usb+epson stylus color 980+printtool

[James Haskell <blftrio@yahoo.com>]

i'm trying to get my usb printer (epson stylus color
980) to work under debian 2.2r2 (kernel 2.2.18pre21). 
i've read the documentation from
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/hardware/usbprinter.html,
but to no avail.

as root i did 'mknod /dev/usb/lp0 c 180 0'.
then i manually edited /etc/printcap.  the website
said to use printtool, and provided a link to a
debianized version.  but the link was broken.  is
there a replacement for printtool??

here are the contents of /etc/printcap:
usblp0|printer
        :lp=/dev/usb/lp0
        :sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp
        :af=/var/log/lp-acct
        :lf=/var/log/lp-errs
        :pl#66
        :pw#80
        :pc#150
        :mx#0
        :sh
 
lsmod gives:
bsd_comp                3920   0  (autoclean)
ppp                   20108   2  (autoclean)
[bsd_comp]
slhc                    4380   1  (autoclean) [ppp]
printer                 3764   0  (unused)
parport_pc              7340   1  (autoclean)
lp                      4588   0  (autoclean) (unused)
parport          7316   1  (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
hid                    11328   0  (unused)
usb-uhci               18216   0  (unused)
keybdev                 1736   0  (unused)
mousedev                3628   0  (unused)
usbcore               42888   1  [printer hid
usb-uhci]
input                  2940   0  [hid keybdev
mousedev]

and here's what /var/spool/lpd/lp/status.usblp0 says
everytime i try to print something (lpr -Pusblp0
<file>):

subserver pid 14671 
starting at 2001-02-09-21:13:27.655 
## identifier=root@debian+668 number=668 process=14671
accounting at start at 2001-02-09-21:13:27.655 ##
identifier=root@debian+668 number=668 process=14671
opening device '/dev/usb/lp0' at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.655 
## identifier=root@debian+668 number=668
process=14671printing job 'root@debian+668' at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.657 
## identifier=root@debian+668 number=668 process=14671
printing 'root@debian+668'
starting OF at 2001-02-09-21:13:27.657 
## identifier=root@debian+668 number=668 process=14671
printing data file 'dfA668debian', size 425 at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.657 ## identifier=root@debian+668
number=668 process=14671
printing done 'root@debian+668' at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.663 ## identifier=root@debian+668
number=668 process=14671
accounting at end at 2001-02-09-21:13:27.663 ##
identifier=root@debian+668 number=668 process=14671
finished 'root@debian+668', status 'JSUCC' at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.663 ## identif
ier=root@debian+668 number=668 process=14671
subserver pid 14671 exit status 'JSUCC' at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.667 ## identifier
=<NULL> number=0 process=14670
usblp0@debian: job 'root@debian+668' printed at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.667 ## identifier=root@debian+668
number=668 process=14670
job 'root@debian+668' removed at
2001-02-09-21:13:27.669 ## identifier=root@debian+668
number=668 process=14670


i had no trouble getting my usb mouse to work, but
this printer is driving me crazy.  please help!  tia.

ps sorry for the length of this message

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