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Hardware harness

The hardware harness is a set of small browser apps — one per printer family — that check a real printer against its driver. Each one pairs the printer over WebUSB or Web Bluetooth, runs an identity probe and a single diagnostic print, and hands you a pre-filled verification report. No install, no SDK, no command line — it runs in a browser tab.

Open a harness

Printer familyHarnessConnects over
Brother QL / PTBrother QL harnessUSB (WebUSB)
DYMO LabelManagerLabelManager harnessUSB (WebUSB)
DYMO LabelWriterLabelWriter harnessUSB (WebUSB)
DYMO LetraTagLetraTag harnessBluetooth (Web Bluetooth)

Each harness needs a Chromium-class browser — Chrome, Edge, or similar. WebUSB and Web Bluetooth are not available in Firefox or Safari.

Why it exists

Every row in the compatibility matrix is a claim, and a claim is only as good as the evidence behind it. The maintainer can't own every printer — most cells start as Likely works, inferred from a verified sibling rather than directly tested.

The harness closes that gap. Anyone with the hardware can run it and file a report, which turns a Likely works cell into Verified for everyone who buys the same model. It is the shortest path from "I have this printer" to a data point the next person can trust.

How to use it

  1. Open the harness for your printer family from the table above.
  2. Connect the printer, click Pair, and pick it from the browser's device chooser.
  3. Run the identity probe — it confirms the harness is talking to the model you expect.
  4. Run the diagnostic print — one small label that exercises the driver's encoder end to end.
  5. Submit the report — the harness opens a pre-filled GitHub issue on the driver repo with the device, the result, and room for your notes. Review it and file.

The flow is observation-only: one diagnostic label out, status back. It never touches firmware or printer settings.

Printer won't connect?

WebUSB and Web Bluetooth can only reach a printer the operating system has handed to the browser. On Windows that usually means installing a WinUSB driver with Zadig; on Linux it means a udev rule. Both are walked through on the connecting your printer page.