TCP COM Bridge - Troubleshooting Slow Receipt Printing from Remote Accounting Software

Task:

Speed-up a receipt printing on a receipt or POS printer from a remote computer

1. The accounting software is installed on a remote computer or server.

2. An operator connects to a terminal server and wants to print a bill.

3. A receipt or POS printer is connected locally to the operator's computer.

4. The receipt or bill printing process is slow, and it can take minutes.

Problem background:

In the case of remote printing, the accounting program sends data to the operator's computer, and it redirects data to a receipt or POS printer. Standard COM port redirecting methods in Windows Terminals do this job very slowly because this part is not optimized to work with small data packets. It becomes important when a host computer sends many data packets and waits for each packet's acknowledgments. The overall delay increases in proportion to the print job size. You do not see this delay for short receipts. But if it contains many positions, the printing process may take several minutes.

We offer a solution that replaces Windows Terminal's COM port sharing while your accounting software outputs data to a receipt or POS printer (fig. 1). You can install TCP COM Bridge (download) and get a higher data transfer rate.

We have a step-by-step guide for this usage case. You can show it to your system administrator if you cannot do it yourself or do not have the necessary access rights. This instruction is applicable to most accounting programs.

Fig. 1. Slows receipt printing. Before and after changes.

Why 95% of cases?

1. The most important thing is the distance between a server and a remote computer with a receipt or POS printer. If your server is located in North America, and a receipt or POS printer is located in Europe, you will also get a big delay with our software.

2. You connect a receipt or POS printer using proprietary hardware and a non-standard way.

3. You cannot change the settings in your accounting software.

See also

Slow receipt or bill printing from a remote accounting software.
Printing on one receipt, POS or fiscal printer from two computers.
Redirect COM ports to a terminal Windows server.
How to send data to a receipt, POS or fiscal printer from a remote accounting software.
How to the optimize operating system for faster COM port redirecting.
Serial port-over-Ethernet.