Label Printing on ymo 330 Printer (14.6.04 dg)

The software used on the Bonn correlator for printing library labels has been modified to simply print text with a barcode label below it. The software is on

ftp://ftp.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/outgoing/p062gra/dylab.tar

Usage:

MPI-0053 C (A space before the C) will print a track-style barcode label with label, single space and single-letter check code.

The text is made using ghostscript , barcode is generated using code reused from field system and is put in a separate bitmap. The two bitmaps are then combined to a single pbm file which is reformatted by pbm2lwxl and sent to the Dymo.

The two component simple pbm files above are combined as follows:

Labels without checksum are also possible using e.g. MPI-0053/1480/1024

Since this is longer a rather finer spacing is used on the barcode:

In this case the result is not quite so good as with the manufacturer's Windows software, it is difficult to get the optimum allocation of space/bar widths. Beware of possibly outdated ghostscript versions giving seriously enormous bitmaps.

Software components:

• Main part in tcl (modified from Bonn version (“tubby“) of correlator “tuba“.

• Barcode generation in c, modified from field system.

• Dymo driver pbm2lwxl in c from Mark Whitis.

The utility gs (ghostscript) is also used. There may be problems depending on which ghostscript version is installed. The program pbm2lwxl may not be necessary if this printer is installed under cups system.