Printing with CUPS: Almost here ! (Finally HERE!)

[dewdrop]

Hi Rarsa,

I

[rarsa]

If you could start me out with a step by step after the CD install I'd appreciate it.

Sorry, I didn't read this part.

You don't need to install Anything. You can do everything with the live CD. When you use 1.0.5 it creates a pup002 file.

I know you want me to not load the entire usr.dev file,

There was some missunderstanding here. So. Lets start over... To do the step by step I need the answer to some questions:

1. How do you run puppy 1.0.4 right now?
a) LiveCD with a pup001 file
b) HDD installation
c) USB RAM instalation
d) Other (please specify)

2. What file systems do you have in your computer?
a) NTFS (windows XP)
b) FAT32
c) ext2
d) A combination (please specify)

If you don't know, you can find out from within puppy. Just open a console and type the following command "fdisk -l" (The parameter is lowercase L).

I need to know the answer to these questions because 1.0.5 creates a pup002 file in an available file system if it can. But if you only have NTFS, it you will need to put it manually. Even more, you need to put the usr_devx.sfs file in the same place where the pup002 file is.

I thought you might like to handle the contact with the Moderators to switch this over to the Solved Threads.

Oh, this is not a solved/unsolved kind fo thread, this is a 'working thread' and this 1.0.5 experiment is part of if. Hopefully the last one for this round.

[dewdrop]

Hi Rarsa,

Okay. Here the answer to your questions.

1. How do you run puppy 1.0.4 right now.....

I use a live CD, with Chubby Puppy, with a pup001 file. I used 3 different pup001 files and would exchange them in-out as I needed. I had my regular one, with all my settings that I normally use. Then I had one I used for the HP3320 printer and one I used for the HP6540 printer.

I do have 2 additional hard drives that I use to install various flavors of Linux on as I see one of interest. Right now these drives could be used for an install of puppy if desired.

2. the file system is fat32 with a WindowsXP Home editition installation.


I did see the creation of the pup002 file when I did a LiveCD 1.0.5 installation, just to make sure it was working. I have the 1.0.5 version on one of the mini discs 210 Megabytes. Also, I put the dev file on one of those discs too. So I have both items needed....meaning I won

[rarsa]

Yes, just put the usr_devx.sfs on the same folder as pup002 and follow the installation steps without installing Perl. Try to print the test page. If it does not print, change the LogLevel to debug, try to print again and send me the log file.

Either way it seems that this may be the final test. If it works we know that the Perl in usr_devx.sfs is enough. If it does not, we know that we'll need to include Perl in the instructions.

[dewdrop]

Hi Rarsa.

You have another successful printing result. But for me, this one is a slight bit strange. I'm sure it is because of my lack of knowledge of what I'm doing.

I did not do anything with the usr.devx.sfs file except to place it in the C: area where the pup002 file is located. I don't know if the simple placement of that file into C: allows it to be utilized or not, but I guess so.

The second area of strangeness followed the leafpad procedure at #10 and following. I forgot to do the restart command and the printer that I installed failed the test. When I remembered that I hadn't done the reinstall, I did that procedure, installed a new printer, and the familiar listing of numerous HP printers came up and allowed me to select the HP6540. The test was then successful. I take it that an install of the perl file will not be necessary...

A QUESTION: I only did the installation for the HP6540, and since it was successful, I didn't do the HP3320. Do you still want that tested too?

What follows is my Step by step. Also, I've attached the log file.

Dewdrop


Step by Step for 9-12-2005 - 1.0.5alpha2

1. Placed usr.devx.sfs file in the C: drive. This is where pup002 will be/is located.

2. I had previously attempted to print something while in 1.0.4 using Abiword. The printer
just passed a blank page. I had previously printed using the Open Office Word Processor.
I don't know if Abiword is CUPS compliant.

3. Ran the installation of Puppy 1.0.5alpha.

4. Untarred the cups-install.tar.gz file with
#tar -xzvf cups-install.tar.gz

5. Executed sh cups-install.sh

6. Executed sh espgs-install.sh

7. Executed sh espgs-install.sh

8. Tried to restart CUPS with this command:

/etc/rc.d/rc.cups restart

bash returned the line that there was no such file
or directory.

# /etc/rd.d/rc.cups restart
bash: /etc/rd.d/rc.cups: No such file or directory
#

9. I went to http://localhost:631, went thru the setup
page for the HP6540 printer, attempted to print a
test page and test window indicated that the test
had been cancelled. There was no activity from
the printer.

IMPORTANT: during the localhost setup, I only saw 3
printers listed so I selected the 1st one: HP
DeskJet Series CUPS v1.1(en).

