[lug] Printing on ubuntu 6.06.1

[Ken MacFerrin]

siegfried wrote:
> At the end of the last BLUG meeting I tried to scribble some notes on my
> printing problem. Unfortunately, I could not write fast enough.
> 
> For those of you that were not there, let me recap the problem:
> 
> I've tried printing with 
>        (1) openoffice writer 
>        (2) the test page feature 
> on  Unslung 6, Fedora Core 6, SuSE 10.2, xubuntu, knoppix and (most
> recently) Ubuntu 6.06.1 on several different machines trying to fix this
> problem and no luck. The symptoms are always the same regardless of the OS
> or the machine:
> 
> (1) It works with Windows and MSWord (for those two cases where I have dual
> boot machines): the page prints fine after cycling the power on the printer.
> (2) Linux always correctly identifies the printer as a G85 when I add a
> printer (sometimes by pointing the browser at http://localhost:631 or, in
> the case of ubuntu, using the directions at
> http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/printing_ubuntu). 
> (3) Linux always shows the job in the print queue after I hit the "print
> test page" button or the print button on openoffice.org writer.
> (4) The HP G85 printer never prints when I'm booted in linux.
> 
> In response to the advice at the BLUG meeting:
> 
> (1) lsusb indicates a G85 is present
> (2) There is a file present called /usr/lib/cups/backend/hp
> (3) lsmod indicates there is a module called usblp
> (4) tail -f /var/log/messages does not give me any clues I can recognize.
> (5) I've done a google search for "usb backend" but I'm not sure what I am
> looking for.
> 
> I'm using hpjis-hplip 0.9.7.
> 
> I tried doing an "apt-cache search cups" and "apt-get install" on many of
> the printing related packages like cupsys, hpjis, hplip and
> gnome-cups-manager, and gimp-print and a few others and everything is up to
> date!
> 

Couple common solutions I've seen in the past for this type of problem:

Permissions: Go to web interface at http://localhost:631 and select the
Printers tab.  Click the "Set Allowed Users" button for the G85 printer
listing then make sure the "Users:" field is empty, check the "Prevent
these users from printing" radio button and then the "Set Allowed Users"
button again.

Options: Check the "Set Printer Options" for this printer and ensure the
choices all look sane/correct.

Restart daemon: "/etc/init.d/cupsd restart". Cups seems to have
mysterious fits if the printer isn't connected and powered on when the
cupsd daemon started.

Restart printer: Use the "Stop Printer", "Start Printer" buttons in the
web interface to stop and restart the print queue.

-Ken