How to Use the P910nd Print Server

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ETP
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How to Use the P910nd Print Server

#46 Post by ETP »

Hi rcrsn51,

I just wish to express my thanks for the revised pets in the OP that you updated today.
IMHO this thread deserves "sticky" status as do many of your other tips & "How to" posts.

Currently I use reserved DHCP so will be making heavy use of this. So far I have tested printing from XP
and Precise 543 on the same box with the 64-bit pet installed to a Pup running on my Win 10 box.
(Printer was a Brother HL-2035 attached to the Win 10 box)

Thanks once again.
Regards ETP
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rcrsn51
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#47 Post by rcrsn51 »

Excellent. What Puppy was running on the server box - the one with the attached printer?

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ETP
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How to Use the P910nd Print Server

#48 Post by ETP »

rcrsn51 wrote:Excellent. What Puppy was running on the server box - the one with the attached printer?
Hi rcrsn51,

DLNA Quirky Werewolf64 V3 which is based on BarryK’s Quirky Werewolf64-7.4. The kernel is 4.2.6.
Regards ETP
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rcrsn51
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#49 Post by rcrsn51 »

New PETs are posted above. Note the changes:

1. Initially, the startup script is disabled. To start the print server, run the P910nd Control Panel from the System menu.

2. The Control Panel now has two sections. Use the Server section on the computer that has the attached printer and is running the P910nd server (of course). You can optionally install the P910nd package on other computers. Use the Client section to manage a computer's own CUPS printers, either attached or remote.

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Mike Walsh
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#50 Post by Mike Walsh »

Having been helping to refine the new version over the last 2 or 3 days, I just want to add that this goes a long way towards eliminating many of CUPS little 'foibles' where network printing problems are concerned.

There are normally 2 CUPS interfaces (one at either end) interacting with each other, and like as not both having their own ideas about what takes priority.....often to the user's frustration. ( I know all about this, trust me; 'been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, etc.')

With this there is only one (at the client end), and a 'socket' at the far end which merely listens, receives, and sends what it receives direct to the printer. Exactly as if the remote printer were plugged in directly, like a 'local' printer usually is.

For all practical purposes this turns the remote printer into the 'local' printer, much more effectively than usual. It's essentially 'fool-proof', and is a marvellous addition to Puppy's infrastructure. Follow the steps in the first post to the letter, and you won't go wrong. Works just as well with Windows as it does with Puppy, too! :)

Like many of the 'best' ideas, it's so simple, making use of existing protocols already built-in to Puppy......and just as easy to set-up as your local printer. Many thanks to Bill for his work on this one. I can't recommend it highly enough. :D

'Job's a good 'un!'


Mike. :wink:
Last edited by Mike Walsh on Wed 11 May 2016, 23:21, edited 1 time in total.

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rcrsn51
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#51 Post by rcrsn51 »

Even though P910nd doesn't do any queuing on the server-side, there doesn't seem to be a problem. If the printer is off-line, the client's CUPS will queue the job locally and wait for the printer. If you want to cancel the job, you can now do this reliably by installing the P910nd Control Panel on the client-side.

I have yet to see a problem with collisions when two clients try to print at the same time. P910nd is behaving exactly like any standalone networked printer that uses the socket protocol.

BTW, it appears that P910nd is being used by some open-source router firmware projects as their print server.

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#52 Post by rcrsn51 »

New version posted above with improvements to Control Panel.

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Mike Walsh
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#53 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hi, Bill.

Thanks for the improvements to the Control Panel.

As I said, I'm sticking with the older, earlier version which I installed on all six of the 'server' Pups; it works, and works beautifully. No real need to change it.

I have, however, d/l'd the newest version to use client-side, on the Dell. Works a treat.....and it's handy to be able to view stuff like the server's printer status. And useful to be able to cancel a print job, without having to go into the browser to do so! Once again, marvellous work.

Thanks again. I'll echo ETP's statement, from the top of this page; this is getting quite heavy use, now.....and works great, even when running a mixture of 32- and 64-bit Pups!


Mike. :wink: :)

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charlie6
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installation of an HP LaserJet 1100 parallel

#54 Post by charlie6 »

Hi,
@rcrsn51 Again tons of thanks for this post and related pets !

It takes me half a day (but i believe it's worthwhile :) ) to get an HP LaserJet 1100 parallel connector working as shared printer
on
TahrPup-6.0.6 (32 bits) on an old PIV Fuji-Siemens Desktop 2003;

as also to dig and learn in the network/client/server matter which I till now was resistant to consider.

On the server machine which has the parallel printer plugged in,
1.To get the parallel port /dev/lp0 "linked" to port 9100, I needed to edit the file /root/Startup/p910ndLP-start replacing

Code: Select all

/dev/usb/lp0 0
by

Code: Select all

/dev/lp0 0
2. Previously to 1. above, I also had to properly install the printer on TahrPup which needs the steps documented here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107448
and here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 599#850599
as also to build the ppdev.ko driver (might no be needed according to rcrsn51's pos in the first link).
note: ppdev.ko pet or TahrPup-6.0.6-k.3.14.79 available on the last link above on page 3.

On the client machine (running puppy wheezy-3.5.2.5), I have used two printers installation methods as described here:
3. http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 587#731587
and here:
4. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 543#455543 assuming P910nd is installed on the client machine and configured as on the server (see 1. above).

HTH
Charlie

ps: something strange ... :? :
On the server runningTahrpup-6.0.6 (might also be on earlier versions...) once the printer has been configured as "shared", CUPS reports it as "Not Shared", wheareas the file /etc/cups/printers.conf reports it as "Shared Yes" ..?
---> see screenshot below :shock:
Attachments
Shared_versus_Not_Shared.png
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#55 Post by rcrsn51 »

Thanks for reporting. Nice to see that you figured out how to configure the p910nd server for a parallel port printer.

Regarding ppdev: it lets CUPS auto-detect a parallel printer the same way that CUPS can identify a USB printer. It's optional because you already know where the parallel printer is - it's on LPT1.

But if CUPS doesn't even list the device LPT1, you need to run the command "modprobe lp".

Regarding configuring CUPS to share a printer: the new versions of CUPS don't work in Puppy anymore, probably because Puppy is missing stuff. If you are using p910nd instead, turn off sharing in CUPS.

CUPS will only see the printer as local and p910nd will do the sharing.

Regarding clients: Connect to the shared printer using the protocol socket://aaa.bbb.cc.dd. But this has a problem - if the server's IP address changes, your client printer won't work anymore. There are instructions in the main post for handling this.

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#56 Post by rcrsn51 »

A new version is posted above. It has a nicer user interface and fixes a bug concerning parallel printers.

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Flash
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#57 Post by Flash »

Rcrsn51, would you have any objection to me moving this to the printer section? Is it general enough that it should be a sticky?

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#58 Post by rcrsn51 »

Flash wrote:Rcrsn51, would you have any objection to me moving this to the printer section? Is it general enough that it should be a sticky?
Please leave it here. The post "How to Install your Printer in Puppy" already has a link to it. People will find it that way.

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