MAC/PC Thermal prinetrs

[bbaliner]

I want to share some info with you guys, since I got so much valuable stuff from this forum.

After some research it seems like Dymo LabelWriter 330 Turbo is the best solution for thermal label printing in a MAC/PC environment, and it's much cheaper than the other ones.

Also a wireless scanner (real-time data entry) may be a cheaper option to a data storage scanner.

I'll keep you posted how this pans out.

BB

[LiveOak]

Dymo currently seems to be the best option in a normal label printer. Seiko has lost their mind and stopped Mac support and printer driver support. The currently only print from their own application. Too bad, their Smart Label Printer Pro (a serial device) was a great printer. On the Mac side, Co-Star printer drivers have always been faulty, what you see wasn't remotely or even consistently what you get.

For a more durable label, the Brother label printers print on a continuous strip of plastic label in various widths from 1/4" to 1.5" using a thermal transfer method with a clear protective layer. They are cheaper and easier to interface than proprietary thermal transfer devices. Take a look at the PT-9200DX.

We'll look forward to your future postings with results on the Dymo and wireless scanner.

-bd

[Greg Parks]

I've got 2 questions regarding the Dymo LabelWriter 330 Turbo and Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar). I know these aren't really FM questions, but if you're using the same equipment, maybe you can help...

1. How can you connect two identical printers to the same computer and be able to choose which one you want to print to? I have the two LabelWriters so I don't have to reload each time I switch from shipping labels to receipt paper.

2. Since upgrading to 10.2, using the page setup for "continuous, wide" doesn't print. It just feeds the paper. Anyone else have this trouble?

Thanks,

Greg

[IdealData]

I too am interested in "wireless" scanning. Check out

www.baracoda.com

for a BLUETOOTH scanner.

[jasonwood]

Anybody having any luck with Dymo label printers on OS 10.2.3??

I just bought a Dymo 320. I downloaded the latest (looks like it's also the FIRST) OS X driver from their web site. When I select Dymo Labelwriter in the Print Center, the 320 shows up, but when I try to add it, I get a "-1" error.

I believe the problem is just with "adding" the printer. Does anyone know if a way to add it manually given that I know the name it shows up as? Possibly through some plist somewhere?

I have tried it on multiple machines running 10.2.3... I have not found a system running 10.1 or straight 10.2 to try it on (but then again that wouldn't really solve my problem!)

Dymo has not answered my email (it's been 2 weeks). Neadless to say I am not impressed with this company right now!

[jasonwood]

I finally got through to Dymo. They have been much more helpful. It seems they "quietly" released a new driver on the web site over the last few days which corrects this problem.

Just a comment for anyone considering a LabelWriter...

I got the Dymo 320 (the mid-range model) thinking that it had to be faster than the 10 year-old models we are using at work. Wow was I wrong! It takes almost 6 seconds to print a 4" label! That's a whole minute for 10 labels! Silly me... I thought this technology would have improved over the last 10 years! It's a good thing I only got this for testing and demonstrations!

An important lesson is learned: progress is not a given... check the specs!!!

So if you're gonna be printing a lot of labels, I advise you to pay the extra $60CA ($40US) for a 330Turbo, which boasts the title of "worlds fastest label printer" at 2 seconds per label.

[LiveOak]

The technology has improved, unfortunately this improvment is being used to "value engineer" cost out of products rather than improve performance. I'm afraid we're going to find the peak of label printer performance was probably the Seiko Label Printer PRO.

If you need label printers with more durable media, take a look at the Brother PT-9200DX. This is a thermal transfer printer which prints on continuous media available in 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4", 1", and 1 1/2" widths and various colors. Not ideal for mailing labels, but for ID tags and the like, it's ideal. It's a great alternative to the complexity of specialized barcode specific printers.

-bd

[webcat]

I have also been looking into label printing and found the Dymo things to be the only game that work with OSX.

However, CUPS printing is a wonderful thing, www.cups.org and I believe that almost any printer can be connected to Mac OSX 10.2.x and be made to work.

OK, I haven't tested this, but information on the web suggests that it should be possible, if you can get it to connect to USB (even via a converter) and be recognised as a printer, then your 99% guaranteed to get it to work.

OSX 10.2 users, type localhost:631 into a web browser on your machine (not from IE5, but almost all other browsers) for a whole load of info and pdf manuals.

Quote:

1. How can you connect two identical printers to the same computer and be able to choose which one you want to print to? I have the two LabelWriters so I don't have to reload each time I switch from shipping labels to receipt paper.

--

well, I haven't tried this, but if you give them different names and descriptions, then it should be possible.

It is also definitely possible to get FileMaker to decide which printer to print on without any user intervention...!