Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 15:13:43 -0600 From: Kevin Kinsey <kdk@daleco.biz> To: Brian John <brianjohn@fusemail.com> Cc: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Subject: Re: trouble printing Message-ID: <42111487.4080401@daleco.biz> In-Reply-To: <420FCEA2.5020307@fusemail.com> References: <420FCEA2.5020307@fusemail.com>
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Brian John wrote: > Hello, I am having trouble printing from my HP Deskjet 710C printer. > It is hooked up via parallel port and I can print fine with it from > Windows. However, I can't get it to work in FreeBSD. I followed the > instructions here: > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/printing-intro-setup.html > > > Everything seems to be fine. But when I try to test the printer using > a command similar to this: > > # cat file > /dev/lptN > > or this: > > lptest > /dev/lpt0 > > nothing happens. Does anyone have a clue what I might have done wrong? > > Thanks for the help > > /Brian Several things need to be happening to have your printer running; besides the hardware being there (which I assume it is, check `dmesg` to be sure), you need filters set up, a daemon (usually lpd(8) )must be running, etc., etc. There are also a number of quid pro quos about connection type. Without a specific filter for PostScript or a specific driver for the printer, no two-way communication would work, yet most modern LPT ports are set for ECP/EPP by default. I would suggest that you submit a more detailed description of the problem to "questions@freebsd.org" (a more appropriate list with a wider, more experienced readership) and see what comes up. Be sure to include the output of `uname -a`, note whether lpd is up and running (use `top` or maybe `ps -ax | grep lpd`), any unusual messages in /var/log/messages or /var/log/lpd-errs, etc. Alternatively, many people like apsfilter (/usr/ports/print/apsfilter), written by Andreas Klemm, to do most of the config work for them. I imagine that the "hpijs" driver (which is bundled into apsfilter IIRC) would easily support your 710c. There is a shell script which does a lot of setup and testing for you, and you get PostScript printing, which is much better than simply feeding ASCII to the line printer daemon. Be sure to read his documentation if you try to use it, though! Good luck! Kevin Kinsey
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