10. I returned to the Xterm window, and executed the following
command to change the LogLevel to debug.

#leafpad /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

11. I deleted the printer on the localhost page, and
installed a new printer...again choosing the
top one from a selection of 3 - HP Deskjet Series
CUPS v1.1 (en).

12. The test results page again indicated that the test
had been cancelled.

13. I again deleted the printer.

IMPORTANT: After doing the leafpad procedure, I
didn't do a re-start.

14. I now executed the re-start command and
returned to the localhost page to install
a new printer and run the test.

15. I installed a new printer, this time the hp selection
gave me a familiar listing of all kinds of printers.

16. I selected the HP6540 from the list, requested a test
page be printed and out came the familiar Printer
Test Page. This is a Success.

17. I then used AbiWord to print out this step by step, and it was successful.

This is what showed on the Page of the Program I used
to keep the step by step - the ABOUT page says that this program
is Leafpad.... I was thinking that Abiword might not work, so I clicked on the EDIT Icon on the desktop and Leafpad opened.

INFORMATION:
This application is using /usr/bin/lprshell to convert
the file to Postscript prior to sending it to lpr.
In the case of plain text, ABW, DOC and RTF files,
Abiword is used as the filter. Abiword can be invoked from
the commandline to convert these formats to Postscript.
Note that lpr is a symlink to pdq, which will call
gs (Ghostscript) to print the file.
After a short delay, your file should print.
If it does not, did you run the Puppy Printer Wizard?
Then, did you run XPDQ and choose the printer as the
default printer?



THIS IS THE XTERM INFO. Notice I had a little trouble with the restart command.

`usr/share/ppd/HP/HP-OfficeJet_G55-hpijs.ppd.gz' -> `/usr/share/ppd/HP/HP-OfficeJet_G55-hpijs.ppd.gz'
`usr/share/ppd/HP/HP-DeskJet_632C-hpijs.ppd.gz' -> `/usr/share/ppd/HP/HP-DeskJet_632C-hpijs.ppd.gz'
# /etc/rc.d.rc.cups restart
bash: /etc/rc.d.rc.cups: No such file or directory
# /etc/rd.d/rc.cups restart
bash: /etc/rd.d/rc.cups: No such file or directory
# /etc/rd.d/rc.cups restart
bash: /etc/rd.d/rc.cups: No such file or directory
#
# leafpad /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
# /etc/rc.d/rc.cups restart
cups: restarted scheduler.
#
# tar -cvzf log.tar.gz /var/log/cups/*
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
var/log/cups/access_log
var/log/cups/error_log
var/log/cups/page_log
# rm -f /var/log/cups/error_log
#

[rarsa]

GOOD. Our Job here is Complete!

Very good news for people that need CUPS. If they want it under 1.0.4 they'll need to install Perl. If they want to wait for 1.0.5, Perl will be there.

Looking back the steps are really quite simple, it was just a matter of understanding what they were.

Oh, By the way, the things that you found strange are actually the expected behaviour. Strange would have been if they didn't happened like that.

I'll start another thread in "Additional software and DotPups" once I create the DotPups.

I am planning to create one DotPup per component as not everyone will require all of them:
- CUPS
- ESP Gohstscript
- HPIJS drivers
- Perl

That part will be easy. The difficult part for most people will be understanding which drivers to use. The linuxPrinting website is very clear, but only if you know what they are talking about, isn't it?

In your case, we started with CUPS because of the HP3320. Had we started with the HP6540, I would have suggested you reading the corresponding linuxprinting page that says "Also the Gimp-Print driver is reported to work (Model setting: "pcl-900")." The Gimp-Print driver is the driver that comes with Puppy. That's what I meant before by doing it "the puppy way".

So for the HP6540 you may try with a 100% clean installation running the 'Printer Wizard' and selecting the pcl-900 printer.

[dewdrop]

Hi Rarsa,

The difficult part for most people will be understanding which drivers to use.

It will be some combination of 16 choices I guess (4 items x 4 combinations)...I think that's how it works. That might be a bit tiresome expecially if they have the space on their machines. You might suggest that they download and install all 4 - giving the space requirements as part of the posting.

Looking back the steps are really quite simple, it was just a matter of understanding what they were.

Do you think it would be beneficial to do some kind of step by step? I kind of get the impression that the linux community at large feels that people don't need or want the step by steps. Your guidance to me was invaluable. I would have never figured out how to do some of the steps you were asking me to do, without you telling me "how to" do each step. At least the first time.

