RAW convention). The driver opens the socket, writes the ESC/POS byte stream, and **closes GRACEFULLY**. > **Graceful close — fixed 2026-06-19.** `sendRaw()` previously did `write(payload)` then > `destroy()` on the write callback. But a `Socket.write()` callback fires when bytes reach the > *local kernel buffer*, NOT when the peer has read them — so `destroy()` could send a TCP **RST** > that truncates the job mid-stream, leaving the printer a desynced ESC/POS stream (raster garbage). > Now it `end(payload)` (write + FIN, a clean half-close) and resolves on the socket's `close` > event — which only fires after the printer has drained the bytes. A timeout *after* the write > completed is treated as success (some printers never send their own FIN), so a delivered job is > never spuriously failed. A latent bug found while diagnosing the KP-300H garbage; it was NOT the > cause of that (see overflow gotcha below) but is a real truncation risk on its own. - **No authentication** on the print socket — anyone who can reach port 9100 can print. Like every other field device it must sit on the **isolated device VLAN** ([[network-isolation]]). There is no real HTTP/control boundary on the device (same posture as [[dingtian-relay]]). - **Health check** is a TCP connect probe to 9100. The print socket exposes no status protocol we rely on; the print itself is the real reachability test (failover attempts the print). - **Live status** comes from the device's own web page `http:///prn_stat.htm` (port 80), which decodes Cover Open / Cutter Error / Paper End / Paper Near End / Off-Line into Yes/No. We scrape that rather than hand-decode `DLE EOT` — this clone's DLE EOT reply bytes do **not** match the canonical ESC/POS bit layout (verified on hardware), so trusting the device's own decode avoids a false-healthy. Implemented as `readStatus()`; see [[printer-status-monitoring]]. - **USB transport (added 2026-06-24).** The same driver can instead drive a printer over a local USB `usblp` char device (`/dev/usb/lp0`) — `config.transport` (`tcp-ip` | `usb`) picks the wire behind one render layer (the ESC/POS bytes are identical). The status web page is a **network** feature, so a **USB Rongta degrades to reachability-only** monitoring (open-the-node probe, no paper/cover verdict — the same honesty floor as the Cashino). Driving USB depends on the appliance image (`usblp` bound + a udev write-access rule) — a provisioning step, open-questions #14. Full rationale in [[printer-usb-transport]]. ## Deployment (this site) - First printer verified reachable at **10.0.10.6:9100** from the host (TCP connect OK, 2026-06-14). - **Two printers configured (as of 2026-06-18)**, by role — see [[printer-roles-failover]]: - **entry-dispenser** — `10.0.10.9`, outside at the lane; the driver takes the entry ticket. This unit is a **Cashino**, not a Rongta: it prints the same ESC/POS stream but serves no `/prn_stat.htm` status page, so it runs on the `cashino` driver (reachability PING only, no paper/cover status) — see [[printer-status-monitoring]]. - **booth-receipt** — `10.0.10.10`, inside the booth; receipts, AND the backup that prints the entry ticket if the outside dispenser is offline. This unit is a **Rongta** (`rongta` driver, full status-page monitoring). ## Ticket rendering `printTicket(TicketData)` builds ESC/POS: `ESC @` init, centered/bold/double-size header, lane, ticket id, issued-at, feed + partial cut (`GS V B`). CP437/ASCII subset. The entry ticket encodes the id as a **1D Code128** barcode (`GS k`). **`printSubscriptionCard(SubscriptionCardData)`** (added 2026-06-18) renders a **2D QR** of the [[subscription]] code via ESC/POS **`GS ( k`** (model 2, EC level M) — firmware-rendered, no bitmap dependency — plus the code as text + holder/validity. Used for the auto-printed + reprintable subscription card. (Verified: the `GS ( k` store/print byte sequences + the embedded code appear on the wire against a TCP capture.) **`printReceipt(ReceiptData)`** (added 2026-06-18) — the payment receipt / exit voucher ([[booth-exit-flow]]). Same ESC/POS preamble; figures + amount, optional Code128 + grace. ### CP852 codepage — two gotchas found on a real misprint (2026-06-18) The driver selects **CP852** (Latin-2) via `ESC t 18` and maps the Albanian letters to their CP852 bytes. A printed voucher surfaced two encoding bugs, both now fixed in `printer-escpos.ts`: - **Uppercase `Ë` was mapped to `0xEB` — wrong.** In CP852 `0xEB` is `ű`; the correct byte for `Ë` (U+00CB) is **`0xD3`**. The title `BILETË DALJE` / `FATURË PAGESE` printed garbled until fixed. (Lowercase `ë` = `0x89` was always correct.) Anyone extending the CP852 map must verify bytes against the actual Unicode.org `CP852.TXT`, not guess. - **`Intl.NumberFormat` injects a NO-BREAK SPACE.** Formatting `ALL` money yields `"1000 Lekë"` (separator = U+00A0, sometimes U+202F narrow NBSP) — neither is in CP852, so it printed as `1000?Lekë`. `line()` now normalises U+00A0/U+202F → a plain space before encoding. Any Intl-formatted value on a ticket is affected, not just money. ### KP-300H barcode overflow — only the Cashino garbled (2026-06-19) The Cashino entry dispenser printed **raster garbage** on entry tickets while the booth Rongta printed the *same* byte stream cleanly. Root cause was **barcode line-overflow, not corruption**: a 13-digit Code128 at module width 3 (~534 dots) overran the KP-300H's **72mm = 512-dot** line; the Rongta's 80mm (576) had room. Plain-text-only prints were clean, isolating it to the `GS k` barcode. **Fix: shorten the ticket id 13→11 digits** (~468 dots — fits 72mm) — see [[ticket-encoding]] for the geometry. Module width must stay 3: a test at width 2 scanned but returned *truncated* values. **General rule:** size firmware barcodes/QRs to the **narrowest** deployed printer's usable dot width. ### Human dates on printed slips — Albanian (2026-06-19) `stamp()` now formats timestamps as **`19 Qershor 2026 10:48:25`** (Albanian month, 24h with seconds) instead of `YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM`. Month names are a hardcoded `SQ_MONTHS` table (the appliance browser's ICU lacks Albanian locale data — see [[i18n]]). `stamp` is exported as **`formatStampSq`** so the shift [[shift|Z-report]] shares the one Albanian date format. Applies to ticket issue time, receipt entry/paid rows, and subscription validity dates (date-only). Consistent with the "[[i18n|printed paper is always Albanian]]" rule. ## Status Driver written and compiles; entry-ticket layout is a first pass; live status monitoring is implemented and verified ([[printer-status-monitoring]]). The receipt/exit layout and the cash-drawer kick (ESC/POS `ESC p`) are **not yet implemented** — they arrive with the exit/payment flow. Replaces the generic "Epson TM / Citizen" booth-printer line in [[bom]].