Printer Setup

First setup the Star TSP 100(143) or Star TSP 650(654) printer as per the manufacturer’s instructions and have it plugged into your local area network.
Ensure you have set it up so it has a Static IP Address, by reserving it in on your router. ie in the same way as you did for the NapkinBox explained on the Getting Started help page.

We now need to set it up on Napkin.  Log in to Napkin, and from the Menu , select <Back Office>… Then Select <Printer>. The following screen will appear

On the Green bar, enter the details as required….

  • Printer Name  – eg “Bar” or “Kitchen”
  • IP Address of the Printer (*see below)
  • Port – usually 9100
  • Make and Model  of the printer
  • Cash Drawer Pulse Width: Default 200ms. The length of time an electronic pulse is sent to the cash drawer, from the printer, to open it. Different cash drawer models require different amounts of pulse time, though most are 200ms. If it does not work with 200ms, increase the Pulse Width until it does. If no Cash Drawer attached to the printer, leave at 200ms.
  • Order – This is the sequence in which the printers are tried if the original destined printer is offline. See “Customer Requests” below.

*You can find the IP addresses of you printers by clicking the find printer button:    Alternatively you can do a hardware self-test print by holding down the <Feed> button on the Star printer as you turn it on.

Test Print

After adding a printer, you can now do a test print. simply select the row of the printer you want to test and then click on . This will bring up a new popup window.

You can change the text “This is a test print” to whatever you want, or leave as is, then simply click  . 

It is also possible to generate a QR code, of the entered text, by clicking . From here you can print, copy or download the QR code.  Some use this as a way to generate a QR code to point their customers to their restaurant/bar online ordering portal, e.g. https:/napkin.co.uk/new/demo The QR code is printed and placed on tables for customers to order from for table service.

Final Setups

Once you have entered all your printers, select the button. You should now go to the <Device Setup> section again, to define the device’s “Network Receipt Printer”, and whether orders are printed.

Printers are used for 3 reasons.

  • Receipts
  • Firing the Cash Drawer
  • Customer Requests 

Receipts and Cash Drawer: Each tablet / till screen, eg Samsung Tab A 10.5, will be linked to one Receipt printer…. this is defined in the <Device Setup> section under <Network Receipt Printer>. Receipts will only be sent to this printer from this tablet.  The Cash Drawer should also be plugged into to this printer via the RJ11 connection.  When you settle a customer’s bill, this cash drawer will then be fired to open.

Customer Requests: Each <Stock Item> can be assigned to a particular printer, so when a Customer request is confirmed, it will be will be sent to that printer for preparation..  ie Sunday Beef Roast will be sent to the “Kitchen” printer… Bottle of Shiraz wine will be sent to the “Ground Floor Bar” printer.  If the destined printer is offline, then Napkin will look for the next available printer to send the Customer request too, based on the <Order> property above.
ie Customer request’s a “Sunday Beef Roast” which are normally sent to the “Kitchen” printer, but that one is offline or out of paper, so Napkin reroutes next to the “Ground Floor Bar” printer and if that one is also offline then tries the “Cellar Bar” printer. 

It is possible to prevent a “Customer Request” being printed from a given tablet, for a given printer, under the <Device Setup> section.  E.g  your customer walks up to your bar and requests one glass of wine…you enter it in to the tablet based at the bar , but in this situation you don’t really want to print off an order, after all the waiter can simply prepare the drink there and then, followed by taking the payment.  So under <Device Setup> the <Bar> printer would be set to “FALSE” for the Tablet that is based at the bar.  You would still set this to “TRUE” for other tablets, e.g. a mobile tablet that the waiter takes with them to the customer table when taking a food and drinks order.