I have an HP Laserjet 3. I can use it in normal Windows mode, or as a Postscript printer. Yes, it is an older printer, but it is still listed in the driver database. The cups setup tool cannot autodetect this printer. Also, if I select the actual driver for this printer, the cups tool still reports that no printer has been selected. I cannot add that driver for some reason. So, now I have to become an expert in cups configuration. Where is the cups HOWTO? Not in the SuSE howto section. Online? A little support there, but not SuSE specific. Does this local printer need to be a “network” printer? If so, how to I determine what internet address to use? Are there any howto’s that might give me some clues?
Thanks!
WF
On 02/23/2010 07:26 PM, WhiteFox wrote:
>
> I have an HP Laserjet 3. I can use it in normal Windows mode, or as a
> Postscript printer. Yes, it is an older printer, but it is still listed
> in the driver database. The cups setup tool cannot autodetect this
> printer. Also, if I select the actual driver for this printer, the cups
> tool still reports that no printer has been selected. I cannot add that
> driver for some reason. So, now I have to become an expert in cups
> configuration. Where is the cups HOWTO? Not in the SuSE howto section.
> Online? A little support there, but not SuSE specific. Does this local
> printer need to be a “network” printer? If so, how to I determine what
> internet address to use? Are there any howto’s that might give me some
> clues?
How is this printer connected? If you are using a parallel connection, has the
appropriate module been loaded. Please post the output of
lsmod | grep parport
Thanks for the suggestion. The output of lsmod | grep parport is:
parport_pc 40356 1
parport 39948 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
I have a very basic question. I realize up until now all linux printing must include a PostScript printer. Can CUPS print to a non-PostScript printer? I have a Laserjet 3 which can be used with or without P.S. This printer is not a network printer, and is using the old style parallel port connection, printing locally only.
In the graphical CUPS printer setup tool, it asks what type of connection exists. Should the answer be HPLIP? Or the older LPD? Should my URI be socket://localhost:631??
Thanks!
WF
My original title should have been that local parallel port printing seems to be broken.
Printer: HP-Laserjet III, Postscript available if necessary. This is an older parallel port printer.
1)lsmod tells me that parport and parport_pc are both loaded.
2)/dev/lp0 and /dev/parport0 both exist in /dev, owners are root,lp for both. Does ownership need to be root,cups?
3)cat file.txt > lp0 produces some text on the local printer
4)In the CUPS setup tool, I am using socket://localhost:631 for the URI and HPLIP.
5)The CUPS setup tool says printer successfully setup, but will not print test page, “Server not available”.
6)I can ping 127.0.0.1 normally.
Clues? Comments?
thank you!
WF
Install latest HPLIP drivers, and configure the printer through Yast. That gives a lot of options to play around with to get it working.
Thanks for the suggestion on the HPLIP drivers. According to the HP HPLIP website itself, HPLIP does not even list support for the Laserjet 3 (begins at Laserjet 4). Downloading and installing their drivers is not easy. But, more importantly the main issue seems to be routing the information to the local parallel port.
I discovered that selecting the LPT #1 option (in the CUPS printer setup menu) directs the printing output to the local parallel port. Unfortunately, the Laserjet 3 driver has some errors. The test page prints, but has many unreadable characters and formatting problems. I am sure there are many users like me who are using local parallel printers. I’m sure that CUPS is great for a complex local or WAN printing setup, but it just doesn’t make sense for a single user with a single local printer.
Starting back with version 8? I compiled LPRNG from sources and had a working Postscript printer. I don’t mind configuring a few files, but CUPS seems to be an “enterprise” or business level package not suited to individual users.
LPRNG was dropped after 11.1, so the package is still available and that’s what my solution would be. I recommend the same for single user, single printer operation, especially when using the older parallel printers. My HP Laserjet 3 is still working fine and has no need to be part of a network.
WF