Hello everyone. This is my first post as I'm very new to Linux and in desperate need of some help.

I recently build myself a new machine and decided to install CentOS v5 on the old one - really impressed myself as I have got most of it running (including file sharing!) as I've not used Linux before - complete newbie

Now, I've been trying all day to get my printer working on my CentOS machine, but can't get beyond this in the KDE GUI (I've not far enough to try adding my printer yet):

Anyone able to tell me what to do? even a slight push in the right direction?

Thanks in advance.

(I'm loving CentOS BTW)

The CUPS daemon isn't running. Either log in as root, or "su - root", and type in "/etc/init.d/cups start", and see what happens.

Thank you for your reply.

I tried that, and CUPS started OK, but I still get the same error message

Have you tried to add a printer by running up your browser and going to:
http://localhost:631

Thank you roy_lt_69

I had no idea that existed and I was able to add my printer using this, although I have a Canon Smartbase MP360 and I struggled for drivers. Searching on Google gave me a few forums which said use this or that driver instead, but none worked for me.

I finally downloaded a copy of turboprint http://www.turboprint.de/english.html as it contains many drivers. The driver for my MP360 was there, so after installing it, I can now print (or at least CentOS thinks I can - it reports a successful print job) but nothing happens at the printer - no paper or any movement at all!

Any ideas?

I am not familiar with CentOS, but
does lsmod show parport, parport_pc, & lp loaded?
I know that some distros are installed with the parallel port drivers not loaded.
You may have to do a grep in rc.d(??) for the parallel port module.
Also does dmesg show anything for the parallel port?
As for drivers for the printer did you check:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer...gi?make=Anyone

One more thing, have you set the parallel port in the BIOS correctly?

Was the printer automatically detected by Turboprint? In the regular Linux print setup it is quite possible to set up a print queue which does not connect to a real printer.

Hi, I'm new here and I have the same problem. I'm trying to install a HP Deskjet 845c printer in Mandriva 2008, and after logging in as root ant typing "/etc/init.d/cups start", all I get is that "the file or directory does not exist". Any suggestions?

I too am having a similar problem. I have an HP Deskjet 3420. I know cupsd is running, I got the localhost:631 page but the questions are vague and I don't know what it wants. For instance, it asked for name but name of what? The printer, the class, my name, my neighbor's dog's name, ... I have the docs open on another machine so I can look at the docs and the web page simmultaneously but it is not at all clear.

Also, I installed foomatic and HPLIP, but trying to run hp-setup gets me an error (in bright red) saying:
error: CUPSEXP could not be loaded. Please check HPLIP installation.

That's no help. So, other details, I'm running with Slackware 11.0, unplugging and replugging the printer is seen and causes unloading and reloading of module printer.o, according to "tail /var/log/messages", and there is no /etc/cups.