Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> Sindi Keesan wrote:
> > I am trying to get my printer working.  It is plugged in properly and 
> > turned on.  I installed lpr.tgz and did the three insmods in that order 
> > and typed lpd.
> 
> Did any of those commands produce output?

I think I got something on the screen each time, if that is what you mean.
I did not write this all down.
 
> > I changed sh to bash in printcap 
> 
> Why????????????????????????????????????????????
> 

1.  Because nothing happened at all when I left it as sh.  With bash at 
least it fed a page.
2.  Because I had to change sh to bash to get lynx to compile with a 
script someone sent me.  


> > on the line for generic printer.  
> 
> Before we go any further, you need to post a copy of every
> line in your /etc/printcap that does not start with a #

I will do this later (from the linux computer) but the only line I recall
with # in front of it is for generic printer, and I changed only that one
thing, sh to bash. Your instructions, or someone's instructions, were to
modify printcap.  I have too many library books all with different
information half of which is for Redhat.  Nobody said how to modify 
printcap.  People assume too much of us beginners.


> > Before I did this when I tried to print (lpr filename.txt) 
> > nothing happened at all.  
> 
> Does your printer accept straight (unformatted) text?

It works fine in DOS.  I printed both text and ghostscript with it in DOS.
Text with a text editor.  When I tried to print with your wp (put the file
in /tmp/document as instructed in the faq) it also just fed a page.
 
> > I typed lpq and it said 'no entries'.
> 
> Assuming that lpd is actually running (ps) and actually
> received file, then it appears to have sent the file to
> the printer.
> 
> > To test that nothing broke recently I used a text editor 
> > to type one line and tried to print that in DOS. Instead 
> > of the file I had written in DOS, the DOS text editor printed
> > the file that I had been trying to send the printer with linux. 
> 
> Obviously the file arrived (success!) and was sitting in the
> printer's buffer.  

Yes, I figured that out, but why did it not print until I exited linux and
tried to print a different file with q DOS text editor?  Surely this
cannot be how things were designed to work (using DOS to print files sent
to the print buffer with linux).

I also tried printing with ghostscript:  gs -sDEVICE=deskjet filename.pdf 
| lpr.  That did not print either.  I forget if it made a page feed.

I sent at least 5 copies of the text file but it printed only once.  The 
text file was the last thing I sent to the printer.  It did not print the 
4-page pdf file at all.

I may try a dot-matrix printer next.  I have had other problems with these 
HP 500 series.  A couple of them would print from one computer but not 
from another until I changed parallel ports on it (it had two).  Or would 
print with a short cable but not a long one.  The voltage from one port, 
or on the long cable, was too low.   This computer has only one parallel 
port.  But it did get the file to the print buffer along with a page feed.

No hurry on this.  I can print everything with DOS and I rarely print but 
someone sent me a pdf file so I experimented on it.  


> 
> Cheers,
> Steven
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