[Solved]Epson USBprinter was OK but now not found by cups

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of printers
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tytower

[Solved]Epson USBprinter was OK but now not found by cups

#1 Post by tytower »

Below is some output from the console
CUPS will not find my printer now but it did initially and it still does from the live CD

Can anyone spot the problem and make this a bit easier?

sh-4.1# lpinfo -v
network http
network lpd
network ipp
direct parallel:/dev/lp0
direct scsi
network beh
network smbc
network socket
file pdf-writer:/dev/null
serial serial:/dev/ttyS0?baud=115200
serial serial:/dev/ttyS1?baud=115200
serial serial:/dev/usb/ttyUSB0?baud=230400
serial serial:/dev/ttyUSB0?baud=230400
serial serial:/dev/usb/ttyUSB1?baud=230400
serial serial:/dev/ttyUSB1?baud=230400
sh-4.1# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 12d1:1003
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1516:1603
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 04b8:082f
sh-4.1# groups
root tty lpadmin
sh-4.1# ls /dev/usb
auer0 dabusb0 dc2xx0 hiddev0 lp1 mdc8001 scanner1 ttyUSB1
auer1 dabusb1 dc2xx1 hiddev1 mdc8000 scanner0 ttyUSB0
sh-4.1#
Last edited by tytower on Fri 23 Sep 2011, 09:53, edited 1 time in total.

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rcrsn51
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#2 Post by rcrsn51 »

You appear to have lost the device node /dev/usb/lp0. But it should be automatically created when you plug in a USB printer.

What Puppy version are you using? What other SFS/PET/DEB packages have you installed?

tytower

#3 Post by tytower »

Ok ,it doesnot get created when I plug it in

I have Cinellera , Gimp and Firefox 7(beta)

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rcrsn51
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#4 Post by rcrsn51 »

rcrsn51 wrote:What Puppy version are you using?

tytower

#5 Post by tytower »

5.28

I dumped Firefox 7 and went back to Firefox 3.6.13 just in case

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rcrsn51
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#6 Post by rcrsn51 »

I don't know what has caused your problem, but here is a possible solution.

1. Open a ROX window to the folder /initrd/pup_ro2/dev/usb

2. Open another ROX window to /dev/usb

3. Drag the file lp0 from one to the other.

4. Check that the new file has a full set of read-write permissions.

5. Test your printer.

tytower

#7 Post by tytower »

Thanks
I was unable to copy it accross and got "cp: accessing `/dev/usb/lp0': Input/output error
Failed to copy '/initrd/pup_ro2/dev/usb/lp0'

Not sure what it objects to

Whats the command line to do it in a terminal ? or can I create a node any other way in there?

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rcrsn51
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#8 Post by rcrsn51 »

tytower wrote:I was unable to copy it accross and got "cp: accessing `/dev/usb/lp0': Input/output error
Failed to copy '/initrd/pup_ro2/dev/usb/lp0'
It's a pretty good bet that your pupsave file has gotten corrupted.

Boot off the Live CD using "puppy pfix=ram"
Mount the partition holding your pupsave file.
Type a command like

Code: Select all

e2fsck -p /mnt/sda1/lupusave.2fs
Reboot.

tytower

#9 Post by tytower »

Darn
I thought you had it there when I did as above and it reported deleting about 10 nodes because they had zero value or something like that.( I didn't write the returned messages down at the time)

So now it reports a clean file system but the lp0 node is not created when I plug the epson printer in and CUPS still says no printers found

I've also tried this on a couple of different machines with no change
Thanks

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rcrsn51
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#10 Post by rcrsn51 »

tytower wrote:I've also tried this on a couple of different machines with no change.
Please explain.

tytower

#11 Post by tytower »

I load Puppy 5.28 from a USB stick

It therefore boots from any machine

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rcrsn51
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#12 Post by rcrsn51 »

At this point, you may have to bite the bullet and start a new save file.

The next time, make a backup copy of your save file that you can restore if problems happen again.

tytower

#13 Post by tytower »

Mm. Well thats easy enough just have to download again the other software I downloaded before .

I'd like to try to understand though ,exactly what is going on as this is so fundamental to all operating systems. It just has to work right

Could you recommend any reading on these ports and nodes , what they are and how they are set up originally . What happens when a printer is plugged in?

tytower

#14 Post by tytower »

I had a closer look and found by changing the properties of the /dev/usb/ directory to include local and world write permissions I was able to copy the lp0 node mentioned above . I then changed the properties back again and rebooted ,with a save of course .

This time CUPS found my printer OK and I sent a page to it .
I got a totally black page so I have more to do but at least my machine can be found.

I always knew it was there -dumb machines!


Seems then to be a permission problem between CUPS and the /dev/usb/ directory. When I revisited the directory again it had gone again so I am going to leave the properties wide open as this is how /initrd/pup_ro2/dev/usb is set.

When I did this and plugged in the printer the node was automatically created -no need to copy it accross

I'll come back

tytower

#15 Post by tytower »

And now we have printer being found and perfect printing

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rcrsn51
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#16 Post by rcrsn51 »

That's good news. Now make a backup copy of your pupsave file!

tytower

#17 Post by tytower »

well thats not the issue just yet
I would like to solve this properly.I think you are right in that the pupsave file is corrupt. I notice the Glipper program is not working properly and other things that used to happen dont

So I compared the file permissions of /dev/usb/ with the values inn the fresh pupsave file. They dont have to make files local and global write to make them work ,so I am looking deeper

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