Re: Lexmark Printing
You might explain more about your printer arrangement.
Is your Lexmark ExecJet 4076 Colorprinter connected
to your Debian computer through the parallel port?
[Or, perhaps your 4076 runs on an external ethernet printserver]
With which Debian package do you serve your printing?
lpr
lprng
lpr-ppd #I infer you use this.
cups
You can tell which of these printserver packages is installed with,
dpkg -l '*lpr*' '*cupsys*'
You might get some clues about your printing problems
through debugging messages in,
/var/log/lp-errs
/var/log/lpr-log
For example, I often get the error message in lpr-log,
laser: Write_pid: write failed - No space left on device
I got this error message because I log far too much
through security tools into both /var/log and /var/mail/root,
I fill up my 1500MB /var partition every week.
So, for now, once a week, I check
df /var
If this says something like the following with "100%",
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/scsi/IBM-18GB-p8 2082193 1988083 0 100% /var
then you must trim some files; eg,
cat /dev/null >/var/mail/root
cat /dev/null >/var/log/messages
or look for large files in /var, eg, find all files over 1MB,
find /var -size +1000000c -ls
Of course, you are behooved to look at such large files for
security messages before you trim them
[but I usually only look at the last few lines since my /var/mail/root
file gets 400MB in 1 week on a home computer,
caused mostly by the package fcheck].
I will presume that you run the package "lpr" on a Lexmark 4076 printer
attached to your Debian computer's parallel port.
[I have since got the impression you use lpr-ppd]
I gather you get no printing, as if either your Debian computer
fails to send data to the printer or the printer fails.
With the parallel port printer connection,
you can send some data directly to your printer through one of,
cat /etc/hosts >/dev/lp0 #first assigned printer in Debian woody
cat /etc/hosts >/dev/lp1
Many printers will print text directly so you should see
at least one line of print, although without a print-filter
(as invisibly used when you enter "lpr ..."),
you will often see just one line
(since the printer never senses that it should do a carriage-return).
If this fails, either your printer behaves differently that I suspect,
or your printer has a problem.
My Lexmark Rt+ locks about every 2 months, so I turn it off-then-on.
If you can print something with "cat /dev/hosts >/dev/lp0" as above,
then you might try printing to your printer
as a raw device using a /etc/printcap entry like my entry,
raw|Lexmark Optra Rt+ raw/unfiltered:\
:lp=/dev/lp0:\
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/lex:\
:rw:sh:mx#0:\
:af=/var/log/lp-acct:\
:lf=/var/log/lp-errs:
For example, the following would probably suffice,
raw|Lexmark ExecJet raw:\
:lp=/dev/lp0:\
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/raw:\
:lf=/var/log/lp-errs:
though you likely need to make the directory /var/spool/lpd/raw
and the file /var/log/lp-errs,
drwx------ daemon lp /var/spool/lpd/raw/
-rw------- daemon lp /var/log/lp-errs
Note that the package "lpr" (but not the package "lprng")
probably requires strict formatting in /etc/printcap.
Specifically, before each continuation line,
you need a <tab> character not spaces
(as probably seems the case in this email).
Additionally, each continuation line ending in "\"
should have nothing after it (no <space> and no <tab>).
Long ago, without this proper formattting, I had my printing fail.
I don't recall if "lpd" typically runs as a server,
but I believe it does normally run.
Although, you probably could run it with something like,
/usr/sbin/lpd &
as hinted in /etc/inetd.conf
or in /etc/init.d/lpd [/etc/init.d/lpd-ppd for you].
As your previous email indicates, "lpd" can be
spawned through /etc/initd.conf when a printing client (like lpr)
contacts lpd's corresponding port.
With any changes to your /etc/printcap, you need to restart your "lpd"
daemon (if it normally runs) with something like,
/etc/init.d/lpr-ppd stop
/etc/init.d/lpr-ppd start
Presuming that "lpd" typically runs as a process,
ps auxw |grep lp
you might change your startup file,
probably through some parameter at the top of
/etc/init.d/lpr-ppd
If your package lpr-ppd seems problematic, you could reconfigure it,
dpkg-reconfigure lpr-ppd -plow
or reinstall it,
dpkg --purge lpr-ppd
apt-get install lpr-ppd
You would want to save some of your /etc/printcap work in case
your "lpr-ppd" package doesn't help you configure for
your Lexmark printer.
