[lug] Printing

Nate Duehr nate at natetech.com
Wed Mar 14 15:57:43 MST 2001


After reading all the other stuff, you may want to look at the output 
of 'dmesg' and see if lp0 is really what your kernel is assigning to the local 
parallel port hardware?

Also, confirm that the rh-printfilters (I think that's what it's called in 
RedHat and I think there's a pre-dependency on it to have printtool's package 
installed) and gs RPM's are installed.  Perhaps you're just missing some 
software?

Also I've sometimes found that running 'lpq' to see what the status of the 
printqueue is sometimes helps as it sometimes gives useful error information if 
the printer is messed up in some way.

Nate

Quoting Shannon Johnston <nunar at iws.net>:

> This is what I get when I run lsmod
> 
> [root at TDT /etc]# /sbin/lsmod
> Module                  Size  Used by
> lp                      5928   0  (autoclean)
> vmnet                  16672   3
> vmppuser                5928   0  (unused)
> vmmon                  17792   0  (unused)
> parport_pc              7432   1  (autoclean) [vmppuser]
> parport                 7288   1  (autoclean) [lp vmppuser parport_pc]
> lockd                  31496   1  (autoclean)
> sunrpc                 53060   1  (autoclean) [lockd]
> 3c90x                  20980   1  (autoclean)
> nls_cp437               3908   2  (autoclean)
> vfat                    9276   1  (autoclean)
> fat                    30432   1  (autoclean) [vfat]
> es1371                 27264   0
> soundcore               2628   4  [es1371]  
> 
> 
> The error message that I get when I test is in the form of a popup
> window. I don't get any feedback from messages when I tail -f and try to
> print.
> As per Calvin's request this is my printcap contents:
> 
> # /etc/printcap
> #
> # Please don't edit this file directly unless you know what you are
> doing!
> # Be warned that the control-panel printtool requires a very strict
> format!
> # Look at the printcap(5) man page for more info.
> #
> # This file can be edited with the printtool in the control-panel.
>  
> ##PRINTTOOL3## LOCAL ljet4 600x600 letter {} LaserJet4 Default {}
> lp:\
>         :sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp:\
>         :mx#0:\
>         :lp=/dev/lp0:\
>         :if=/var/spool/lpd/lp/filter:    
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 14 Mar 2001, D. Stimits wrote:
> 
> > Shannon Johnston wrote:
> > > 
> > > I'm running a RH 7 desktop.
> > > I've run the printtool and it's initial auto-detection detected the
> device
> > > on /dev/lp0. I add the printer and when I select the test, the only
> one
> > > that works is the 'Print ASCII directly to port'
> > > The ASCII & PostScript Test options return an error.
> > > 
> > > 'Error printing test page to queue lp
> > > 
> > >  Error reason: lpr: unable to print file: The requested resource is
> > > currently unavailable on this server.'
> > > 
> > > I'm not sure how to make the resource available.
> > 
> > Sounds like /dev/lp0 is not available because a module or other
> hardware
> > setup is incomplete. I am assuming this is a module support; as root
> run
> > "lsmod", see if anything resembling printing printer is there. Or
> maybe
> > it is compiled into the kernel and doesn't need a module. FYI, was the
> > error message you received from /var/log/messages? If not, monitor
> that
> > with "tail -f -n 30 /var/log/messages" while you try to print and see
> > what it says.
> > 
> > D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com
> > 
> > > 
> > > Shannon
> > > 
> > > On Wed, 14 Mar 2001, Nate Duehr wrote:
> > > 
> > > > If your distribution has it (and you're running with X turned on)
> > > > RedHat's printtool seems easier than most tools or setting up
> printcap
> > > > files by hand.
> > > >
> > > > It's not 100% intuitive, but we can help here on the list if you
> need it.
> > > >
> > > > You need to specify exactly what kind of LaserJet printer.  It has
> > > > filters for many older models and most can be used for modern
> LaserJet's
> > > > also.  I've found that the LaserJet 4/5/6 driver for Ghostscript
> (the
> > > > program that printtool is actually setting up "underneath")
> usually
> > > > product some kind of output on almost any modern LaserJet, as long
> as
> > > > it's not one of the "Windows printers" that require special
> software.
> > > >
> > > > You also need the correct kernel modules loaded to access the
> parallel
> > > > port on your machine if that's what you mean by "local".  (i.e.
> Not a
> > > > network printer or print server.)
> > > >
> > > > When faced with a new printer I've never set up in printtool, I
> find
> > > > that the "reload lpd" and "test" menus get used a LOT for a few
> minutes
> > > > until I find something that has reasonable output.  :-)
> > > >
> > > > Nate
> > > >
> > > > Shannon Johnston wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > What's the quickest, easiest way to setup a local HP Laserjet
> printer?
> > > > >
> > > > > Shannon
> > > > >
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> > > 
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> > 
> 
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> 



--
Nate Duehr, nate at natetech.com

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a 747 filled with CD-ROM's."



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