I am planning to create one DotPup per component as not everyone will require all of them:
- CUPS
- ESP Gohstscript
- HPIJS drivers
- Perl

I take it that each of these components is located inside the usr.devx.sfs file - and that whatever Developers need, it is included in that file, or can be included. And that...the existence of the usr.devx.sfs file is what really sets 1.0.5 apart from previous versions of Puppy.

Question - will people acting as testers still be needed by the Developer community now that the usr.devx.sfs file is available? I was thinking that maybe a Thread could be started as part of the "CUTTING EDGE" topic area entitled something like - "Tester sign up sheet". This could be made a "sticky" by one of the Moderators, and anyone who wanted to act as a tester for the Developers could list their names there and be willing to work with the Developers on various projects.

Speaking for myself, I sure would like to be part of another project and hope you will contact me whenever you need a tester for something you are developing.

Thanks again. I look forward to seeing the DotPups I had a small hand in creating.

Dewdrop

[rarsa]

I take it that each of these components is located inside the usr.devx.sfs file

No, What the usr_devx.sfs contains are the development tools and libraries to compile programs for Puppy. Some of the tools included in Usr_devx.sfs require Perl, thus it was included.

So for CUPS we require usr_devx.sfs just because of Perl, not because we needed to compile anything.

The DotPups I will create are separate installations that the users will download. They have nothing to do with usr_devx.sfs

Do you think it would be beneficial to do some kind of step by step?

Right now there is a step by step. The DotPups will only put then installers in a Puppy standard format.

and anyone who wanted to act as a tester for the Developers

Actually the nice part is that the testers are actual users for the most part.
At this stage, the puppy users are still small, so we are all testing other's contributions as we are using them. It's worked OK for bladehunter's wifi and it worked OK for CUPS.

Talking about testing cools stuff... I have a paralell thread with the initial instructions for Mercury: An MSN messenger replacement with Video conferencing capabilities.

I was waiting to finish the CUPS DotPup to go heads down on Mercury. If you have a WebCam I'm sure you will like this.

[arster]

Thanks for the great work and instructions on CUPS. It worked for me after some trial and error. I couldn't find a ppd for my Panasonic KX-P7305 ps printer in the usual places. Since I had it running on windows, I searched the windows directories for .ppd and I found it among the hundreds that were already in Mr. Gates' system. I'm not sure if it came with the windows system, or I put it there with a cd during the install. Either way, it was there. So, before giving up, give this a try - or make it your first stop.

[dewdrop]

Hi,

(THIS IS AN UPDATE OF THE CUPS INFO ABOVE)

I tried to install my HP6540 Printer using the Puppy 1.0.5 that was released today with no joy.

I downloaded, untarred, and installed the cups-install.tar.gz file that Rarsa has as an attachment on the first page of this thread. I used the install instructions that are noted earlier in the thread.

I knew that the usr_devx.sfs that I had used on 1.0.5rc1 was still on the C:\. But when I went to the http://localhost:631 page and tried to get the printer to print a test page, it failed.

I then downloaded the usr_devx.sfs that was uploaded today 9-28-2005, placed it on C:\ and then went to the http://localhost:631 page and the test page printed.

Apparently, there is a difference between the two usr_dev.sfs files. Be sure to download and use the newer version.

dewdrop

[JohnMurga]

Gee, I wonder if CC can be used to convert ndiswrapper, a Perl program for
setting up wireless networking, to C code?.... I'm probably being too hopeful.

I did it a long time ago ... You still have to include some perl libs and the program generated isn't small.
My PERL package + ndiswrapper worked out to be smaller than the compiled program + libs ...

Including PERL seems almost unavoidable

Cheers
JohnM

[aximum]

JUST WORKED PERFECT!

CONGRATULATIONS!

[Sharke]

Rarsa & dewdrop
Congratulations on a job well done you should both be very proud off yor success and i thank you.

Regards
Sharke

[Lobster]

The older built in printing method works for me and even I am proud of this CUPS achievement . . .

Raise your CUPS (and water bowls)

Cheers - woof woof

[Guest]

Well,

Finally here it is. I found that it would take me the same time to write the instructions as to write the scritp. I'd recommend you to read the script to understand what I'm doing and maybe find a better way of doing it.

I still need to package all of this in a DotPup.

