Using an HP Deskjet 3820 Printer
 

I have never used a printer in Linux before and have decided to see if I can get something working. But, I am having a heck of a time even getting started. Here is where I am and what I am using.

I have an HP DeskJet 3820, with parallel cable, which I am not even absolutely certain is working. I am hoping to attach it to a Gentoo box (P3-Celeron 450MHz, 128Mb RAM) in hopes that it works at all, and if not at least to learn how to do this. I followed the Gentoo printing guide and the information on linuxprinting.org for that printer and made sure that my kernel was set up for parallel port use and then emerged hpijs and cups. I also used the cups http configuration tool and attempted to set things up for using this printer and the parallel port.

However, I cannot tell if anything will function at this stage. When I turn on the printer it shifts about the heads and then settles down with the lights flashing. At that point, though, nothing else ever seems to change or say anything. As there is no ink in the printer I know it won't print, but I cannot even find a way to add an ink cartridge. I have googled myself silly but nothing ever mentions this little detail. I tried printing a test page from the cups configuration tool, just to get a response of some kind telling me it won't work, but it just silently adds the job. Nothing about a lack of ink, no response, nothing at that port, or any such complaint. I then decided to see what would happen if I set up cups with a nonexistent usb port and I got exactly the same response, or lack of it.

So, I am wondering how this works? Is there any kind of control program to allow installation of ink? Is there anyway to find out if the printer is receiving any signals at all? Is there any way to get feedback concerning the communication with the printer at all? Where exactly do I go from here?

Many thanks in advance,

Patrick

HP is dedicated to making their printers work with linux.
The best site I know of for getting linux printers to work is http://www.linuxprinting.org/
You can check the HP printer listing there, which will help you see if youre printer is supported, and how to get it running.
I have an HPDJ 812C which works fine with CUPS, gimp-print, and HPIJS. I just followed instructions from this site.

Good luck,
- A
www.HOSERS.org

Thanks for the info. That is actually one of the two sites I used to try to set things up. However, nothing really does anything, and I am not sure if that is because there is no ink in the printer. And there seems to be no method to install any ink. I am curious, how do you get ink in your printer? The place where the cartridges go is way off under the cover and cannot be reached without some sort of software to make it possible, i.e. moving the heads out to the center. I can find no such option or capability and so cannot begin to even find out if I am doing this right.

Patrick

If power is connected to the printer and the printer is turned on, the print head should slide out to become accessible when you open the cover.

- A

Ah. There is the problem then. That does not happen, and so the heads must be either jammed, which I understand is common with this printer, or something else is prevening them from moving. Odd since they do all their shifting about when powered up, but then end up way over to the right where they are inaccessible. And there they remain.

Many thanks for the info.

Patrick