Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech.
Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics.
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Summary
- Turn a Raspberry Pi + receipt printer into a daily family digest with weather, chores, and puzzles.
- The Printr app includes 55 customizable widgets: weather icons, Lichess chess puzzle, sudoku, crosswords, and notes, to name a few.
- It uses a Raspberry Pi 3B and Epson TM-T88V for scheduled or instant prints.
If you ever wonder what someone would do with a receipt printer outside of business use, look no further than the tinkering community. They've found many different ways to put them to good use, such as letting people send them messages from the internet. Now, someone has found a way to turn a receipt printer into a daily family digest, complete with weather forecasts, puzzles, and a chore rota for the kids.
This Raspberry Pi-powered receipt printer keeps the whole family in the loop
A bit of work, a bit of play
Over on the Raspberry Pi subreddit, user ImX99 posted the code for their newest project. It's called Printr, and it comes with 55 little widgets you can place and customize on a receipt with the help of a Raspberry Pi 3B. You can print them right away, or you can schedule them to print at a specific time as a daily digest for the whole family.
Here are some of the widget highlights ImX99 mentioned:
- weather with little pictograms and a "what to wear" line (coat and hat, take an umbrella...)
- puzzles generated on the Pi: sudoku, kakuro, takuzu, hashi, crosswords, word search, mazes
- the daily Lichess chess puzzle, with the board drawn on the receipt
- chores that rotate between the kids every week, which ended a lot of arguments
- birthdays, bin day, the shopping list
- a "little note" with a photo for whoever stayed home
So, there you have it. If you have a Raspberry Pi 3B and an Epson TM-T88V receipt printer kicking around (maybe check your attic), you can see the project for yourself over on the project's website and make your own via the GitHub repo.