Anyone make CUPS + external foomatic drivers work?

Forum: System
Topic: Anyone make CUPS + external foomatic drivers work?
started by: eco2geek

Posted by eco2geek on April 01 2006,07:12

The problem with the cups.dsl extension is that it doesn't contain many printer drivers. (Which is also the problem with DSL's built-in printing support.) On linuxprinting.org, you can download their ppd's and "foomatic" perl scripts for many printer models. Unfortunately, for my Samsung ML-1710 laser printer, at least, it's not working in DSL + cups.dsl.

The logs make it look like it's working, but there's no printer output.

After some searching, I think (not sure, but think) that the problem is that the cups.dsl extension doesn't include "pstoraster" (part of Debian's gs-esp package) in /usr/lib/cups/filter, or its config file in /etc/cups.

Anyone have any luck getting external foomatic drivers to work in DSL?

Posted by dtf on April 01 2006,14:15

I would also be interested in any help with this issue. I have a HP Deskjet 5740 which works with a gimp ppd but the ppd for my printer requires the foomatic perl script. Using the correct ppd file produces better quality graphics. The foomatic ppd works on my SuSE linux machine. However, as noted this does not work with DSL.

Posted by cbagger01 on April 01 2006,21:08

Does it work if you install CUPS via apt-get or Synaptic instead of the mydsl extension?

Posted by dtf on April 01 2006,21:31

cbagger1 - thanks for the idea. I am realtively new to linux and am not familar with how apt-get works so I need to read up on the topic before giving it a try. Sounds like eco2geek might know how this is done and perhap can give it a try. Otherwise I should learn how this is done but first I need to do my taxes

which is not nearly as fun.

Posted by eco2geek on April 02 2006,04:09

Please let me know if I've got this right. To install the drivers and the ppd from LinuxPrinting.org, you go through the following steps:

- download the ppd, and save it to /usr/share/cups/model/
- download the "foomatic-rip" and "foomatic-gswrapper" scripts, and save them to /usr/bin, then "chmod 755" them
- make a symlink to /usr/bin/foomatic-rip in /usr/lib/cups/filter/
- restart the CUPS daemon

And you should be good to go.

Is that correct?

Posted by dtf on April 02 2006,04:34

eco2geek - that is what I tried but was not successful (maybe you would have better luck). I could not evey produce a log file so I do not know where the issue is. cbagger01 is suggesting that we try and pick up CUPS (and the foomatic scripts) using apt-get. But I am not familar with how this works and only have a very limited understanding of what this procedure does. I believe it downloads and installs the debian linux cupsys package but do not know the specifics of how this works. I need to understand the command that is used and how you handle dependencies or are the dependencies handled automaticly. From your earlier post I thought you might have some experience with this procedure and might want to give it a try.

Posted by newOldUser on April 04 2006,01:48

I was just able to get a laser printer working using the foomatic.zip It's a strange minolta pagepro 1350w printer that connects via usb. I had to compile the driver and put it in /usr/local/bin. I'm using a frugal install.

cycle your cups daemon often... and/or do a force reload.

Do you see anything in /var/log/cups ?

Posted by dtf on April 05 2006,23:38

newOldUser - where did you get the foomatic.zip (from the CUPS site)?

Posted by newOldUser on April 06 2006,11:07

dtf ... I downloaded it from the link in item number 4 on < this LinuxPrinting.org website >

I setup cups and the printer following the instructions on that page.

usr/share/cups/model/min12xxw.ppd
usr/bin/foomatic-gswrapper
usr/bin/foomatic-rip
create symbolic link in usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip
usr/local/bin/min12xxw

The min12xxw is a 'filter' type driver that I had to download and compile. It's the driver for a Minolta PagePro 1350W black and white laser printer.

In addition to the above files I also save these when I shutdown my frugal install.

etc/cups/ppd/pagepro.ppd
etc/cups/ppds.dat
etc/cups/printers.conf
etc/cups/printers.conf.O

I don't know if I needed the foomatic-gswrapper but I added it anyway.

Good luck

Posted by dtf on April 06 2006,23:06

newOldUser - Well at least it is trying although I am not sure what it is trying to tell me. The printer is connected to another dsl computer providing print service and I know it is working because I can print to it using GIMP-print with a different ppd file. Any ideas.

I [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] Saving printers.conf...
I [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops (PID 1525) for job 1.
I [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip (PID 1526) for job 1.
I [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] Started backend /usr/lib/cups/backend/ipp (PID 1527) for job 1.
I [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] Saving printers.conf...
I [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] Printer 'kinux_5740_ppd' started by 'root'.
E [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] PID 1526 stopped with status 2!
E [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] Print file was not accepted (client-error-bad-request)!
E [06/Apr/2006:17:53:02 -0400] PID 1527 stopped with status 1!

Posted by newOldUser on April 07 2006,16:32

eco2geek - do you need a driver compiled and/or installed? The linuxPrinting.org page seems to mention something about a driver called "gdi". Also... After you start CUPS you must add the printer via the localhost:631 webadmin page.

dtf - I'm just asking questions in hopes that someone with some real knowledge will chime in... Are you saying that you have this HP Deskjet 5740 connected to Computer A, that's running DSL and you are trying to print to that printer from Computer B, which is also running DSL? And.. that Computer A can print to the printer with no problem. The problem is just getting Computer B to print over the network? You're using CUPS on Computer A. Do you have the hpijs driver installed (at least that's the one LinuxPrinting.org talks about)? CUPS error messages can be very frustrating from what I've seen.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help to both of you. I'm still very new to printing under DSL. I have added an entry to the blog site on how I set up my printer. < Here's a link to it > hope it helps

Posted by dtf on April 08 2006,20:04

newOldUser - Yes I am setting up a file/print server running DSL on a low power mini-ITX platform. This is working fine in my home network with the exception that the hp deskjet 5740 printer cannot use the PPD CUPS' filter intended for that printer. Well that is until now. Following your instructions/URL links and downloading and rebuilding the source for hpijs seems to have resolved the issue. The hpijs driver is about 2M and I linked it to /usr/bin/hpijs. I can now print using DSL+CUPS+foomatic+hp5740 ppd filter. Thanks for your suggestions and help. Perhaps I can figure out how to package this up as a myDSL extention.

Posted by newOldUser on April 09 2006,11:53

Great, < Do the Linux Happy Printing Dance! > I encourage you to post some details about how you did it. The more examples we have the easier it is for others to figure out their problems.

Posted by dtf on April 09 2006,21:27

Yet another discovery while trying to setup this configuration on a second computer. The foomatic-rip perl script requires sigtrap.pm. On the second computer (DSL 2.2 live) this was not loaded with /usr/share/perl 5.8.0. I needed to pick it up from perl 5.8.7. If only I had the vaguest idea what it is I am doing

Posted by eco2geek on April 21 2006,08:10

Quote

eco2geek - do you need a driver compiled and/or installed?

That would seem to be the missing piece. I thought maybe the ppd was enough, but apparently not. (You can set it up via CUPS' web interface with just the ppd, but nothing happens when you try to print.)

The printer driver's readme seems to indicate you have to compile it as part of ghostscript, so I'm a bit lost.

Posted by harryirene on May 12 2006,07:57

Hello All,

I'm trying to install deskjet3845 via samba/windows and using cups. on the linux printing database my printer claims to work 'mostly' and i should use the 'hpijs' driver.. but when you go to the website provided all i find is: "hplip" < http://hplip.sourceforge.net/ >

so i tried to install hplip, but it wouldn't work. (i followed install instructions, but I think lot's of need packages are missing.) what I could decipher from cups error log was hpijs was missing. i believe i have foomatic and .ppd file in place. i'm pretty new at linux/dsl. any help would be appreciated. thanks!

Posted by dtf on May 12 2006,10:48

You can find the source for hpijs at the location below. Of course you will need to compile it and I notice that clacker has updated gcc1 with some libraries that might make your job easier. I would look in the test repository for the new version of gcc1

hpijs source is located at:

< http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=16846 >

Once you have built the hpijs driver and installed it, you might want to see if you have the sigtrap.pm module with your version of perl. I had problems with the foomatic-rip script referencing sigtrap and it was not available. Once I installed it the printer worked fine.

If all else fails you can try my built hpijs. However, one other user trying to use it did not have success but he was having issues with his printer not being recognized on the usb port so it might not be an issue the hpijs driver. Also I have only successfully tested this on dsl (on various machines) but have not gotten it to work for dsl-n. It probably needs to be recomplied.

Posted by harryirene on May 21 2006,07:46

thank you, dtf. i was able to get the hpijs driver installed after adding the new gcc1 to my hard drive install (after ignoring the warnings not to). so far nothing has blown up...

before i added new gcc1, there was compile error for libjpeg support and afterwards, no problem. as soon as hpijs was installed, i could print a test page with no problem! thanks!