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Note that this post was made with CE 3.0 in mind; see topic 761 for some notes about printers and CE .NET

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1. Printer Driver
   • CE includes printer drivers for generic PCL printing.
   
   
   • Other types of printers require HPC2000 drivers from the manufacturer
   
   
   • You can also get custom drivers from Westek or Fieldsoftware.com.
   
   
   • For thermal and line printers, you may find it easier to write directly to the printers, as the commands are simple.
   
   
2. Data Transport
   • Network printing: CE supports printing to PCL printers over a TCP/IP network
     
   • Serial: While we support PCL printers, not many printers use serial connections
   
   
   • IR(infrared): Possible, but we haven't ever used this method
   
   
   • USB: Supported under CE.NET. Several CE 3.0 customers have done this, but we do not have the printer drivers they used.

• Printers must support True Type fonts; CE printing doesn't support raster fonts.
  
• The HPC/Pro SDK doesn't include a Print dialog box. If you need it, you must create your own dialog to select the printer and manage print jobs. You can still submit jobs programmatically without a dialog.


• CE doesn't support print queue management.


• If you simply need to read and write character data to the printer port, you can use the Windows ReadPrinter and WritePrinter APIs

(http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnaskdr/html/askgui05082001.asp)

• You can test your printer using the printing functions in Internet Explorer. We've used a network printer and addressed it with the format \\server_name\printer_name. I understand that there are options for printers on COM1 and IR, as well, and that CE.NET supports USB printers.

• Added printer support with CE .NET: topic 761



• How to select a printer port under Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q166129


• Sending raw data directly to printer (a LOT of overhead!)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/gdi/prntspol_93g2.asp


• Windows CE 3.0 Help files:
  - Locating a Printer on a Network
  - Printing on a Network
  - Working with Graphics -> Printing
  - StartDoc, EndDoc