Newbie Needs Help Installing Older Hp Printer

-I decided that I needed to have another OS to use besides(instead of) Windows. I have Open Suse 10.2 installed and am slowly learning. I have not tried to install anything that didn't come with the 10.2, but would like to get a printer up and running. I have my favorite old HP 855 which I tried to install. It appeared that Suse had the HP 850 in a list which should have worked. Does anyone know what I need to do to try and get this printer recognized? Is there a generic driver that I need to download? It may be that this printer is too old to work with Linux. Thanks for any help.
Zand

See the OpenPrinting web stie:

<http://openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-DeskJet_855C>

It says your printer should work "perfectly". I would think Yast would have the necessary driver already (try the Deskjet 600, if the 855 isn't listed), but if it's not there, there are links to get the proper driver on the above page. The printer is definitely not too old.

If neither Yast not the openPrinting site work, give a shout back and we'll get it sorted out.

I cannot get Suse 10.2 to recognize my HP 855C printer. Suse 10.2 is installed on a Dell 8400 computer. The printer is connected to the parallel port. When I try to configure the printer I get a message that indicates the printer is not being recognized and that the parallel port is not configured correctly. It also indicates that some parallel port cards may not be recognized automatically and to replace the address in the parallel port line with the correct address. I have no idea what the address is of the parallel port in the Dell. It always worked when I had Windows XP installed. XP was on another HD which was removed and Suse 10.2 was installed on a new HD. When I do the print test I get a message that the device is working properly, but nothing happens.
Does anyone have any ideas about what I might try as the parallel port address or anything else to try?
Zand

You may get some of the info by going into the motherboard BIOS setup at boot time. (Press <DEL> or F2 or whatever when prompted).

You can usually fiddle with the parallel port settings - SPP, ECP, etc and possibly the LPT address.

On the PC, standard printer port addresses were (in hex) 3BC 378 278

I can't really see why the LPT would not be recognized...

You may get some of the info by going into the motherboard BIOS setup at boot time. (Press <DEL> or F2 or whatever when prompted).

You can usually fiddle with the parallel port settings - SPP, ECP, etc and possibly the LPT address.

On the PC, standard printer port addresses were (in hex) 3BC 378 278

I can't really see why the LPT would not be recognized...
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I my computer with SUSE 10.2 still will not recognize my HP Deskjet 855C printer connected through the parallel port. I have downloaded all of the latest patches for 10.2. The problem appears to be that SUSE won't recognize the parallel port because it says it is incorrectly configured. The I/O address for a default printer when I try to add the HP 855C is:
/proc/sys/dev/parport
The I/O address of the parallel port of the 855C printer when I go into the computer bios is 378h
I guess I will have to give up on this one. It's too bad because SUSE 10.2 is working real well for my needs in other ways. But I need a printer to work with it, and I would be scared to purchase a new printer(which I will need eventually) and count on it working with SUSE 10.2.
Zand

Have you tried a different cable? Have you tried (in the BIOS) changing the parallel port address? Have you tried telling Yast you have a Deskjet 600?

Don't give up too easily. It should work. I've had HP 600, 620, 660 and 820 printers connected through the parallel port at one time or another and they've all worked fine.

If you were to get a new printer, get a USB printer which should connect with no problems, esp. if you choose it from the Hardware Compatibility List.

have you checked in hardware to see if parallel port was installed correctly ? just a passing thought

Andy