Hello, >> Is this also true of the Linux version of Putty? I've never used it but >> it's packaged in Debian. Also I wonder what it is you mean with >> "bidirectionally" here. Do you expect to read data from the printer and >> send it back?
Yes, bidirectional communication is expected in both directions because behind this printer, several other devices are controlled through the printer, making the terminal a central point in the seamless interaction with the server for our users. What we aim to achieve is the ability to print directly to the COM port. While we are aware of commercial emulators that can accomplish this, we are exploring whether there are open-source alternatives that can provide the same functionality. Currently, this functionality is handled by a commercial emulator. >> Another thing I found with a quick search is screen. While screen is a >> terminal multiplexer, it has a user controllable setting printcmd for >> printing: >> >> "printcmd [cmd] >> >> If cmd is not an empty string, screen will not use the terminal >> capabilities "po/pf" if it detects an ansi print sequence ESC [ 5 i, but >> pipe the output into cmd. This should normally be a command like "lpr" >> or "'cat > /tmp/scrprint'". printcmd without a command displays the >> current setting. The ansi sequence ESC \ ends printing and closes the >> pipe. Warning: Be careful with this command! If other user have write >> access to your terminal, they will be able to fire off print commands." >> >> >From that description you should be able to set printcmd to for example >> cat > /dev/ttyUSB_whatever and the remote printing will go there. Screen does not have the capability to switch to transparent mode or specifically handle escape codes for printing natively, which it would receive from the application in order to pass to printcmd. Moreover, due to the continuous exchange based on the application's menus, managing this as an overlay to redirect the output to an external command could become quite complex. The printcmd feature in screen is primarily designed to redirect the output of the application to an external printing command. However, it is not intended to effectively handle bidirectional flows involving other devices. Thank you for the suggestion. Best Regards, Thierry
