ZX Spectrum Next Wi-Fi Printer Driver

An installable driver that enables printing directly to your network printer from your ZX Spectrum Next.

Installing the Driver

1. Make sure your ZX Spectrum Next has been joined to your Wi-Fi network.
2. Copy the driver file onto your ZX Spectrum Next SD Card.
3. Install the driver using the following command:
   
   .install wifiprn.drv
   
   
4. Tell the driver what your printer's IP address is. To achieve this, we open channel #3, the default printer channel, and configure the IP address using the following command:
   
   open #3,"d>P>[printer IP address]"
   
   Where [printer IP address] is replaced with the IP of your printer. If for example, the IP address iis 192.168.5.39, you would enter the following:
   
   open #3, "d>P>192.168.5.39"
   
   
5. Start printing! Since we opened the default channel 3, the standard BASIC LPRINT and LLIST commands should work as expected. Try this
   
   LPRINT "Hello from your ZX Spectrum Next"
   
   If you used a channel other than 3 you can explicitly specify the channel to print to. For example, if you opened using channel 5 the following should work.
   
   PRINT #5, "Hello from your ZX Spectrum Next"
   
   Note, since we are explicitly specifying the channel, we can use the standard PRINT statement.

Driver Commands

CMD ID	Command	Arguments	Example
1	Set max line length	Max Line length	DRIVER 80, 1, 32 80 - Driver ID 1 - Command ID 32 - Max line length
2	Disable CR Translation	Flag to disable CR translation	DRIVER 80, 2, 1 80 - Driver ID 2 - Command ID 1 - Disable CR Translation (0-to reenable) Disabling CR translation is useful when wanting to print from CP/M

Limitations

1. Currently limited to printing text only
2. Uses the standard printer font so it will not print UDGs and other extended characters.
3. Some locale-specific characters like the © and £ will likely not print the correct symbol. See Enhanced Printing Experience

Enhanced Printing Experience

If your printer doesn’t support direct RAW printing, or if you’re looking for a more advanced printing experience, consider running the NextPrintServer. When paired with the WIFI Printer Driver on the ZX Spectrum Next, it unlocks a significantly richer feature set and improved functionality.

Next Printer Server Features

• Supports any Windows Printer, local or networked
• Use any installed Windows font
• Supports a subset of the EPSON ESC/POS command set, including color printing
• Printing ZX Spectrum special characters (©, £, ↑, ▝, ▘, ▀, ▗, ▐, ▚, ▌, ▛, ▄, ▟, ▙, █)
• Print preview

Supported ESC/POS Commands

Command	Description
ESC @	Initialize/Reset Printer
ESC E	Enable Bold Mode
ESC F	Disable Bold Mode
ESC 4	Enable Italics
ESC 5	Disable Italics
ESC - 1	Underline on
ESC - 0	Underline off
ESC r n	Select color n 0 - Black 1 - Blue 2 - Red 3 - Magenta 4 - Green 5 - Cyan 6 - Yellow 7 - Light gray

Wifi Printer Driver Source

Next Print Server Source