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printing with parallel port printer

(16 posts) (3 voices)

• Started 9 years ago by steinc_ST
• Latest reply from steinc_ST
• This topic is not a support question

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1. 

   steinc_ST
   

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   Can anyone tell me how to print to the parallel port?
   The parallel port modules get loaded. The kernel recognizes my printer, which is connected to the parallel port, but CUPS does not detect my printer.
   Also, I cannot do raw printing to /dev/lp0 because there is no such device. What device should I use?

   Posted 9 years ago #
2. 

   llev
   

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   Maybe restart cupsd after plugging and turning on your printer?

   In the administration page of CUPS, try "Add a printer" instead of "Search for printers": does it offer LPT?

   Posted 9 years ago #
3. 

   steinc_ST
   

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   The kernel does detect the printer, but CUPS doesn't. Here is what I get from dmesg | grep par:

   parport_pc 00:09: reported by Plug and Play ACPI
   parport0: PC-style at 0x378, irq 7 [PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP]
   parport0: Printer, Hewlett-Packard HP LaserJet 6MP
   ppdev: user-space parallel port driver

   But when I do lpinfo -v, I only see network connections such as

   network ipps
   network socket ...

   When I try to add a printer in CUPS, I get asked for the username and password, and when I enter those two items, I get back the window prompting me for username and password. This seems to be quite a frequently observed phenomenon, and I am looking into what general solutions have been suggested for this problem.

   Posted 9 years ago #
4. 

   llev
   

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   For CUPS administration, did you provide root credentials? You have to.

   Posted 9 years ago #
5. 

   steinc_ST
   

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   Yes, I did. I was logged in as root when I tried to add a printer.

   Posted 9 years ago #
6. 

   llev
   

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   Hi,

   Sorry, I'm out of ideas and I can't test this (no parallel printer).

   Anyone else? (Turn this thread as "not resolved", the red dot may attract more participants!)

   Posted 9 years ago #
7. 

   steinc_ST
   

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   I will do without printing from my SliTaz for now. Thanks for your help.

   Posted 9 years ago #
8. 

   mojo
   

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   I cannot do raw printing to /dev/lp0 because there is no such device.
   But when I do lpinfo -v, I only see network connections such as
   network ipps
   network socket ...

   modprobe lp

   Posted 9 years ago #
9. 

   steinc_ST
   

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   Doing modprobe lp was a good tip. It solved half of my problem. When the lp module is loaded together with the other parallel port modules, I can do raw priting to the parallel port.

   However, the web interface of CUPS still does not let me add my printer. But when I run

   /usr/lib/cups/backend/parallel

   the response is

   direct parallel:/dev/lp0 "HP LaserJet 6MP" "HP LaserJet 6MP LPT #1" "MANUFACTURER:Hewlett-Packard;COMMAND SET:PJL,MLC,PCLXL,PCL,POSTSCRIPT;MODEL:HP LaserJet 6MP;CLASS:PRINTER;DESCRIPTION:Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 6MP Printer;" ""

   When I do

   lpinfo -v

   I still only see network connections. So what is going on here?

   Posted 9 years ago #
10. 

    mojo
    

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    Set permissions on the backend:
    chmod 0700 /usr/lib/cups/backend/parallel

    Posted 9 years ago #
11. 

    steinc_ST
    

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    The permission was set to 0711 before. With 0700 the result is the same: My CUPS does not see my local parallel printer.
    The output of the CUPS error log is as follows:

    [cups-deviced] PID 1685 (parallel) stopped with status 13!

    The CUPS access log says:

    "POST / HTTP/1.1" 401 88 CUPS-Get-Devices successful-ok

    Posted 9 years ago #
12. 

    steinc_ST
    

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    P.S. CUPS and printing work without a problem with a live Cd of Puppy Linux.

    Posted 9 years ago #
13. 

    llev
    

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    Can you set LogLevel to debug in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf, and retry? This might give more insight...

    P.-S. : From http://cook.slitaz.org/cooker.cgi?files=cups-filters it looks like /usr/lib/cups/backend/parallel should have had permissions 755, not 711. Maybe the installation of this package is somehow broken? Also, in the cups package some backends have permissions 700, others 555. Doesn't cost much to try...

    Posted 9 years ago #
14. 

    steinc_ST
    

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    I did that, but this generates a very long error_log file in /var/log/cups and it is unclear what any of that has to do with my problem. The details of the permissions of the backends make no difference.
    I found a ppd file for a pdf-writer in the puppy distro, and if I copy this file into /etc/cups/ppd, my CUPS recognizes this as an "internal" local printer and installs it. This works as it should. However, for reasons unknown, my CUPS just does not recognize, or communicate with, the external local printer at lp0.
    Perhaps I will try the CUPS package in the most recent cooking version which includes again all dependencies.

    Posted 9 years ago #
15. 

    steinc_ST
    

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    After many unsuccessful attempts at getting CUPS to work, I have given up on it.
    But for my case - printing from a single workstation to a single parallel printer - there is a very simple work-around: Use foomatic.
    All you have to do is install the foomatic-filters-4.0.5.tazpkg package, get yourself the PPD file for your printer, edit this file slightly, and you will be printing.
    The instructions are here:
    http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/database/nospoolerdocumentation
    The instructions are detailed and clear, and I am sure setup would not be much more difficult for a different printer configuration.

    Posted 9 years ago #

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