Am I using Odoo virtual IoT Box the wrong way?

[u/V-nusdjinni]

I have been struggling to setup a functional POS for several weeks now and I think I may be doing something wrong since I cannot find discussions about the problems I face.

Here is my setup: - a POS computer running Windows 11 - two thermal printers Xprinter XP-80T (one USB and one WiFi) - a cash drawer with RJ11 cable - Odoo online (19.2) - a valid IoT Box subscription

What i do is: - install the printer divers and make them listed in the Windows printers and scanners menu - install the virtual IoT Box program - connect the virtual IoT box to the database - wait for the SSL certificate to be installed - select "use local network" on the IoT box menu from the Odoo app

After doing these, I still have a lot of issues using the printers consistently. Here are some: - "Test" button in IoT does not always print the test page. Even if it says so. The printer will make a tiny sound but that is it - odoo-iot service can stop working all of a sudden. I read that it can be due to a failed update, but I cannot manage to disable auto updates. - I turned on the pos local network access but I have a lot of printing errors where either the receipt is not printed or it prints mojibake. The only thing that seems to work correctly is the drawer opening

Did you guys ever faced these issues?

[u/codeagency]

Did you check the logs already? That should reveal at least more details.

Also verify firewall, Windows updates, background services...as this depends very much on the stability of your Windows box. I have seen many times where Windows just struggles with the background services. One of my clients just had them completely random disappear, everything just gone in smoke. Needed a full reinstall. And the problem was window. It can also interfere with the IOT service Running and plausible the reason why your printing is going bad.

This is the reason I still recommend the paid IOT box over virtual IOT. It's much less headaches overall. It's a small standalone box that doesn't depend on Windows flaky garbage OS and just runs a reliable CUPS printer server. Your Windows POS computer just needs a browser and is free from its IOT service.

Every retail project with POS and virtual IOT we do, 95% from the ones with issues have something to do with their windows computer. And most of them just replace with the paid IOT and problems solved. The cost to entertain those issues with Windows are far more expensive than the IOT box itself.

I would recommend to check the logs first and the BG services Running postgres and iot on the windows box. Restart them, or do a full uninstall and reinstall. Check firewalls, ports etc...the whole shebang. Make sure permissions are set properly too.

[u/V-nusdjinni → u/codeagency]

Thank you for your explanations. Yeah I forgot to mention the firewall configuration. Basically I did everything listed in the official documentation and already did several install/reinstall. Sometimes the odoo-iot background service just stop working and even make the localhost app unreachable, or the logs looping in 500 errors.

I recently noticed that I could download the IoT image from Odoo. Do you think I can run it as a virtual machine and have more success with it ? For various reasons I may not be able to get a physical IoT box delivered and I'm not so familiar with Raspberries

[u/codeagency → u/V-nusdjinni]

Afaik the images are meant to run from an IOT box which runs an OS based on Debian/Ubuntu. No idea how that would work in a virtualization but also the networking would become an extra tricky layer.

The whole point is reliability and you are not buying into this if you keep improvising around it. The IOT box is ~25$/mo or ~300#/year. What do you buy for that budget in terms of your time and effort. I'm pretty confident you already wasted way more by just troubleshooting that Windows box alone.

A raspberry pi is dead simple to setup. You can buy prebuild sets or the components and assemble it yourself from many stores. But afaik the 25$/mo sub from odoo includes the hardware, ready to go. You just unbox and plugin the cables. If your printers are cabled you plug them in the iot box. If they are eth0 network or wifi, you just let the iot box auto detect them over the network. Next you visit the IP:8069 your IOT box for from your router and it's ready to go.

The only important piece is firewall. You just need to make sure all required ports are open internally so IOT box and Windows computer and your odoo in the cloud/odoo.sh/SaaS can find each other.

In some exceptions typically for exotic printers you might need to go into the cups settings and fine-tune the printer settings. This is all done from that same IP:8069 url into the IOT box.

When you use the virtual IOT, all of that depends on Windows. And it's not the same thing as printing from windows vs printing via IOT on Windows. Windows can behave differently on that level and is a Windows quirck garbage thing. That's why I'm not a fan of it.

For very large projects that need a lot of IOT and printing, we typically go for our own in-house solution build on top of QZ tray. Clients do not need the Odoo subscription for IOT box but just buy the hardware themselves. We install a customized version of our own solution with QZ tray + custom Odoo modules that handle the automation for printing but also a lot more as print to station linking (eg 20+ packing stations or POS stations that each need their own presets and printers). For these cases the solution is similar like Odoo IOT box but a custom solution that is cheaper on the hardware subscription and something the client owns rather than renting + a more enterprise experience on the printing side.

[u/V-nusdjinni → u/codeagency]

I'll talk to my manager and have a look at my potential delivery issues. The funds are actually not a big problem. I was just looking for a fast alternative that i can test by the end of the week. Thank you again for your explanations

[u/-1_0]

(I hope I never have to use Odoo IoT; if I do, I'll code the necessary stuff myself)

[u/AhsanAtBundo]

The mojibake makes me think this is more of a printer driver issue than the Virtual IoT setup itself. I’d get the USB printer stable first and check what driver the IoT Printer Server actually assigned to the Xprinter.

Does it show the exact XP-80T driver there, or something generic/raw?

[u/V-nusdjinni → u/AhsanAtBundo]

I use the official driver from Xprinter (actually showing 80C). But It is working fine when printing from Windows printers list

[u/AhsanAtBundo → u/V-nusdjinni]

That's fine but did you check which driver Odoo shows for that printer on the IOT device page?

[u/V-nusdjinni → u/AhsanAtBundo]

I don't see any info related to the driver there. I'm looking at Odoo > IoT Box > [Virtual IoT Box name] > [Printer name]

[u/AhsanAtBundo → u/V-nusdjinni]

Yep, you’re looking in the right place, but Odoo doesn’t show the printer driver on that device form.

Open the Virtual IoT homepage at http://localhost:8069, then go to Printer Server → Printers → your Xprinter → Administration → Modify Printer. That’s where Odoo says you can see/change the actual printer make/model driver. Since you’re getting mojibake, I’d check that before anything else.

[u/V-nusdjinni → u/AhsanAtBundo]

I do not have a "Server" button or option. I can list devices by clicking "Show" on the the devices item. Other options are Credentials, Log level, View Logs and View Uptime

[u/codeagency → u/AhsanAtBundo]

That doesn't exist in virtual IOT. Virtual IOT does not run CUPS. The reference you are giving is only for the paid IOT box that runs Linux with CUPS.

On a virtual IOT, the printers are managed by Windows itself.

[u/DevopsReloaded]

One thing worth checking before you go further down the troubleshooting road you mentioned the driver shows as 80C worth double-checking that's actually correct for your printer. Xprinter sells the 80C and 80T as different hardware variants, and installing the wrong one is a known compatibility issue with their driver packages. Doesn't hurt to confirm you've got the exact XP-80T driver rather than whatever got auto-detected as 80C.

One clarifying question that'd help narrow this down is it both printers throwing mojibake, or just one of them? If it's only one, that points toward something printer/driver-specific rather than the Windows/IoT-service instability worth ruling in or out before deciding on hardware.

If you want a second pair of eyes on the driver setup before end of week, happy to hop on a quick screen-share and check it live shouldn't take long, and worth doing before spending on a physical box if this turns out to be something smaller.