Oh, from your /etc/init.d/lpd line "/usr/sbin/pac",
I gather you use the printserver package
lpr-ppd
rather than the package lpr or lprng.
That lpr-ppd package description makes it seem a good package,
but I have never used it.
OFF TOPIC, SELECTING FROM PACKAGE ALTERNATIVES, and rambling, oh my:
All text below is off the topic of printing.
I was incited by this Debian user using yet another print-server
package, lpr-ppd, the only Debian print-server package I haven't used.
This points out a drawback (amongst the gains) with Linux's
offering of many alternatives:
a. which printserver software is best used,
b. does it matter which printserver software you use,
c. email-lists like this will disperse people's expertise
to various alternative printserver software,
diluting expertise on any one package
(non-monopoly dilution of expertise).
I have used the packages "lpr", "lprng", and "cupsys",
but I haven't used the package "lpr-ppd".
All we users could use an overview of the variety of packages
for a particular use, with hints about the better packages.
I wish Debian would give a suggested list
of several alternative packages and comments for
a. mail-transport-agent
exim, exim-tls, smail, sendmail, postfix, courier-mta;
I have spent over 180 hours on various mail-transport-agents
for my home---this is egregious!
b. mail-reader
Mutt, Evolution, Aethera, Magellan, exmh, XFMail, netscape, nmh,
sylpheed, balsa, spruce, kmail, tkmail, ...
c. Print serving
cups, lpr, lprng, lpr-ppd
Cups is the default print-server for Redhat,
and is easily configurable in Netscape.
d. ftp-server
proftp, wu-ftp, ftpd, bsd-ftpd, ...
Proftp has largely supplanted wu-ftp,
which had previously supplanted other ftp-servers.
e. syslog
syslog-ng, sysklogd
Syslog-ng has much more configurability.
g. X display manager
xdm, gdm kdm, wdm;
I sense more configurability for xdm; eg, for multiple X servers.
h. X windows manager
Fvwm, gnome, kde, tkdesk, fluxbox,
enlightenment (I gather this has passed consideration),
icewm, icewm-gnome, icewm-lite, twm, sawfish, sawfish-gnome,
blackbox, afterstep, xfce, olwm, wmaker, ...
Gnome and Kde dominate on new systems, but Fvwm is more
configurable and more-awkwardly configurable.
i. microsoft-word-viewer
wv, mswordview, antiword, abiword, kword, open-office
I basically avoid word documents for lack of guidance,
particularly in default installation.
I suspect the more accurate but slowest solution would use
Open-Lffice, but to effectively use it,
I would need to configure things like mime in
mutt, netscape, konqueror, galleon, opera, mozilla, and skipstone.
While there are surely some configuration commonalities,
configuring this would probably take 20 hours [20 minutes if I had
it down pat],
only to be broken on the next upgrade or installation of Crossover.
j. vi editor
vim, vi, nvi, vigor, stevie, elvis, vile, xvile
Vim dominates.
k. calculator
calctool, calc, xcalc, bc, R, octave, rpncalc,
alcalc, perl -wlne'print eval' [as an alias or function]
Octave lets you calculate and use software similar
to enginering software MatLab, so it is a full-blown
engineering software taking some time to learn.
Similarly, R is full-blown statistical software similar to S-Plus,
so it takes even more time to learn [quit with "q()"],
but has more cutting edge statistical tools
than the commercial S-Plus package.
Calctool has the look of a user-friendly calculator.
bc can be found on every Unix, is rather simple,
and uses readline, so you can repeat/edit previous commands.
l. X terminal emulator
xterm, Konsole [with tabs!], gnome-terminal, multi-gnome-terminal,
rxvt, eterm, kterm, aterm, xvt, aterm
Konsole and multi-gnome-terminal have tab buttons
for multiple xterms within the same "xterm".
xterm is the original "xterm",
several xterm's are based on the slimmed-down rxvt.
m. fax
Does fax software work without a day of configuration?
n. debian package selection
apt-get, tasksel, aptitude, deity-curses, deity-gtk, kpackage,
gnome-apt, ximian red carpet, synaptic, raptor,dselect, ...
Most people seem to use apt-get, some people use dselect when they
get in a bind but many remain stuck in dselect for 10 hours before
they get through it, aptitude is a curses front-end to apt.
How should one handle debian packages?
Just to mention what most Debian users should ignore
would help most Debian users.
Or, give we users some guidelines.
