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Printer Setup

How to connect a receipt or kitchen printer to your OXOCO tablet

Before You Start

You can connect a printer to your tablet in two ways:

Method Best for How hard?
USB One printer, no setup needed Very easy
Network Multiple printers, shared between tablets A bit more work

Not sure? Start with USB. You plug a cable, and it works.

USB Printer Setup

What you need

  • Your Android tablet with the OXOCO app installed
  • A thermal receipt printer (58mm or 80mm, any brand)
  • A USB-C OTG Y-cable with charging (about $2-3, see Accessories)
  • Your tablet charger

About the Y-cable

Your tablet has one USB port. You need it for the charger AND the printer. A Y-cable splits it into two: one side for charging, one side for the printer.

It looks like this:

Charger -------> [ Y-cable ] -------> Tablet
Printer ------>

You can find these cables on Shopee, AliExpress, or any electronics shop. Search for "USB-C OTG Y-cable with charging" or "USB-C OTG charging adapter".

One important thing: do NOT use a powered USB hub (a hub with its own charger plugged in). When a hub sends power to the tablet, the tablet gets confused and stops seeing the printer. If you have a USB hub, just unplug the hub's own charger. Only your tablet charger should go through the Y-cable.

How to connect

  1. Plug the Y-cable into the tablet (the USB-C end)
  2. Connect your charger to the Y-cable's power port
  3. Connect the printer's USB cable to the Y-cable's USB-A port
  4. Turn on the printer
  5. The tablet will ask you to choose an app. Pick OXOCO POS
  6. Open the POS app, tap the gear icon, then Printer Settings
  7. Set the print method to USB
  8. Tap Test Print

A small test receipt should come out. Done!

USB problems and fixes

The tablet does not ask to choose an app: Unplug the USB cable from the tablet, wait a few seconds, plug it back in. Make sure the printer is turned on.

"No USB devices found" in the app: This usually means a powered USB hub is interfering. Unplug the hub's own charger. Only the tablet charger should be connected through the Y-cable.

The tablet shows options like "File Transfer" or "MTP": Same problem. The hub is sending power to the tablet. Unplug the hub's charger.

The printer makes noise but nothing comes out: Tap Test Print again. If it still does not work, the printer might not support ESC/POS (the printing language OXOCO uses). Most thermal printers do support it, but check with the seller.

Network Printer Setup

Use this method if you want multiple tablets to share one printer, or if the printer is in another room (like the kitchen).

What you need

  • Your Android tablet with the OXOCO app installed
  • A thermal receipt printer with an Ethernet port (the square plug, like a phone jack but wider)
  • A WiFi router
  • An Ethernet cable (usually comes with the printer)

How it works

The printer plugs into the router with a cable. The tablet connects to the same router over WiFi. They talk to each other through the router.

WiFi Router
  |
  |--- Ethernet cable ---> Printer
  |
  |--- WiFi ---> Your tablet

How to connect

  1. Plug the Ethernet cable from the printer to your router
  2. Turn on the printer
  3. Find the printer's IP address. You can do this two ways:
    • Hold the FEED button on the printer while turning it on. Most printers will print a small page showing their IP address
    • Or look at your router's admin page to see connected devices
  4. Write down the IP address (something like 192.168.1.100)
  5. Open the POS app, tap the gear icon, then Printer Settings
  6. Set the print method to Network (TCP)
  7. Type the printer's IP address
  8. Leave the port as 9100 (this is the same for all thermal printers)
  9. Tap Test Print

Setting up a kitchen printer

If you have two printers, one at the counter and one in the kitchen:

  1. Connect both printers to the router (follow the steps above for each)
  2. In Printer Settings:
    • Put the counter printer's IP under Receipt Printer
    • Put the kitchen printer's IP under Default Kitchen Printer

Now when you take an order, the customer's bill goes to the counter printer and the kitchen ticket goes to the kitchen printer. Automatically.

Sending different items to different printers

If your kitchen has separate stations (bar, grill, dessert area), you can send each station's items to its own printer:

  1. In Printer Settings, scroll down to Station Routing
  2. Tap Add Station
  3. Pick the station (for example, "Bar")
  4. Type that printer's IP address
  5. Do the same for each station

Anything without a station goes to the Default Kitchen Printer.

Network problems and fixes

Test print says "Connection refused": Check the IP address again. Make sure the printer is on and the Ethernet cable is plugged in at both ends.

The printer's IP address changes: Routers sometimes give a new IP address when the printer restarts. You can ask someone to set a "fixed IP" on the router for your printer. Otherwise, just check the new IP and update it in settings.

One tablet prints but another one does not: Both tablets need to be on the same WiFi network. Check that you are not accidentally on mobile data (4G).

Printing is slow: Make sure you are on WiFi, not 4G. The tablet and printer need to be on the same local network.

Which method should I use?

Your situation Use this
One tablet, one printer, keep it simple USB
Two or more tablets sharing one printer Network
Printer is in the kitchen, tablet is at the counter Network
No WiFi router USB
Food truck or market stall USB
Multiple printers for different areas Network

Supported printers

OXOCO works with any thermal receipt printer that supports ESC/POS. That includes most printers you can buy online or in electronics shops.

Some popular brands:

  • Xprinter (XP-58, XP-80)
  • Epson TM series
  • MUNBYN
  • RONGTA
  • Star TSP series
  • Generic 58mm and 80mm printers from Shopee or AliExpress

Both USB and Ethernet models work. Bluetooth printers are not supported yet.

Paper size

OXOCO supports two paper widths:

Width Notes
80mm Standard size, recommended
58mm Smaller, more compact

You can change this in Settings > Printer Settings > Paper Width.

Next steps

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