Hi. Got hired 5 days ago by a local company specialized in providing construction products to civil engineers (professional, hobbyists and undergraduate students doing internship) to set up a network and shared printer. The IT supervisor had set certain requirements for the server, server OS and printer. The server needs to be a HP proliant server, the printer needs to be a Canon pixma MP240 and the server OS needs to be CentOS. I completed the creation and configuration of the network the day I got hired, but I have a pretty complex issue setting the printer up. Initially I tested the printer in one of the company PC’s (that PC uses OpenSUSE 11.3 KDE x86) and after installing the canon drivers from the canon website the printer worked perfectly, seeing that it worked perfectly I plugged it into the server (CentOS 5.5 x86) and installed the canon drivers, but as soon as I turned the printer on, the alarm and power lights started blinking and the printer would not print or even be recognized. Took it to the canon service center and they told me that it’s logic board was completely toast, they sent me a new MP240, to make the story short, after doing a few tests (and bricking 5 printers in a day) I found out that for some unknown reason that particular printer can’t be used in anything but Windows and OpenSUSE. Trying it in any other OS bricks the printer. With that said. My question is. Is there any way to stick a minimal (cli-only) OpenSUSE 11.3 x86 in a image file, mount that image file in the server and somehow (a chroot jail perhaps) make the printer contact the OpenSUSE image file without noticing the CentOS system? Also is there any way to automate the process of sending the print job from the networked PC’s to the OpenSUSE image file and from there to the printer?
I would try installing Oracle/Sun’s VBox in centos and openSUSE in the vbox. Use bridged networking linking the openSUSE machine via Samba to the rest of the network. Then the machines on the network could print to the shared printer on the virtual openSUSE in the centos box.
Sounds cool.
NIXadmin wrote:
> I found out that for some unknown reason that particular printer
> can’t be used in anything but Windows and OpenSUSE.
was that mentioned in the printer manual, perhaps?
and, do you keep your job even after destroying five printers?
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
On 2010-11-09, NIXadmin <NIXadmin@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> up. Initially I tested the printer in one of the company PC’s (that PC
> uses OpenSUSE 11.3 KDE x86) and after installing the canon drivers from
> the canon website the printer worked perfectly, seeing that it worked
> perfectly I plugged it into the server (CentOS 5.5 x86) and installed
> the canon drivers, but as soon as I turned the printer on, the alarm and
> power lights started blinking and the printer would not print or even be
> recognized. Took it to the canon service center and they told me that
> it’s logic board was completely toast
Here in Belgium it’s november, not april. And this doesn’t make sense.
How are they connected ??? I would’ve assumed a network connection, but that
would invalidate any such burnout. You can’t fry a motherboard by sending
the wrong print job. That’s just ridiculous.
Now, if the printer is connected with USB… You might have a power leak in
that connector, server side. Or if they’re on separate power circuits, with
a voltage difference, maybe the USB or network would leak the excess
potential. But last time I fried something that way, it was on a poorly
setup airport construction site, maybe 20 years ago. Todays equipments
aren’t that fragile anymore.
Please post some details on connections, spooler, driver, etc…
> , they sent me a new MP240, to make
> the story short, after doing a few tests (and bricking 5 printers in a
> day) I found out that for some unknown reason that particular printer
> can’t be used in anything but Windows and OpenSUSE. Trying it in any
> other OS bricks the printer.
Bollocks. It prints, it doesn’t print or it prints garbage.
And why would they keep replacing a printer, up to 5 times???
> With that said. My question is. Is there
> any way to stick a minimal (cli-only) OpenSUSE 11.3 x86 in a image file,
> mount that image file in the server and somehow (a chroot jail perhaps)
> make the printer contact the OpenSUSE image file without noticing the
> CentOS system? Also is there any way to automate the process of sending
> the print job from the networked PC’s to the OpenSUSE image file and
> from there to the printer?
Aha !
So, you want to run an openSuse on the server? Are allowed to do that? If
so, you don’t run an image file. You run a virtual machine. And then you
make your clients talk to the VM, which in turn sends the jobs to the
printer. The CentOS will never be involved in the printing.
–
When in doubt, use brute force.
– Ken Thompson