Devices & Setup 1

PID & Kitchen Display Screen Setup

Businesses can operate from viewing orders in the live order manager, kitchen display screens and printers. Be default you will see orders in your live order manager. You will require at least one screen created to send all orders to if you want to see orders in the kitchen display. Printers are mapped to screens so once your screen(s) have been created then printers can be mapped to these screens. E.g. Food Screen mapped to food printer so if a food order is created it will display on the screen and print

General Setup Information

5 Step Process

Here are the general steps:

Create menu item ‘Screens’
1. Option 1) Create at least one screen to get started, this where all prints will be sent we recommend calling it ‘Full Receipt’. EMenu defaults all prints to the screen created if products have not been mapped to a screen
2. Option 2) If you want to separate screens and prints e.g. food screen and drink screens and have your products mapped to each screen (completed during the product creation process)
Connect your PID (printer integration device) to EMenu
1. Option 1) Ethernet (recommended)
2. Option 2) Wifi
Add Printers to EMenu
Map Printer To PID
1. USB Or Network?
  1. Option 1) Map USB Printer To PID (Simple)
  2. Option 2) Connect Via network (Complex)
    Connect Printer to Network
    Option 2a) Via Wifi (complex)
    Option 2b) Via Ethernet
    (Optional) Set Static IP Address for each printer
    Map Network printer to PID
Map your screens to your printers

What is a PID?

A PID is a device that allows you to control, connect and map your printers to your internet, your EMenu now screens and ultimately your services. Without it no orders will be able to print as your EMenu Now won’t be able to signal to your printers.

How does a PID, Printer and Screen work together?

Menu Item maps to a screen which maps to a printer via a PID

Menu items are mapped to screens in the menu item settings, you can choose a primary and secondary screen. If no screens are mapped then the default is the ‘full receipt’ screen where all menu items are sent.

1) How To Create Screens

What is a “screen”?

A screen is a grouping of menu items e.g. Food Screen can be mapped to your food items and Drinks Screen can be mapped to your drink items. Mapping a screen is a term used to assign menu items to specific kitchen display screens and printers.

First go to your devices page, click ‘add screen’

Head over to your dashboard, press the burger button (three lines on the top left of your dashboard), click configuration and then devices.
This image will appear, scroll down to ‘Add Item Screen’:
1. In the page that pops up click the drop down and name your screen e.g. Full Receipt. (This is where we start to map your Printers to your EMenu Screens)
2. Tick “Print on new order” and “Buzz on new order” then press create item screen.
3. The page will expand to let you add a printer (do this later once you have added your printers:
  
  2) Connect your PID (printer integration device) to EMenu
  Your PID always needs an internet connection, this can be done via Wifi or Ethernet. Your Printers need to be connected to your PID, this can be done via USB (recommended) or wifi or ethernet.
  
  Note: Ethernet connection to the PID which is on the same network as your printers and on the internet is recommended. We then recommend connecting the PID to a printer via USB. This is the most stable connection and at least one printer should be connected in this way to minimise downtime during technical issues. Wifi is not reliable in a restaurant environment and can result in missed prints due to wifi dropouts which is very common. The next most stable connection is Ethernet to PID + Ethernet to Printer where the ethernet cables are linked to the same network.

There are 2 ways in which you can set up your printer, option 1 and option 2.

Share wifi credentials with your account manager

Provide wifi credentials to your acount manager (username and password for your printer wifi network), ensure the PID has the correct user name and password for a secure network used for the printers (not a general access wifi) as the printer can drop off if the Wifi is being used by multiple devices. Provide your wifi username and password to your account manager who will input this into your PID before sending you the hardware. Alternatively this can be updated remotely if you connect your PID to a live ethernet connection and your account manager can update the PID SSID and password remotely

To connect power to your PID take your charger and plug into the side of the PID in the image below. (Make sure the charger is already connected to a socket).

