Re: How to print with Epson Stylus Color 800
On Sun, 1 Aug 1999, Chip Grandits wrote:
> I wish to use an Epson Stylus Color 800 for printing from my Linux
> System.
You should be able to use this printer with Linux. i use a STC600 with few
problems, none serious. AFAIK, Epson Stylys Color printers are among the
best-supported non-PostScript printers.
My two problems are (1) Printing from Netscape wants a 2 inch margin at
the top of the page... i can fix this by manually changing "54 0
translate" to "54 54 translate" using vi. Anyone know an easier way? (2) i
seem to have to clean the ink cartridges way too frequently... i am using
the proper kind, and am properly turning off the printer.
> I am unable to figure out how to set up my Linux system to print from
> available documentation. I am running Debian v2.0 with Linux Kernel
> 2.0.34 (i.e. <=2.1.32 so I have lp device) I believe I have
> successfully set up LPRng and have found my parallel port on /dev/lp1
Sounds right...
> My first problem is I don't understand the syntax of the printcap
> file.
[[[SNIP]]]
> I think I am suppose to set up a filter program, the HOWTO recommends
> APSfilter, so I installed the latest debian package. I attempt to
> configure APSfilter, where I print a test page, I was unable to do so
> until I upgraded my version of ghostscript, I am now running
> gs-aladdin version 5.5.
i've never used APSfilter. You may want to try magicfilter, it includes a
utility (magicfilterconfig) that will ask you questions and then write a
functional printcap file for you.
Your problem with the printing _may_ be that it wants a directory
"MyArbitraryName" in /var/spool/lpd... But this is just a guess.
> No linux resources mention the Epson Stylus Color 800 by name. They
> mention the Epson Color Stylus (by which they mean Stylus II or Stylus
> Pro) They mention the Espons Stylus 800 (but not Color) However the
> Epson Stylus Color 800 is none of the above.
magicfilter contains a generic Epson Stylus Color filter, which can easily
be tuned for a STC800 (i also have gs-alladin 5.50 installed, so these
directions shouldn't cause much trouble).
Once you have magicfilter installed, copy the stylus_color_???dpi-filter
to something like stylus_color800_???dpi-filter. Then edit the files: in
360dpi, change "@stc2.upp" to "@stc800pl.upp" in the three places it
occurs. The 720dpi filter seems to already use the stc800.upp driver, so
you should need no changes there. If you really want, you could also
create a 1440dpi file, using "@stc800ih.upp" in those three places.
> Ghostscript documentation mentions something about using their unified
> printer driver with a unified printer parameter file for the Epson
> Stylus Color 800 but I'm not sure how I would configure ASPfilter or
> if I should still use it. Does anybody use this?
See above ;)
> But first I would like to be able to simply print an ASCII file, which
> I have yet been able to do.
Have you tried catting the file to /dev/lp1? This _should_ print an ASCII
file at the least.
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