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  • From: sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
  • To: Jason Kooner <jason.kooner AT comcast.net>, baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] printer setup
  • Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 15:07:06 +0000 (UTC)

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006, Jason Kooner wrote:

Which modules do I need to get my HP 895 deskjet working on my 486?
I found these modules in the misc directory:

parport
parport_pc
lp


do I need to use the 'insmod' command on all three of these? Any other modules?

Yes, no.

Then would I issue something like:

cat somefile.txt > /dev/lp0

to send a file to the printer? Also would I only be able to print text files?

This would work with a dot-matrix printer but inkjets and laser printers (as far as I know) need the unix format converted to DOS format first.

Look at Steven's wp script for how to do this (dos2unix with a switch).

To print non-text files:
1) You can print images (ppm, pbm) with netpbm programs on some printers - mono epson-compatible and mono or color deskjet/laserjet (pbmtoescp2, pbmtolj, pnmtolj). There are packages for BL3 and BL2 at my website

http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl

and explanations in ./bl/blfiles.htm

Netpbm has programs for converting many image formats and even text (ascii) to ppm or pbm first. I don't know if the newer HPs are still lj-compatible. The C60 and C80 Epsons won't work as 'epson' with netpbm, or with older ghostscripts, they use different drivers. Some HPs are 'Windows' printers and require ppa drivers, and the netpbm drivers may still be broken. (I recycled my 720 and 822 so can't test). pbmtoppa.
Look up your printer online.

2) To print pdf files, you can convert to images (if they consist only of images) with pdfimages, or to mixed text and images with pdftoppm, but from xpdf. You will need ghostscript fonts. You can use my set of minimal fonts and the mapping file for them (pdf-noX-BL3.tgz ? and another package with the word fonts in it that does not contain the actual binaries).

3) If you have the space, speed, and RAM, install ghostscript from SW4.0 for BL3 (or my newer version which does the new pdf 1.5 format but needs libc6 from SW81) and print pdf files with that. You would need to convert images to pdf format, or use programs set to do this (xv, maybe Opera).

You can print directly with ghostscript commands (see previous postings about this or I can upload my little scripts for deskjet and laserjet4 which also works with laserjet3) or set up print filters and print with scripts that contain those, or use lpr and printcap. I posted a large printcap at my site. Put your printer first on the list or use the -P switch to specify it. You will need to insert the modules and run lpd as root, and then switch to 'user' to actually print, which means installing Steven's password package first to set up 'user'. (We can't figure out why root is not allowed to print).

Ask for more help. It took several of us a long time to get this all working. You seem to know more than I did to start.

netpbm is much easier to use if your printer is laserjet compatible (PCL5?). And it does not need libc6, nor do the xpdf programs.


Thanks,

Jason Kooner.




keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org




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