How to print to a network printer. (Solved)

[kent41]

Hi All

I am trying to setup a network printer on my network switch port.
I am currently using pup 4.3.1 and have used CUPS to test the new printer
( Epson workforce 310) with a USB port on my Laptop. Printer works great.

Now I would like to move the printer to a network switch port and access the
printer from my Laptop over the network.

Is it possible with 4.3.1 ? I have searched the HOWTO threads and did
not find anything. Do I use CUPS to setup a network printer or other
software ? The printer has a ethernet port available.

Thanks

[mikeb]

The printer has a ethernet port available.

well that would be useful though I'm unfamiliar as to how its used for epson .......it may be similar to jet direct for HP...the advantage is that no host machine is needed.

Otherwise if you enable publishing from the host machine (newer cups has this option in admin or older version may be set this way anyway) any machine on the network running cups will see it and have it ready to use automatically.

Windows machines can also use it...you have to set up an 'internet printer' and give the host ip basically.

mike

[kent41]

Mikeb thanks for the reply

Update:

I plugged the Epson 310 printer into the network port and the printer
obtained an IP address and subnet mask, default gateway, printer name, and MAC address.

There should be some way to print to this printer on the LAN however I do not know how to do it.

It looks like the printer is on the network waiting for something to print.

[mikeb]

Try the cups add printer and network printer option...it may still need the ppd/driver selecting as if its local unless it uses generic postscript 2/3...the idea of an ethernet printer is that it should work in a very similar to how cups does over a network.
internet printing protocol (ipp for cups...http for the perverted windows version on port 80) would be most likely....windows should involve a similar setup but you may have to install the drivers locally or it may use postscript 2/3

I don't have a network printer donations welcome

By the way what cups version...should say in the browser top frame.?

mike

[kent41]

Mike

I tried ipp://hostname/ipp/ I used EPSON6B4B for hostname and the IP address of the printer for ipp.

CUPS error came back.

Note: I noticed the status print out of the printer's network also has
a bonjour Name of EPSON6B4B.local

edit - I use the version of CUPS that came with 4.3.1

[rcrsn51]

When you installed the printer as a local USB device, it may have been auto-detected and the setup was straight-forward.

Unfortunately, if you are using a version of Puppy with the older CUPS 1.1.x, network printers are not auto-detected. So you need to do some extra steps. This will require figuring out what network protocol your Epson uses.

Start the Add Printer dialog.

Under Device, select: App Socket/Jet Direct

Under Device URI, enter: socket://aaa.bbb.ccd.ddd:9100

This assumes that the Epson has a way of telling you its IP address. Some printers will list it on a test page.

Then select the printer Make and Model like you did with your USB install.

If this doesn't work, then the Epson must be using a different protocol. You will need to track this down in the printer documentation.

[rcrsn51]

A bit of Googling reveals that some Epson printers use IPP networking. So the Device URI may be:

http://aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd:631/PRINTERNAME

In your case, the printer name may be: EPSON6B4B

[kent41]

A bit of Googling reveals that some Epson printers use IPP networking. So the Device URI may be:

http://aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd:631/PRINTERNAME

In your case, the printer name may be: EPSON6B4B

I can look at the printer status by typing in the IP address of the printer
as an URL but when I try to use CUPS I keep getting an error. I have tried
http, ipp protocol all give errors.

[rcrsn51]

Sometimes, you can get hints about how to do a Linux printer setup by looking at the Windows setup and using the same protocol.

Did you try the socket method?

[kent41]

Sometimes, you can get hints about how to do a Linux printer setup by looking at the Windows setup and using the same protocol.

Did you try the socket method?

Yes maybe it is a problem between CUPS and 4.3.1 ?

[mikeb]

I don't know what 4.31 uses....does the admin page have checkboxes?

What error do you get.?
What to you get in
/var/log/cups/error.log

You can change to debug error logging in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf or through the admin screen ..this will give more info.

The address from the browser should be useable by cups....I wonder if the printer is set to allow access to any machine by default.

There could indeed be a problem with cups and 4.31...the newer version if used is fussy about permissions, unicode and such.
Were you able to print remotely when using a host machine?

can I think of more questions?

mike

[rcrsn51]

Since you know that the printer works locally, I doubt if this is a problem with either CUPS or Puppy. And I couldn't find much info on how to network Epson printers with Linux.

What version of CUPS are you using? Open a terminal and type:

Code: Select all

cups-config --version

The newer CUPS 1.3.x is better able to auto-detect network printers. So installing it over your current CUPS may be an option. But I have no experience with doing this in Puppy 4.3.1. Read here.

Just out of curiosity, what driver did you use with the USB install?

[kent41]

var/log/cups is blank, no error.log file

The error CUPS displays is "severe-error-internal-error" The same error with all protocols.

Ver cups is 1.1.23

Driver that works local was "Epson Workforce 30 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.3.99.1 (en)"

[kent41]

Some progress

I downloaded the new version of CUPS 1.3.11 and it found the printer on the network, however the new version does not have the driver I need to print. I tried the available 9 print head version but the printer printed a blank page because the new version does not have the driver "Epson Workforce 30 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.3.99.1 (en)"
which i need.

So now cups knows about the printer on the network thats good.
How do I get is driver back?

[rcrsn51]

Patriot's thread also has a Gutenprint download that may be more compatible with the new CUPS.

Can you tell from your CUPS setup what the correct network protocol is for your printer?

FWIW, all of this printing stuff was working correctly in Puppy 4.2.1.

[mikeb]

The cups update would not affect gutenprint so if you were printing before it should still be there.
If you run through the wizard the ppds are generated and then erased so you may have to do that again...cups-genppd or gen-ppd...or similar is the actual binary.
It expands to the /usr/share/cups/model folder
At least you are seeing the printer now
mike

[kent41]

Patriot's thread also has a Gutenprint download that may be more compatible with the new CUPS.

Can you tell from your CUPS setup what the correct network protocol is for your printer?

FWIW, all of this printing stuff was working correctly in Puppy 4.2.1.

The protocol looks like => socket://IP-address

I tried to download Gutenprint 5.2.3 from Patriot's thread but it requires a password.

My question is why is the DRIVER for the printer in the old version of CUPS and not in the new version of CUPS?

[rcrsn51]

To download the Gutenprint PET, login with "puppy" and "linux".

Are you seeing any Gutenprint drivers at all?

In the old CUPS 1.1.23, you had to run CUPS through the Puppy Printer Wizard in order to generate the PPD files. If you use this method with the new CUPS, you may get the PPD's generated again.

However, the combination of new CUPS and new Gutenprint generates the PPD's dynamically. Hopefully, that will get you the PPD for your printer.

[kent41]

Update:

This is what I get when I try to print a file.

[rcrsn51]

In the process of migrating from CUPS 1.1.x to CUPS 1.3.x, there were some permissions issues that had to be resolved. I thought that Patriot's installer handled them, but maybe the fixes don't apply to Puppy 4.3.1.

Perhaps if you post a message in the Printers section of the forum, Patriot can give you some help.

Since you now have the right protocol and driver, it looks like you are close.

[Edit] In my old notes, I found this:

Stop CUPS with the command: /etc/init.d/cups stop

Delete these folders, if they exist

/var/cups
/var/log/cups
/var/run/cups
/var/spool/cups
/var/cache/cups

Restart CUPS with: /etc/init.d/cups start