Connect PID to your network

Option 1) Recommended: Connect the PID via ethernet: Connect PID to a power outlet and the network via ethernet cable if the printers will be hardwired (best most stable option)
1. We recommend you use a network adapter to use split the wire going to an existing network printer and connect one port to the PID and the other to the existing Printer.

Option 2) Connect the PID via wifi: If using wifi, the pid should connect automatically to your network once it has the right credentials set up. Please contact your account manager if the wifi credentials have changed e.g. changed your wifi.

To connect power to your PID take your type c charger and plug into the side of the PID in the image below. (Make sure the charger is already connected to a socket).

Add PID to EMenu on devices page

Head over to your dashboard, press the burger button, click configuration and then devices.
This image will appear, scroll down to printer interface:

Click add printer interface and create a name for it e.g. ‘Restaurant Name Drinks PID’ (if its a USB printer connected PID for drinks) or ‘ Restaurant Name All PID’ (if you have one PID thats networked). Then press ‘create Pi Interface
Scroll down to find your PID afterwards and you will see the name and status (online/offline)

3) Add printer to EMenu

On the devices page, press ‘Add Receipt Printer’ and name it. Do this multiple times until you have added all your printers

4) Map printer to PID

There are two options here

Option 1) Map PID to printer via USB (Simple)
Option 2) Map PID to printer via network (Complex)
- Connect Printer to Network
  - Via Ethernet (simple)
  - Via Wifi (complex)

Option 1) Connect to PID Via USB (Simple)

Steps to setting up a USB Printer Hardware:

Every printer will require one integration device connected to the back of it via USB

One printer integration device per printer.
Ability to connect our printer integration device to that network (ideally hardwired or can use Wifi however that is not a good long term solution).
Wifi SSID and password as a backup for if the network fails.
2 x free power sockets,1 for the printer integration device and one potentially for an ethernet hub to connect to the network.
Make sure the PID is plugged into a socket then take your type c charger and plug into the side of the PID in the image below. (Make sure the charger is already connected to a socket).

6. Make sure your printer is plugged in :The cable connects to the back of the printer in the image below

The circular port is the power port for the printer.
The rectangular shape socket is USB type A, plug one end of the USB wire then and the other end to the USB socket in the PID, you can use the USB cable that came with the PID or buy a ‘USB printer cable’ on amazon

Map the PID To The Printer

Head over to your dashboard, press the burger button, click configuration and then devices.
Select the printer you want to connect in the ‘Reciept Printer’ section and click the blue button
You will first need to connect the right USB device to the PID then update the ‘print type’ to meet your printing requirements
1. First scroll down to the usb connections, press the green refresh button and select the device from the list that has the word ‘New’ next to it as per the image and press ‘update printer’
  Finally we need to make sure the driver for the printer is correct. The Print Type is the ‘Driver’ there are 3 drivers for USB. Select the dropdown under print type. ESC/POS should work else try 2 and 3 if they do not work
  
  Generic - this works for most printers as the text is small with no fonts/logos. ESC/POS/LAN options are for networked printers e.g. Wireless or via ethernet where you need an IP address
2. only one of these drivers will work so please cycle through each until a print works for one of these
3. If the text is too small test out the other drivers to see which one works for you. Select each one and run a test print to see which one works.
1. Complete the same task for the remaining USB printers and PIDs
Option 2) Network Printer Set-Up

If you use the network (IP address) we recommend setting a Static IP address for your Printer to stop the IP address changing in the future. This is because IP addresses can change for multiple reasons and this will result in the failure of prints in the future if the IP address of your printer changes.

