RE: How do I setup printer?

["Jan Sneep" <jan@azureservices.ca>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Grieveson [mailto:dg135@torfree.net]
> Sent: May 5, 2007 7:41 PM
> To: debian-user
> Subject: Re: How do I setup printer?
>
> The easiest way to set up a printer is to install the package
> printconf, and then run it.  It's a similar utility to alsaconf (that
> sets up soundcards for you).  The description for printconf is:
>
> printconf - automatically configures USB and parallel
> printers with CUPS
>
> As root, in the terminal, just enter the command printconf.  It should
> work.  It depends on what type of printer you have, though (some
> printers, like Canon, don't work well with Linux, I find).

I thought this sounded like a good thing to try as I have a new Samsun
ML-2010 printer that I want to share from my Debian computer.

This is the error message that printconf generated for me;

   Printer on usb:/dev/usb/lp0 was detected by Debian using the ad-hoc
method.  Please submit the following information to
foomatic-db@packages.debian.org:
   <autodetect>
     <usb>
       <commandset>GDI</commandset>
       <manufacturer>Samsung</manufacturer>
       <model>ML-2010</model>
     </usb>
   </autodetect>

   Printer database data:
   {'autodetect': {u'usb': {u'ieee1284':
u'MFG:Samsung;CMD:GDI;MDL:ML-2010;CLS:PRINTER;STATUS:BUSY;'}},
    'driver': u'splix',
    u'drivers': [u'splix', u'gdi'],
    u'functionality': u'A',
    u'id': u'Samsung-ML-2010',
    u'make': u'Samsung',
    u'model': u'ML-2010'}
   Configuring Samsung ML-2010 on usb:/dev/usb/lp0 with splix driver as
queue "ml2010".
   There is neither a custom PPD file nor the driver database entry contains
sufficient data to build a PPD file.


So after sending an email to foomatic-db@packages.debian.org I went to
www.linux.org to see if I could find the print driver.

Yes, they have a driver listed for the Samsung ML-2010 and the steps look
fairly simple, but wanted to check with someone more experienced to make
sure I'm doing this the Debian way ... :O)

First off can anyone tell me if Etch is LSB-3.2 compliant?

>From the Linux.org site;
   Preparation of LSB-3.1-compliant distributions

   These steps are not needed on LSB-3.2-compliant Linux distributions.

   Add the LSB 3.2 requirements for printing by installing CUPS,
foomatic-filters, ESP GhostScript (on most distributions they are already
installed), and adding a directory and a link for the PPD files to be found
by CUPS:

   On Ubuntu or Debian unstable you are done with this.

   On any other distribution install the fhs-printingdirs package or do:

   mkdir -p /usr/share/ppd
   ln -s /usr/share/ppd /usr/share/cups/model/0-driverppds



It sounds like I don't need to do above, but just wanted to be 100% sure.

Now the next step from the linux.org site;

    * Download the desired driver package. Take care of the system
architecture (normal PCs are "x86 32 bit", most Macs are "Power PC"). If
your browser opens a media player plug-in, click the "Back" button of the
browser, right-click the link for the package, and choose "Save as...".

    * If you have a non-RPM-based distribution (Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware,
...), convert the downloaded driver package(s) with alien (the packages are
provided as RPM packages). Do (On Ubuntu, preceed the command by "sudo", on
other distributions, run it as root):

alien --scripts <name of the downloaded RPM package>

    * Install the driver package with the package installation tool provided
by your distribution. Use "rpm" for .rpm packages on distributions like Red
Hat/Fedora, Novell/SuSE, Mandriva, ... Use "dpkg" for .deb packages on
Ubuntu, Debian, ... The commands should look like this (execute the
appropriate command as root, or on Ubuntu preceeded by "sudo"):

rpm -Uvh <name of the downloaded RPM package>
dpkg -i <name of the .deb package generated with alien>


So I have downloaded the Splix-1.0.1-3lsb3.1.i486.rpm file ... Which folder
should I put it in? Should I use /usr/share/ppd with Debian so the printconf
command can find the files?

Now here is the weird thing ... I did a Gnome -> Places -> Find Files
searching for ppd thinking that if there is an existing folder I should use
it ... well along with a few other files it found in the
/usr/share/ppd/foomatic-rip/linuxpriting.org-gs-builtin/Samsung folder a
file called Samsung-ML-2010-gdi.ppd.gz

I'm assuming the printconf should have found this file and used it? So do I
need to do something to get printconf to work? or do I continue with the
Linux.org instructions and run alien and then dpkg? What's the best way to
go?

Jan