Printer problem
Although new to debian, I have been using linux for a number of years,
so this is not exactly a newbie question.
The story so far: did a minimal install of Woody from
CD. Fine.
dselected and installed a fair number of packages. Fine.
Decided to build a custom kernel, as I have certain things I need
(PDC2028 support for my Promise ATA100 card, which has 80% of my disk
space attached to it), SCSI support for my two adapters, etc.
Used the instructions in the install doc and built my own kernel .deb
installed it, ran lilo and rebooted. Fine.
Now, came to configure my (Epson Stylus 850) printer.
Tried CUPS and kept getting a strange "client error" message from the
web interface. Tried the lpadmin route, same message.
Sudden thought: yes, indeed, I'd not checked that parallel port
support was built into the kernel by default and it isn't. Turn it on
rebuild and reinstall.
Reboot, fine. Still no parallel port support. But now the messages log
file shows clearly that the printer is attached and communicating, as
these messages show:
Aug 10 10:59:04 jupiter kernel: parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
Aug 10 10:59:04 jupiter kernel: parport0: Printer, EPSON Stylus COLOR 850
However, I still couldn't print. I could create the print stuff via
cups, but whenever I tried to print I'd get a "/dev/lp0 unknown
device: message.
Tried deleting /dev/lp0 and rebooting. OK, the reboot doesn't create
the file.
Tried creating /dev/lp0 both using the MAKDEV script and using the
mknow command directly.
There is no problem creating /dev/lp0 with the correct (6,0 major and
minor devices. parport and parport_pc are loaded as modules. When I
add a printer via the CUPS web interface it seems to do some sort of
probe and realise there's an Epson 850 there.
But, whenever I try to touch /dev/lp0: No such device.
Any ideas? I really don't want to have to reinstall - that was part of
the whole point of going to debian and I must say, printer problem
aside, I am already hooked.
--
|Deryk Barker, Computer Science Dept. | Music does not have to be understood|
|Camosun College, Victoria, BC, Canada| It has to be listened to. |
|email: dbarker@camosun.bc.ca | |
|phone: +1 250 370 4452 | Hermann Scherchen. |
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