If Eric Raymond can't configure a CUPS printer, what hope is there for
us lesser mortals? <grin>
I have successfully configured several printers under CUPS (including
remote printers) and came tantalizingly close on this one. Close, but
no cigar. CUPS appears to be successfully configured, but there is _no_
output.
The system to which the printer is attached is dual-boot --- although I
spend less than 1% of my time in ``that other OS", one of its remaining
uses is to check hardware. In this case, the printer successfully
printed the manufacturer's test page from the final Windows install
screen which establishes that the printer was not DOA and that the
computer USB subsystem and cable are mechanically sound.
The printer is a brand-new Samsung SCX-4100 laser-based multifunction
(print/copy/scan). At $Cdn 200 / US$ 149, this was an attractive deal.
The printer is an unabashed GDI printer aka Winprinter. BUT, and this
is the big "but", Samsung releases all its monochrome laser printers
with Linux drivers. I bought it on the assurance in all Samsung's
literature that it supports:
Various Linux OS (via USB interface only) including Red Hat, Caldera,
Mandrake, Slackware, SuSE and Turbo Linux
I don't happen to run an RPM-based distribution, but nor were there
any .rpms in the Linux directory of the Samsung CD. Instead I run
Libranet Debian modified months ago to track pure Debian sid/unstable.
CUPS is Debian version 1.1.20final+rc1-8. The kernel is custom built:
$ uname -a
Linux bruce_P4 2.6.7 #1 Wed Jul 7 10:41:04 EDT 2004 i686 GNU/Linux
lsmod reports successful installation of the necessary modules:
$ lsmod | grep ^u
usblp 11008 0
uhci_hcd 28944 0
usbcore 67872 2 usblp,uhci_hcd
Because this is not an .rpm-based system, I was not surprised that the
install script complained but then allowed the installation to
continue:
Samsung MFP driver package is about to be installed on your system...
CUPS that is required for driver package to work properly was not
detected on your system.
[1] Install CUPS
[2] I am sure I have necessary software installed. Do not
install CUPS. Continue installation
[3] Cancel installation
Please make your choice [1,2,3]: 2
kdeprint and CUPS both appeared satisfied that the printer was
sucessfully installed:
$ head -n17 /etc/cups/ppd/scx-4100.ppd
*PPD-Adobe: "4.3"
*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*FileVersion: "1.1"
*LanguageVersion: English
*LanguageEncoding: ISOLatin1
*PCFileName: "scx4100.ppd"
*Manufacturer: "Samsung"
*Product: "(Samsung SCX-4100 Series)"
*ModelName: "Samsung SCX-4100 Series"
*ShortNickName: "Samsung SCX-4100 Series"
*NickName: "Samsung SCX-4100 Series"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 550"
*TTRasterizer: Type42
*cupsVersion: 1.1
*cupsManualCopies: False
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 rastertosamsungspl"
However, the CUPS jobs screen reported that its test page job "aborted".
Routine attempts to restart the job produced this uninformative error
message on the CUPS jobs screen
(http://localhost:631/jobs/?op=restart-job&job_id=4&job_printer_uri=/printers/scx-4100):
Error:
client-error-not-possible
/var/log/cups/error_log at debug level might be more helpful to those
who can read it. The key appears to be in these three lines (out of 321
lines):
D [09/Oct/2004:08:21:07 -0400] [Job 4] Printer using device file
"/dev/usb/lp0"...
D [09/Oct/2004:08:21:07 -0400] [Job 4] LPGETSTATUS returned a port
status of 18...
E [09/Oct/2004:08:21:07 -0400] PID 9021 stopped with status 0!
Is someone more expert than I able to help me decipher these error
messages? I can obviously supply reams more configuration and log data
if that is necessary to trace the problem.
--
Bruce Miller
Ottawa, ON K1M 2H9 CANADA
GPG key ID 0x1B9200FC. Public key available from keyservers
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