How to get Pentax Pocketjet II printer to work? - SOLVED

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of printers
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tide
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How to get Pentax Pocketjet II printer to work? - SOLVED

#1 Post by tide »

Hi all

perhaps somebody could hint out to me, what I'm not getting! Followed the instructions:

Started cups wizard

downloaded Pentax-PocketJet_II-pentaxpj.ppd
(said "works perfectly) from www.linuxfoundation.org

Copied it to usr/share/cups/model

ran the installer again and selected my printer from the drop down menu
Correctly at LPT1 too (parallel printer)

Said all fine and if I wanted to print a test page?

Sure I did but that's where nothing happened. Printer doesn't show it's receiving data and that's that.

Bit puzzled why the CUPS install page says something about:
"/usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip failed"

Printer Driver: Pentax PocketJet II Foomatic/pentaxpj (recommended)
Printer State: idle, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: parallel:/dev/lp0

Sorry probably thick but I'm absolutely lost!
Last edited by tide on Thu 23 Sep 2010, 16:22, edited 1 time in total.

tide
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Joined: Fri 13 Aug 2010, 04:33

#2 Post by tide »

Forgot to mention: Puppy 4.2.1. running on an ex windows laptop

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rcrsn51
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#3 Post by rcrsn51 »

Contrary to popular belief, a PPD file alone is not enough to install a printer. You almost always need some additional driver software. The PPD is just a configuration file that sets up the print job.

If you follow the links at openprinting.org, you end up here with the source code for a Pentax driver.

I'll see if it can be compiled in Puppy 4.2.1.
Last edited by rcrsn51 on Tue 21 Sep 2010, 18:54, edited 1 time in total.

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rcrsn51
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#4 Post by rcrsn51 »

Here is a PET for your Pentax Pocketjet II. It installs both the driver program and the PPD file.

It runs correctly under simulation so hopefully it will work with the actual printer.

[Edit] Attachment deleted. Continue reading!
Last edited by rcrsn51 on Sat 25 Sep 2010, 20:34, edited 2 times in total.

tide
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Joined: Fri 13 Aug 2010, 04:33

#5 Post by tide »

Thanks for your help! It does seem that I don't get the error message anymore. Instead puppy now proudly claims to have completed the job of printing a test page. Unfortunately however my printer remains silent. I did check the connections! Should I uninstall the CUPS PPD file thingy first?

cheers

tide
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Joined: Fri 13 Aug 2010, 04:33

#6 Post by tide »

Okay, deleted the printer. Checked, then reinstalled via cups wizzard. Checked if the installed pet was ok, no problems there. Finally ran a printer dip switch self test to make sure IT was ok and it was. No communication between puppy and printer though!

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rcrsn51
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#7 Post by rcrsn51 »

The problem is that the author's documentation does not even mention CUPS. The driver is designed to work with the older LPD print spooler system.

So, in spite of the fact that openprinting.org provides a PPD file for this printer, I don't know how to get it working in Puppy.

tide
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#8 Post by tide »

Cheers for trying, really appreciate it! And what a shame, the pocketjet is just so useful as it's by far the smallest printer I know. Sort of fixed a 486-Laptop by unsoldering and replacing the damn CMOS battery.
Printer runs fine with anything from Win 3.x to XP, maybe even Win 7.
Seems to me that one always needs at least one windows machine for all the stuff that Linux won't do. Wishing it wasn't so!

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rcrsn51
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#9 Post by rcrsn51 »

I have sent a message to the driver's author asking if he has any CUPS-specific instructions.

tide
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#10 Post by tide »

Wow, thanks again! Do I feel embarrassed now :shock:
Must admit I struggle to understand what CUPS actually IS.
I mean I know what a driver is and I take it the PDD is more
of a printer definition file. Coming mainly from a Windows
background I'm feeling slightly lost at the moment.

Getting on fairly well with Puppy and certainly enjoying it but
when a PET doesn't work for whatever reason or say the
command line pops up I always feel a bit less at home!

tide
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#11 Post by tide »

P.S.: Seeing your thread concerning Brother printers, checked their site. Pentax is now owned by brother and while the PJII/PJ200 is an obsolete model they now sell the newer PJ III range (USB/IfR and Bluetooth). Unfortunately none of them comes with Linux drivers though.

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rcrsn51
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#12 Post by rcrsn51 »

Courtesy of the pentaxpj driver's author here, we may have a solution. This method does not involve installing a CUPS printer - printing will be done from the command line.

1. Install the PET below. Unlike the previous PET, it does not change CUPS.

2. When you want to print from an application, look for an option called "Print to File". This setting has different names, depending on the application. You want Postscript format. Name the file something like "output.ps"

3. The file will be created in /root. To test it, click on the file and open it in the PDF viewer program.

4. Open a terminal window in /root by pressing the back-tick key above the Tab key. Type:

Code: Select all

pentax output.ps
5. With any luck, this will send the print job directly to your parallel port.
Attachments
pentaxpj-1.0.pet
(25.86 KiB) Downloaded 609 times

tide
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#13 Post by tide »

That's great news! Just tried it with a simple text file and it works.
Entered the terminal, typed "pentax etc.ps" and that's it. It's probably not the most convenient way but suits me fine. No problem at all with printing to file first as long as I ultimately get things to the printer. This really is quite a leap forward for me in Puppy usability. A million thanks!

One last question though: the back tick thingy doesn't work on my keyboard, takes
Shift to do a back tick but that doesn't seem to cut the mustard with puppy. Easy enough to right click an select it from the drop down menu but a lot of keyboard shortcuts don't seem to work.

Anyways: great to have the printer working!

tide
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Joined: Fri 13 Aug 2010, 04:33

#14 Post by tide »

It seems I can't print pictures at all and PDF files can't be printed to file. That's odd.

tide
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#15 Post by tide »

Good news: I CAN print PDF files. Open terminal in folder and type:

pentax file.pdf

doesn't work with jpg though

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rcrsn51
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#16 Post by rcrsn51 »

tide wrote:Good news: I CAN print PDF files.
That's handy. I was going to suggest that you convert the PDF file to Postscript with the pdf2ps command.
doesn't work with jpg though
Try this. Launch your web browser and open the JPG file in it. Then use the "Print to File" technique.

tide
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#17 Post by tide »

Nice trick! Cos didn't work with paint etc.
Think I'll have to play with the settings somehow. PS preview shows a smaller image with horizontal stripes. Print quality seems slightly on the faint side too.

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rcrsn51
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#18 Post by rcrsn51 »

If you haven't already figured this out, the printer settings are controlled by the script /usr/bin/pentax. It contains the line:

Code: Select all

/usr/local/pentaxpj/pentaxpj_sh  -s letter -g 2550x3300 -d 7 -f 1 -a 300  -t 0 -p /dev/lp0 $1
The "-d 7" argument sets the print density. Try changing it to "-d 10".

You can see the complete list of options by typing the command:

Code: Select all

/usr/local/pentaxpj/pentaxpj_sh  -h

tide
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#19 Post by tide »

rcrsn51 wrote:If you haven't already figured this out, the printer settings are controlled by ...
*cough* cough* indeed I hadn't. I'm not exactly fluent in command line stuff
but I'll get there (I guess). Thanks for your help & patience!

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#20 Post by rcrsn51 »

Here's a little trick to save you from going to the command line when you want to print.

Open the folder /usr/bin and locate the file "pentax"

In another window, right-click on one of your PS files and select Open With > Customize > OK.

Control + Shift + Drag a link from the /usr/bin/pentax file into the SendTo window.

Now to print a file, you can just right-click on it and select your Pentax program.

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