For example, any GUI mail-reader will greatly hinder
reading mail remotely
(you would then avoid exmh, XFMail, balsa,Kmail, tkmail, ...),
but you would get great speed from mutt, the preferred editor
by Debian users.
One approach to finding which software to use is,
http://www.debian.org/~apenwarr/popcon/
But this popularity contest represents more older systems
and default installations, rather than the exptertise
of Debian's hundreds of developers.
For example, the most installed mail-reader is "mailx",
but hardly anyone deliberately uses this mail-reader.
So, this popularity site largely wastes one's time.
When each Debian user spends HUNDREDS of hours trying software,
then trying its alternative, then trying another alternative,
then reading email-lists about what others say about the alternatives,
..., then we have slowed the usage of Debian.
Users need not decide between over 13 email-readers,
when they could be told that experts prefer Mutt,
although either Evolution or Kmail will likely dominate the
dummed-down business world.
On Mon, Jun 17, 2002 at 12:36:06PM +0200, Tinus Kotzé wrote:
> Thanx alot for the post
>
> The reason why the HP is BW could be one of 2
> 1. There is a lot of printers based on the 4076, including the ExecJet
> IIc which i have
> 2. It could be that that specific driver only supports B&W. My printer
> does have a cartridge changer for B&W and color.
>
> Everything worked fine, but when I try to connect to my local host I
> don't get anything. I checked in /etc/services and the port is open.I
> also checked in the inetd conf's and the port was also open there.
>
> Should lpd still be running? If found the following line in the
> beginning which I think might cause it to exit since I don't get any
> messages after running /etc/init.d/lpd (with _start_ or nothing).
> test -x $DAEMON -a -f /usr/sbin/pac ||exit
>
> Any advise?
>
> Thanx in advance
> Tinus
>
>
> On Mon, 2002-06-17 at 02:27, Jameson C. Burt wrote:
> >
> > You might try CUPS
> > (which I believe RedHat now uses as the default print server,
> > replacing the lpr package).
> > You can find CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) in woody.
> > I installed
> > *cupsys
> > cupsys-bsd
> > cupsys-client
> > cupsys-driver-gimpprint
> > cupsys-pstoraster
> > kdelibs3-cups
> > *foomatic-bin
> > *foomatic-db
> > *cupsomatic-ppd
> > The last package includes 918 *.ppd files, including
> > /usr/share/cups/model/IBM/Execjet_4072-bj200.ppd
> > While this isn't your 4076, perhaps its close enough.
> >
> > You configure CUPS via a local webpage,
> > http://localhost:631
> >
> > Installation of cups removed my print server package lprng,
> > but then I only expect one printserver to dominate printing on one
> > computer.
> >
> > I see your 4076 mentioned in the Unix printer compatability database,
> > http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi
> > There, select Lexmark, then select 4076.
> > This spawns a webpage that says this Lexmark 4076 printer
> > "Works with drivers for the HP DeskJet 500"
> > But this also says the Lexmark 4076 is a
> > "BW Inkjet 300x300"
> > while you say it is a Colorprinter (hmmm).
> >
> > I also see your printer mentioned on Lexmark's site,
> > http://drivers.lexmark.com/drivers.nsf/SelectPrinter?OpenForm&0
> > and their website you probably visited,
> > http://drivers.lexmark.com/drivers.nsf/SelectPrinter?OpenForm&4076
> > If you download one of their drivers (eg, one for Windows 95, 76WN313E.EXE),
> > then run that *.exe file on the appropriate computer, you likely get a
> > *.ppd file that you can use in CUPS.
> > But this is a too involved a solution,
> > though I have seen Linux documentation mention this very solution:
> > to run a *.exe file then get the needed *.ppd file.
> >
> > Of course, as said above, the cupsomatic-ppd supplied 4072 *.ppd might work well under CUPS.
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Jun 16, 2002 at 12:41:41PM +0200, Tinus Kotzé wrote:
> > > Can anyone help me with the Lexmark ExecJet IIc 4076 Colorprinter. I
> > > have searched the net and could not find a solution for my problem
> > > getting this printer to work. At lexmark's page everything goes well
> > > until I have to state a operating system where the choices are only
> > > Redhat, SuSe... but not Debian and no source to compile the drivers with
> > > for Debian. I have found that it supposedly works in B&W ok with the HP
> > > DeskJet 500.
> > >
> > > Thankyou in advance
> > > Tinuns
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Reply to: