Metadata-Version: 2.1
Name: brother-ql
Version: 0.9.4
Summary: Python package to talk to Brother QL label printers
Home-page: https://github.com/pklaus/brother_ql
Author: Philipp Klaus
Author-email: philipp.l.klaus@web.de
License: GPL
Keywords: Brother QL-500 QL-550 QL-560 QL-570 QL-700 QL-710W QL-720NW QL-800 QL-810W QL-820NWB QL-1050 QL-1060N
Platform: any
Classifier: Development Status :: 4 - Beta
Classifier: Operating System :: OS Independent
Classifier: License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v3 or later (GPLv3+)
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3
Classifier: Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Visualization
Classifier: Topic :: System :: Hardware :: Hardware Drivers
Requires-Dist: click
Requires-Dist: future
Requires-Dist: packbits
Requires-Dist: pillow (>=3.3.0)
Requires-Dist: pyusb
Requires-Dist: attrs
Requires-Dist: enum34; python_version < "3.4"
Requires-Dist: typing; python_version < "3.5"

brother_ql
----------

A Python package to control Brother QL label printers. It implements the
raster language of those printers and allows you to send instruction
files to your printer. In more details, the following is possible with
this package:

-  Create raster language files for the Brother label printers. They can
   be created from image files or programmatically in your own Python
   script.
-  Print raster instruction files with your Brother label printer via
   different backends:

   -  pyusb (works cross-platform)
   -  network (works cross-platform for WiFi/Ethernet-enabled printers)
   -  linux_kernel (works on Linux only; uses the /dev/usb/lp0 device
      handles)

The following printers are claimed to be supported (✓ means verified by
the author or by contributors):

-  QL-500 (✓), QL-550 (✓), QL-560 (✓), QL-570 (✓), QL-580N, QL-650TD,
   QL-700 (✓), QL-710W (✓), QL-720NW (✓), QL-800 (✓), QL-810W (✓),
   QL-820NWB (✓), QL-1050 (✓), and QL-1060N (✓).

The new QL-800 series can print labels with two colors (black and red)
on DK-22251 labels.

Note: If your printer has an ‘Editor Lite’ mode, you need to disable it
if you want to print via USB. Make sure that the corresponding LED is
not lit by holding the button down until it turns off.

If you’re interested in printing labels using a web interface, check out
`brother_ql_web <https://github.com/pklaus/brother_ql_web>`__, which
builds upon this package.

Why
---

The special feature of this package is that no printer driver is
required for it to work. This software bypasses the whole printing
system including printer drivers and directly talks to your label
printer instead. This means that even though Brother doesn’t offer a
driver for the Raspberry Pi (running Linux on ARM) you can print nicely
using this software. And even if there are drivers for your operating
system, many programs have difficulties to set the page sizes and
margins for the labels correctly. If you want to print with high
precision (which is important for barcodes for example), you rather want
to have control about every single pixel to be printed. This is where
brother_ql comes into the game.

Installation
------------

brother_ql is `available on the Python Package
Index <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/brother_ql>`__ to be installed with
pip:

::

   pip install --upgrade brother_ql

The upgrade flag makes sure, you get the latest version of brother_ql
but also of its dependencies.

Alternatively, you can install the latest version from Github using:

::

   pip install --upgrade https://github.com/pklaus/brother_ql/archive/master.zip

This package was mainly created for use with Python 3. The essential
functionality, however, will also work with Python 2: the creation of
label files.

In order to run the ``brother_ql`` command line utility, the directory
it resides in needs to be in the PATH envirnoment variable. On some
systems, the ``pip install`` command defaults to the ``--user`` flag
resulting in the utility being put in the ``~/.local/bin`` directory. On
those systems, extending the path variable via
``export PATH="${PATH}:~/.local/bin"`` is needed.

Usage
-----

The main user interface of this package is the command line tool
``brother_ql``.

::

   Usage: brother_ql [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

     Command line interface for the brother_ql Python package.

