About two thirds of our tech support deals with printers
In fact, many printing problems can be solved with downloading an updated printer driver. Here are links to download drivers for commonly used printers from Datamax, Boca, Practical Automation and Zebra.
Thermal printers on a network: In theory, you can purchase a high speed, heavy duty thermal printer and have everyone in the office share it. Networks are built to share printers. These printers are heavy duty and will print as many tickets as your office generates. However, in practice, this does not work. What happens is that you have one printer printing out everyone’s tickets and dropping them in a pile. The humans need to sort them out, and this is where mistakes are made.
For your first season, if you cannot afford an industrial type thermal printer, get the Datamax E class 4205e thermal printer (under $550). Everyone will be happier. Next season, you can purchase the fancier printers and use the Datamaxes to print both ticket envelope and mailing labels. The Datamax 3210 is a faster printer for heavier use.
Click here for detailed instructions on how to set up a Datamax 4205 using a CD
Click here for detailed instructions on how to set up a Datamax 3210.
Ticket printing depends on your needs.
You can use a laser or ink jet printer, but you are limited to what the printer can do. These printers print one page at a time (rather than one ticket a time). The thickness of the stock is limited to what is published in the printer specs (usually 24- pound bond paper rather than 120-pound card stock). Finally, there is a built-in half inch margin at the top of every page. On the good side, they are quiet, reliable, and look great. Inexpensive stock, with custom perforations and colors, is available.
Depending on your needs, there are three brands of thermal printers we recommend:
Datamax-O'Neil Practical Automation Boca Systems
Center Stage Software sells thermal printers as a service to our customers. Other brands should work. Wintix will print to any printer that works with Windows. In practice, the results vary. The usual solution is to install an updated printer driver (see links above).
With ticket printers, the two big differences are the speed and cutter. The more expensive printers print one ticket a second and cut them off. The lower cost Datamax will print a ticket about every 3½ seconds and requires you to tear off the ticket at the perforation.
You do not need to make a decision about a printer immediately. There is no harm in waiting a couple of weeks to get a better idea of your needs.
Another bit of advice: forget about A-B printer switches. People always get them confused and forget how to use them. Plus, the switches create tiny sparks in the printer cable. These sparks are interpreted by the printer as relevant data. Some models of printers are more sensitive than others. HP and Eltron printers, in particular, can give very interesting results. Get a second parallel printer port or get a USB / Parallel adapter. These ports are very inexpensive.