5.1.1 - Introduction

Printers can be used with POS workstations through the Point of Sale Control module. Maitre'D supports a wide range of printers that are used in the industry, and a complete compatibility list can be found on the Maitre'D website.

Supported printers include IP printers, serial printers, parallel printers, and USB printers.

ESC/POS

ESC/POS is a printer control language developed by Epson to control receipt printers used at the POS. It is a specialized variant of the generic Epson Standard Code for Printers (ESC/P), and has been the industry standard for decades. ESC/POS adoption is so wide that many competing manufacturers support it with their receipt printers.

Maitre'D is fully compatible with ESC/POS. While Maitre'D will work with any printer which is also ESC/POS compatible, Epson-branded printers are always preferred, due to their outstanding compatibility and reliability.

Printing components in Maitre'D

In a Maitre'D database, many components are required to ensure good printing functionality:

• Printer Types

• Logical Printers

• Physical Printers (Devices)

• Shared Printers

• Redirection Tables

Printer Types

Printer types are used to define the physical properties of various printer models used with your Maitre'D POS system.

Logical Printers

Logical printers are conceptual printers used to direct orders to physical printers based on certain criteria such as revenue centers.

Physical Printers (Devices)

Physical printers are used to define each individual printing device. Each device is assigned a printer type and connection properties.

Shared Printers

Shared printers are workstation and network printers that can be used by more than one device on the Maitre'D network.

Redirection Tables

Redirection Tables are used to route printouts so that they print at the appropriate printer in the restaurant. Printer routes can be set by mode. This means that a certain POS workstation can print at one printer in the morning during the breakfast period, and print at another printer during the lunch period or the dinner period.

Configuration order

Printing components are inter-dependent. To facilitate the configuration of the Maitre'D database, each component should be created in order:

1- Printer Types

Printer types are required when creating physical printers as well as shared printers. Printer types should be created first.

2- Logical Printers

Logical printers must exist before creating sales items, redirection tables and before configuring workstation options. Logical printers must be configured early in the Maitre'D database configuration process.

3- Physical Printers

Physical printers must exit before configuring shared printers. Remember that Printer Types must exist before you can create physical printers.

4- Shared Printers

Shared printers must exist before Redirection Tables can be created. Also remember that physical printers must exist before you can configure shared printers.

5- Redirection Tables

If you intend to use redirection tables, they should be created before you configure your workstation's options. Before you can create Redirection Tables however, you need to make sure that you have the necessary logical printers as well as shared printers.

Of course, it is always possible to go back and forth to create components that may have been forgotten along the way.