   Options:
     -b, --backend [pyusb|network|linux_kernel]
     -m, --model [QL-500|QL-550|QL-560|QL-570|QL-580N|QL-650TD|QL-700|QL-710W|QL-720NW|QL-800|QL-810W|QL-820NWB|QL-1050|QL-1060N]
     -p, --printer PRINTER_IDENTIFIER
                                     The identifier for the printer. This could
                                     be a string like tcp://192.168.1.21:9100 for
                                     a networked printer or
                                     usb://0x04f9:0x2015/000M6Z401370 for a
                                     printer connected via USB.
     --debug
     --version                       Show the version and exit.
     --help                          Show this message and exit.

   Commands:
     analyze   interpret a binary file containing raster...
     discover  find connected label printers
     info      list available labels, models etc.
     print     Print a label
     send      send an instruction file to the printer

There are some global options available such as –model and –printer.
They can also be provided by environment variables (``BROTHER_QL_MODEL``
and ``BROTHER_QL_PRINTER``).

The global options are followed by a command such as ``info`` or
``print``. The most important command is the ``print`` command and here
is its CLI signature:

::

   Usage: brother_ql print [OPTIONS] IMAGE [IMAGE] ...

     Print a label of the provided IMAGE.

   Options:
     -l, --label [12|29|38|50|54|62|102|17x54|17x87|23x23|29x42|29x90|39x90|39x48|52x29|62x29|62x100|102x51|102x152|d12|d24|d58]
                                     The label (size, type - die-cut or endless).
                                     Run `brother_ql info labels` for a full
                                     list including ideal pixel dimensions.
     -r, --rotate [auto|0|90|180|270]
                                     Rotate the image (counterclock-wise) by this
                                     amount of degrees.
     -t, --threshold FLOAT           The threshold value (in percent) to
                                     discriminate between black and white pixels.
     -d, --dither                    Enable dithering when converting the image
                                     to b/w. If set, --threshold is meaningless.
     -c, --compress                  Enable compression (if available with the
                                     model). Label creation can take slightly
                                     longer but the resulting instruction size is
                                     normally considerably smaller.
     --red                           Create a label to be printed on
                                     black/red/white tape (only with QL-8xx
                                     series on DK-22251 labels). You must use
                                     this option when printing on black/red tape,
                                     even when not printing red.
     --600dpi                        Print with 600x300 dpi available on some
                                     models. Provide your image as 600x600 dpi;
                                     perpendicular to the feeding the image will
                                     be resized to 300dpi.
     --lq                            Print with low quality (faster). Default is
                                     high quality.
     --no-cut                        Don't cut the tape after printing the label.
     --help                          Show this message and exit.

So, printing an image file onto 62mm endless tape on a QL-710W label
printer can be as easy as:

::

   export BROTHER_QL_PRINTER=tcp://192.168.1.21
   export BROTHER_QL_MODEL=QL-710W
   brother_ql print -l 62 my_image.png

The available label names can be listed with ``brother_ql info labels``:

::

    Name      Printable px   Description
    12         106           12mm endless
    29         306           29mm endless
    38         413           38mm endless
    50         554           50mm endless
    54         590           54mm endless
    62         696           62mm endless
    102       1164           102mm endless
    17x54      165 x  566    17mm x 54mm die-cut
    17x87      165 x  956    17mm x 87mm die-cut
    23x23      202 x  202    23mm x 23mm die-cut
    29x42      306 x  425    29mm x 42mm die-cut
    29x90      306 x  991    29mm x 90mm die-cut
    39x90      413 x  991    38mm x 90mm die-cut
    39x48      425 x  495    39mm x 48mm die-cut
    52x29      578 x  271    52mm x 29mm die-cut
    62x29      696 x  271    62mm x 29mm die-cut
    62x100     696 x 1109    62mm x 100mm die-cut
    102x51    1164 x  526    102mm x 51mm die-cut
    102x152   1164 x 1660    102mm x 153mm die-cut
    d12         94 x   94    12mm round die-cut
    d24        236 x  236    24mm round die-cut
    d58        618 x  618    58mm round die-cut

**Pro Tip™**: For the best results, use image files with the matching
pixel dimensions. Die-cut labels have to be in the exact pixel
dimensions stated above. For endless label rolls, you can provide image
files with a pixel width as stated above. If you provide a file with
different dimensions when creating an endless label file, it will be
scaled to fit the width.