Requirements for network printer setup
One integration device connects EMenu to all networked printers, one power socket required:
1. All printers on the same network with a reserved IP address.
2. Ability to connect our PID or ‘integration device’ to that network (ideally hardwired or can use Wifi however that is not a good long term solution). If Wifi then please connect your printer to your Wifi first (instructions below)
3. 2 x free power sockets,1 for the integration device and one potentially for an ethernet router to connect to the network if no free ports are available.
4. IP address and location name for each printer e.g. IP Address: 192.168.1.251 Name: Drinks Printer.
5. Wifi SSID and password as a backup for if the network fails.
Option 2 a) Connect Printer To PID via Wifi (complex)

First connect the printer to your network. Your printer will have instructions on how to do this. We have provided generic guidance

Then create a test print using the instructions to determine the IP address

Then map the create a static IP address

And finally map the printer to the PID here
and map it to a printer (follow steps below) from

Option 2 b) Connect Printer To PID via Ethernet (simple):
1. Make sure your router/ network is plugged in and switched on.
2. Connect your ethernet cable to the network/ router
3. Make sure your printer is plugged in and then connect it to the network/router with another ethernet cable.
  1. The cable connects to the back of the printer in the image below
The circular port is the power port for the printer.

How to run a test print to get the IP address:
1. Press the rectangle button that opens the paper roll, make sure there is a bit of paper roll outside when closing this so it looks like this:
2. Press the feed button and the power button of the printer at the same time, this will produce a test print.
  This self test will give you information about the printer:
  1. IP Address
    Make sure this IP address is suitable for your network.
If you were able to print the test slip, you now have valuable information regarding your network setup. Although each slip will show this information differently, try to locate the following information on your test slip.
- IP Address
- DHCP Enabled or Disabled
The image below is an example of this information on a test slip
If you have a complex print out with multiple IP addresses, use the one that is on the top. You can see two prints below, the first is the test print the second is not. The test print has 2 IP addresses, the one on the top ending 183 is to be used
That’s it for the hardware, now it's time to make your IP address static (this is recommended but not required)

Setting a static IP address - Every Customer Should Do This For Stable Printing

Setting the printer’s IP address as static will prevent issues after a router restart or a power cut, and we recommend that this step is followed.

Connect a computer/phone/tablet to the same network that the printer is connected to
Obtain the printer’s current IP address. (found in part 5 above)

In your web browser, enter the printer’s IP address into the address bar. For example, if your printer’s IP address is 192.168.1.30, enter http://192.168.1.30 into your web browser.

Please note that you must use the http:// protocol - so type http:// then type your IP address and press enter in your browser to bring up the settings page . Your web browser may automatically change it to https://, if it does, just remove the added ‘s’ and press enter.

You are now on your printer’s settings page. On the left-hand menu, click on ‘Configuration’

Here, select the ‘Fixed IP Address’ option, and then enter the IP address you wish to use. If you’re unsure, you can use the IP address already assigned to the printer (so in our example, we would just input 192.168.1.30)

It is not necessary to change the other settings on this page (Subnet Mask and Gateway Address). Please leave these alone, unless you know what you’re doing.
Click save. It should then prompt you to ‘Reboot’ the printer. To do this, click on the ‘Restart’ button on the left hand side. This step is very important, as the printer’s IP will not change until it is rebooted. Note please reboot your printer even if it does not ask you to do so, else the settings will not update automatically

Map Network Printer to PID

Head over to your dashboard, press the burger button, click configuration and then devices.

Select the printer you want to connect in the ‘Reciept Printer’ section and click the blue button
1. You will first need to connect the network printer to the PID then update the ‘print type’ to meet your printing requirements
  1. First scroll down to the ‘Network connction’ section and choose a PID and press select then press update printer
Then enter your printer IP address from the test print (if you have set a different static IP address, then enter that one instead)

Then choose the right print driver. The Print Type is the ‘Driver’ ; there are 2 drivers for network printers. Select the dropdown under print type. Only one of these drivers will work so please cycle through each until a print works for one of these
1. Try ESC/POS Lan with a test print then ESC/POS/LAN 2,
2. Other options include ‘Item size’ which is how big the text will be
1. Enter the IP Address from your printer's test print. (If you have set a different static IP address, then enter that one instead)
2. Item size is how big the text will be so you can change this here.
3. Click “update printer”.
4. Go to item screens, click the printer in blue underneath it and look at the bottom of the pop up page, press the blue button to attach the printer to the screen.