Notes:
- I will put new versions of the installer in this post. If you have tried a previous version check the change log before trying again.
- I tested this script booting from a chubby puppy 1.0.4 live CD.
- Currently the each of the install scripts download the required files from a slackware mirror. I'm thinking that's the best option for now.
- The configuration files are already configured to work with puppy.
- The script modifies rc.local to start cups at boot time.
- You need about 25 MB of free space to install all the components
- This instructions include the hpijs printer driver as an example. Before proceeding make sure that you have available CUPS printer drivers for your particular printer. You can google to find out.
For a list of printers supported by hpij go to this page http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_drive ... iver=hpijs

The scripts downloads the required packages to /root/tmp
It extracts them to /tmp . This means the following:
- Installation is faster as /tmp is in RAMDISK
- You need enough ram or enough swap space (about 30 MB)
- All temporary files will be lost when you reboot.

Disclaimer
This script is working for me using a pristine pup001 file.
I highly recommend testing with a pristine pup001 file. Don't test in your regular pup001. I am not responsible if you corrupt your pup001 file. An alternative is to backup your pup001 file to test on an already configured and non pristine pup001.

Instructions:
1. Download the cups-install.tar.gz file
2. Open a console terminal and change folders to the folder where you downloaded the file.
3. Untar the cups-install.tar.gz with "tar -xvzf cups-install.tar.gz". This tar file includes the scripts to install cups. ESP Ghostscript and the hpijs driver.
4. From the console execute "sh cups-install.sh"
5. If you are printing to a remote CUPS server go to step 9, otherwise continue with step 6.
6. If your print drivers require ESP Ghost script, execute ""sh espgs-install.sh". (the hpijs driver needs it).
7. Install the CUPS drivers for the printers connected to your puppy computer according to your driver's instructions. Check in http://www.linuxprinting.org to find out the drivers required by your printer. These instructions include the hpijs, if your printer is suported just execute "sh hpijs-install.sh".
8. If your driver requires foomatic, you also need to install Perl. Don't use the Perl PupGet as it is a stripped down version. If you are using puppy 1.0.5 download the usr_devx.sfs file. If you are using a puppy version prior to 1.0.5 downlad the attached perl installer, untar it and instal with "sh perl-5.8.6-install.sh"
9. Restart cups with "sh /etc/rc.d/rc.cups restart"
10. Open your browser and go to the following address http://localhost:631
11. Add your printer following the links on that page. If you already have a CUPS server that allow browsing you will see the shared printers there.
12. Print the test page

It's THAT easy. I took dewdrop and my self about 80 hours to get to this point but we are finally here!

The main problems I encountered were the following:
- Understanding what I was doing as I did not have previous CUPS experience.
- Find a version that ran OK under puppy. (this took almost 15 hours)
- Finding the correct access rights combination for the config files.
- Understanding that I needed ESP Ghostscript.
- Learning that the Perl PupGet did not include all the components required by foomatic.

========== Change log ==========
Oct 6, 2005 11:51 pm EST
- Added comment to use usr_devx.sfs in puppy 1.0.5 to access perl.
Sept 12, 2005 11:22 pm EST
- Added Full Perl Installation. Final instructions.
Sept 8, 2005 11:22 pm EST
- Inserted new step to install Perl when the driver requires foomatic.
Sept 4, 2005 8:31 pm EST
- Cleaned up the configuration file cupsd.conf
Sept 3, 2005 2:37 pm EST
- Added the hpijs printer driver which supports hundreds of printers from many brands.
- Created separate scripts for CUPS, ESP Ghostscript and the hpijs driver.
- Packaged all the scripts and configuration files in one download.
- Changed the protocol for the wget from HTTP to FTP. Now the download is faster.
- The scripts now download the packages to /root/tmp so you don't have to redownload them every time.
- The script will continue with a failed download when you re-run it.

Sept 3 ,2005 2:19 am EST
- First post

Where is the CUPS-install.tar.gz (site)

[Rich]

Direct link to the download is on the first page of this thread.
At the bottom of the 8th post.


R

[rarsa]

It is not a site. It is a file I created with the scripts to install CUPS.

The file is an attachment in the post that you just quoted.

[Guest]

It is not a site. It is a file I created with the scripts to install CUPS.

The file is an attachment in the post that you just quoted.

Ok .

[pakt]

- The scripts now download the packages to /root/tmp so you don't have to redownload them every time.

Unfortunately, although the downloaded packages are saved locally, re-running the scripts will download them once again instead of using the local copies. The scripts should look first to see if local copies are present (e.g. in the same directory as the scripts) before ftp'ing once again.

A suggestion for the moderators: perhaps one of you could copy rarsa's CUPS installation instructions http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?p=12248#12248 to the HOWTO (solutions) section as a new topic. It is currently down in the middle of the first page of the topic and easily overlooked.

[rarsa]

I will review the script later today. (I'm at the office right now).