Everyday use#

Once the printer is registered (see First steps), you print to it like to any other printer. This page covers the options and what to expect from the printer day to day.

Printing options#

lp -d Phomemo_M08F_DDEEFF -o media=iso_a5_148x210mm -o print-quality=5 -o phomemo-tone=ordered photo.png

Every option also appears in the print dialog of your application and in the printer app’s web interface.

Option

Values

Effect

media

iso_a4_210x297mm (default), iso_a5_148x210mm

Sheet size.

print-quality

3 draft, 4 normal (default), 5 high

Printer density: low, medium, high.

phomemo-tone

see below

How the printer driver renders a document for the print job.

print-content-optimize

auto, text, graphic, photo

Guides phomemo-tone=auto.

A5 sheets#

A5 sheets go in long edge first. A portrait A5 page is rotated so its right edge leads out of the printer; you do not need to rotate anything yourself.

Rendering (phomemo-tone)#

Value

Label in the web interface

Use it for

auto (default)

Automatic

Black and white for text and graphics, diffusion dither for photos, following print-content-optimize.

threshold

Black and white

Text and line art.

ordered

Ordered dither

Gray areas as a regular pattern.

diffusion

Diffusion dither

Photos.

Note

The printer prints grayscale only, one page per sheet, no duplex. The only media type is thermal paper. Margins are 10 mm at the top and bottom of the sheet and 0 mm at the sides.

Loading sheets#

Important

Close the lid first, then insert the sheet. A sheet inserted while the lid is still open is ejected again.

A job waits until a sheet is seated, then prints and ejects it. A job with several pages waits for each sheet in turn. While the job waits, the printer app tells you what to do: “Insert a sheet.”, “Close the lid.” or “Turn on Bluetooth.”.

Note

CUPS shows the queue as “Printing.” the whole time. The reasons (media-empty, cover-open, offline) are visible in the printer app’s web interface and through IPP.

When something interrupts a page#

Nothing is lost. The page is printed again:

What happens

What the driver does

The lid opens mid-page

Reports cover-open. When the lid closes, a sheet still inside is ejected. Insert a new sheet and the page prints again.

The sheet runs out before the page ends

Reports media-empty. Insert a longer sheet and the page prints again.

The printer switches off or the connection drops mid-page

Picks the printer up again when it comes back on and prints the page again.

Cancelling#

Cancel a job while it waits for a sheet and it simply stops. Cancel it once printing has started and the transfer stops and the sheet is ejected.

Battery#

The printer app shows the battery charge as the printer’s supply level, in its web interface and through IPP. It keeps the last reading while the printer is off or out of range.

Tip

GNOME Settings shows the battery as an ink level, but only for a permanent CUPS queue and only after a job. See First steps.

Using the printer from a phone or another computer#

The printer accepts only one connection at a time. While the printer driver holds the connection, the printer can not be used by other devices.

phomemo-bridge disconnect

This drops the connection right away, so your phone or the other computer can reach the printer.

Without that, the bridge drops the connection on its own after a configurable timeout.

Auto-off#

The printer switches itself off after a period without activity. Check or change the timer with the bridge:

phomemo-bridge connect
phomemo-bridge auto-off        # shows the current setting
phomemo-bridge auto-off 5      # set it to 5 minutes

Values must be multiples of 5 (up to 1275). 0 means the printer never switches off automatically.

To enforce an auto-off setting, set auto_off_minutes in /etc/phomemo/bridge.toml. Then the bridge writes it to the printer everytime it connects.