Comment by lovehashbrowns

6 months ago

I just switched to printing my todo tasks on a receipt printer. I have an arduino connected to a receipt printer and a Python script that can send commands to the arduino to print tasks. Also just finished adding barcode scanning so the task gets printed with a barcode and I use an iOS Shortcut to mark the task as complete. Actually works so well! Having the tasks in physical form helps me stay more focused and scanning the barcode to mark a task as complete feels so satisfying. I have the code if anyone wants to delve into this but it does require arduino + receipt printer + a TTL to RS232 module, though! And BPA-free receipt paper if you are concerned about that.

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lovehashbrowns

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lgrebe  6 months ago

Looking to create something just like this for chores at home.

Inspired by https://www.laurieherault.com/articles/a-thermal-receipt-pri...

And

https://youtu.be/xg45b8UXoZI

Hoping it will make chores more visible and fun to complete for the whole family.

I picked up a used star tsp100 printer and usb 2d barcode scanner.

Still looking for a backend though. Idealy with Homeassistant integration for automating todos that already have sensors and data such as taking out the trash.

https://www.donetick.com looks promising.

Could you share some more technicalities on your setup?

  • lovehashbrowns  6 months ago

    Hey!!

    You can get everything I've got here: https://github.com/gerardocardenasgomez/printed-tasks

    For my setup, I have a couple of different components. I have a very mediocre and super vibe coded HTTP server running on my Arduino which is connected to the receipt printer. It just has /print and /barcode endpoints. I'd like to improve on this by using an ESP32 instead of my Arduino so I can get MicroPython instead of C++. The Arduino is connected via serial to the receipt printer with this: NOYITO TTL to RS232 Module.

    I then have a Python script which will send requests to the /print and /barcode endpoint to actually print out the tasks, and it hooks into Supabase to get the task into a DB and Google's AI Studio to also print a little encouraging message. Both should fit in their free tier for this kind of project.

    And then I have a small API written in Typescript which hooks up to Supabase and marks a task complete when my iOS shortcut sends it a message.

    The whole workflow for me is: Print receipt with the Python script, mark it complete with an iOS Shortcut. I have a whiteboard for the receipts themselves and magnets to stick them on there. Get fairly strong magnets because the ones I got start to lose their hold at the end of the day once I've got a number of tickets stacked up.

    Honestly the barcode part is the key IMO. It makes completing a task so fun and rewarding. If you / your family has iPhones you can create an iOS Shortcut that will scan the task when you complete it. I was also going to go with a usb barcode scanner because that sounds really satisfying too! For this you might need a dedicated machine hooked up to the usb barcode scanner because they typically act as a keyboard and just type in whatever they scan, so you'll need a script running constantly that's just waiting for input.

    I'm not too familiar with Homeassistant and it looks like donetick would work better for you as well than most of the stuff I've got but I'd be happy to help with anything if you'd like. My contact info is in the GitHub where I have the printed-tasks code.

    Lastly, I've been using this manual for the ESC/POS stuff: https://pos-x.com/download/escpos-programming-manual/ Just in case you end up wanting to manually print yours. There are some libraries already that do this, but I can't use most of them because of the Arduino situation.

    OH! Get BPA-Free receipt printer paper.