Note
I apologize, but most of this document is outdated and inaccurate already. Hopefully I’ll clean it up soon... ;)
Rattail’s Cognitive hardware package provides a simple printer server for use with the Blaster BT42 Series of label printers.
Basically it implements a Windows service which will monitor a folder for any files ending in *.labels. When such a file is found, its contents are read and copied to the printer (the assumption being that this will be via LPT1 or some similar port). Then the label batch file is deleted.
The label batch files are expected to contain commands which will be interpreted directly by the printer; the server does nothing beyond logistics. Creating the batch files will be the responsibility of some other app.
The printer is expected to be using the LPT1 (or similar) port. USB and other ports are untested. Despite this, there is no default location for the printer; you must provide one in your config file.
Note
Since the Windows service will not run as you but rather as some system user, any config needed by the server must be placed in a system-wide rattail.conf file.
In addition to the printer path, you must also provide the path of the batch folder which will be monitored:
[rattail.hw.cognitive]
server.printer_path = LPT1
server.batch_path = C:\Rattail\Label Batches
Using the print service is fairly straightforward; there are logical commands to install/run/etc. The only gotcha is that on Windows 7 (and I assume Vista), you must first launch cmd.exe as an administrator in order to gain sufficient privileges to execute the commands:
When installed, the service should show up in all normal Windows Service lists, and generally behave as expected.