Infrared Printing w/ 4.1.2 and Canon BJC50

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of printers
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jakfish
Posts: 762
Joined: Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:09

Infrared Printing w/ 4.1.2 and Canon BJC50

#1 Post by jakfish »

There must be at least eight people in the world who still use infrared and I'm hoping one or more of them is running it with puppy linux.

Using a Kingsun959 usb-infrared adapter, I have successfully installed infrared in 4.1.2. I can connect to an Ericsson T39m cell phone and send files, via IROBEX, back and forth with my Psion handheld.

My trouble is with getting a Canon BJC50 printer to print more than one word.

Using either the Gutenprint stp-bjc-50.5.0.ppd driver or the older Canon-BJC-50-bjc600.ppd, I can connect to the BJC50 and print exactly one word, "test" Anything more than that gives an "input/output error" in CUPS. I can not print a test page in CUPS.

In printers.conf, I have tried:

serial:/dev/ircomm0
serial:/dev/irplt0
parallel:/dev/irlpt0

All three configurations successfully connect to the BJC50, and all three only print one word. It's a beautiful word, Arial font, bold 12pt, so the connection can perform RTF-quality, but eventually, I'll need to print more than "test"

There's so little information on infrared/Linux, but I have found evidence of successful printing (more than one word) when users use "raw." But choosing "raw queue" in CUPS, rather than the Canon drivers, produces no connection to the BJC50. The users who can print have played with the printcap and seem to be able to use a combination of the Canon driver and raw input:

bj80|IrDA BubbleJet|lp|bj80ps|GS-Cannon BubbleJet 80:\
:sh:\
:xo:\
:lp=/dev/ircomm0:\
:ms=115200,raw:\
:mx#8000:\
:pl#80:pw#90:Rl#56:PS:Rw#100:\
:sd=/usr/spool/lpd/bj80:\
:if=/usr/local/lib/lpd/ps2bj80:\
:lf=/usr/spool/lpd/bj80/bj80-log:

But these printcap tweaks are for very old CUPS versions, and the present printcap in CUPS 1.2.1 doesn't appear to have the ability to tweak. If it does, could someone show me how to insert the command :ms=115200,raw:\


This is best site: http://www.windclimber.net/linux/bjc-80.pcgi (the BJC50 is similar to the BJC80) but as you'll see, he's working with an old version of CUPS.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to show what I've done, and that I've done my homework, and I have fingers crossed that somebody out there still connects with an infrared printer.

Jake

jakfish
Posts: 762
Joined: Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:09

#2 Post by jakfish »

As an update, it appears that it may be a problem in the ks959-sir.ko.

When I ran puppy linux 4.1.2 in a Dell Inspiron 600m (w/ built-in infrared port), the BJC-50 worked. It also worked in XP Pro w/ the KS-959 infrared adapter. So my findings tell me it's the ko. The distributor of the adapter says it works with Linux so I've written him for more information, and I'll post back if I get any.

Jake

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