Backends
~~~~~~~~

There are multiple backends for connecting to the printer available (✔:
supported, ✘: not supported):

============ ==== ======= ======= =======
Backend      Kind Linux   Mac OS  Windows
============ ==== ======= ======= =======
network (1)  TCP  ✔       ✔       ✔
linux_kernel USB  ✔ (2)   ✘       ✘
pyusb (3)    USB  ✔ (3.1) ✔ (3.2) ✔ (3.3)
============ ==== ======= ======= =======

Notes:

1. The network backend doesn’t support reading back the printer state,
   currently. Failure such as *wrong label type* or *end of label roll
   reached* won’t be detected by this software.
2. The label printer should show up automatically as ``/dev/usb/lp0``
   when connected. Please check the ownership (user, group) of this file
   to be able to print as a regular user. Consider setting up a udev
   .rules file.
3. PyUSB is a Python wrapper allowing to implement USB communication in
   userspace.

   1. On Linux: install libusb1 as offered by your distribution:
      ``sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0`` (Ubuntu, Debian),
      ``sudo zyppe in libusb-1_0-0`` (OpenSUSE),
      ``sudo pacman -S libusb`` (Arch).
   2. On Mac OS: Install `Homebrew <https://brew.sh/>`__ and then
      install libusb1 using: ``brew install libusb``.
   3. On Windows: download
      `libusb-win32-devel-filter-1.2.6.0.exe <https://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb-win32/files/libusb-win32-releases/1.2.6.0/>`__
      from sourceforge and install it. After installing, you have to use
      the “Filter Wizard” to setup a “device filter” for the label
      printer.

Legacy command line tools
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a long time, this project provided multiple command line tools, such
as ``brother_ql_create``, ``brother_ql_print``, ``brother_ql_analyze``,
and more. The overview of those tools can still be found in the
`LEGACY <https://github.com/pklaus/brother_ql/blob/master/LEGACY.md>`__
documentation. The use of these tools is now considered deprecated and
they will be removed in a future release.

Author
------

This software package was written by Philipp Klaus based on Brother’s
documentation of its raster language and based on additinal reverse
engineering efforts.

-  Philipp Klaus
   philipp.l.klaus@web.de

Many more have contributed by raising issues, helping to solve them,
improving the code and helping out financially.

Contributing
------------

There are many ways to support the development of brother_ql:

-  **File an issue** on Github, if you encounter problems, have a
   proposal, etc.
-  **Send an email with ideas** to the author.
-  **Submit a pull request** on Github if you improved the code and know
   how to use git.
-  **Finance a label printer** from the `author’s
   wishlist <https://www.amazon.de/registry/wishlist/3GSVLPF08AFIR>`__
   to allow him to extend the device coverage and testing.
-  **Donate** an arbitrary amount of money for the development of
   brother_ql `via
   Paypal <https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=philipp.klaus@gmail.com&lc=US&item_name=Donation+to+brother_ql+Development&no_note=0&cn=&currency_code=USD&bn=PP-DonationsBF:btn_donateCC_LG.gif:NonHosted>`__.

Thanks to everyone helping to improve brother_ql.

Links
-----

-  The source code and issue tracker of this package is to be found on
   **Github**:
   `pklaus/brother_ql <https://github.com/pklaus/brother_ql>`__.
-  The package is also to be found on the Python Package Index **PyPI**:
   `brother_ql <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/brother_ql>`__.
-  A curated list of related and unrelated software can be found `in
   this
   document <https://gist.github.com/pklaus/aeb55e18d36690df6a84a3eab49e9fd7>`__.


