hplip and network scanning with 13.0 or 12.2

justwantin · 09-03-2009, 11:23 PM

After sorting out changes to permissions and udev I had network scanning working on a slackware box used for printshares and scanning with an hp psc2355. After upgrading the server to 12.2 we were no longer able to network scan but I let it slide until 13.0. I am now looking at upgrading the server to 13.0 and getting scanning working among other things.

However some reading on the net plus running hp-check on the server leads me to beleive that I will have to set up the psc2355 using hplip in order to scan even if I am to access the scanner from a client using xsane or kooka or skanlight.

Has anyone networked scanned with hplip on their server either with 12.2 or 13.0?

Using hpcups for print drivers and hpoj for scanning (as in the "old days") is a bit ancient but I am tempted to revert if I can. Hplip seems like overkill for our needs.

lumak · 09-04-2009, 02:02 AM

I believe I set up my PSC 1610 to network scan.... at least from my computer when I looked for it with xsane I was able to see the scanner as both physically attached and network attached.

added to:
/etc/inetd.conf

Code:

# Sane daemon
# port                       user
sane-port stream tcp nowait saned /usr/sbin/saned saned

added to:
/etc/services

Code:

# at least when I set it up in current, these were not there.
# these are the standard ports for saned
sane-port       6566/tcp   #SANE network scanner daemon
sane-port       6566/udp   #SANE network scanner daemon

create the file and added my printer to:
/etc/sane.d/hpaio.conf

Code:

# My HP PSC1610 All-in-One
#port idVendor idProduct
#values found from dmesg after plugging in the device and turning it on.
usb 0x03f0 0x4811

created a user saned with a home directory, shell /bin/bash, and no password. added saned to the lp group.

RESTARTED inetd

Code:

/etc/rc.d/rc.inetd restart

I believe you also have to add the ip addresses of the machines allowed to scan by adding them to /etc/hosts.allow. I did not try to scan with a different computer, so I am not sure.

I was warned about setting this up because you expose another port and have a user attached to a network service. I'm not sure if giving the user a shell and a directory are needed but in the directions I read, the user that runs the daemon must be able to make a scan.

justwantin · 09-04-2009, 09:50 AM

Thanks for the reply I have always in the past configured by editing /etc/inetd.conf and /etc/services as you detail as well as making sure the relevant files /etc/sane.d are set correctly on clients and server as per notes that worked every time up until slack-12.1 when the lp group thingo was introduced for hp psc scanners. I did get network scanning to work with 12.1 but never with 12.2 on the server although I never really pursued the matter.

I note that you have edited a /etc/sane.d/hpaio.conf. I do not have that in either 12.2.or 13.0. Did you create it? I note it was also referred to on a gentoo thread.

I am thinking that this problem stems from the fact that hplip has now taken the dominant backend role and if it isn't happy then network scanning is not going to work even though I can print from the psc2355.

When I run hp-check on the server I get 7 warnings including that my printer and printer/scanner have not been hplip installed so they are not using the hp backend which is now required AFAIK in order to scan since the interface with sane apparently also goes through the hp backend.

Code:

warning: Invalid ppd_dir value: None

hp-check[3928]: info: :Checking for dependency: cups-ddk - CUPS driver development kit...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

hp-check[3928]: info: :Checking for dependency: PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan)...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

hp-check[3928]: info: :Checking for dependency: PyQt 4- Qt interface for Python (for Qt version 4.x)...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

hp-check[3928]: info: :Checking for dependency: Reportlab - PDF library for Python...
warning: NOT FOUND! This is an OPTIONAL/RUNTIME ONLY dependency. Some HPLIP functionality may not function properly.

hp-check[3928]: info: :PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/BW.ppd
hp-check[3928]: info: :PPD Description: HP DeskJet 930C - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.2
hp-check[3928]: info: :Printer status: printer BW now printing BW-0.  enabled since Fri 04 Sep 2009 11:06:17 PM EST
	Printing page 3, 76%
warning: Printer is not HPLIP installed. Printers must use the hp: or hpfax: CUPS backend to function in HPLIP.

hp-check[3928]: info: :PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/Colour.ppd
hp-check[3928]: info: :PPD Description: HP PSC 2350 series Foomatic/hpijs, hpijs 2.8.10.33
hp-check[3928]: info: :Printer status: printer Colour is idle.  enabled since Sun 07 Jun 2009 05:45:54 PM EST
warning: Printer is not HPLIP installed. Printers must use the hp: or hpfax: CUPS backend to function in HPLIP.

I can ssh in and scan on the server using a command like:

Quote:

scanimage -d hpaio:/usb/PSC_2350_series?serial=MY493C10JCKJ > /videos/test.pnm

but cannot scan from a client even though hp-check told me sane and hpaio are set up properly and I can print on the printers from a client.

Its getting late and I'll look at this again tomorrow. Since the clients are 13.0 and the server is 12.2, maybe I should upgrade first but I don't think that should make a difference.

lumak · 09-04-2009, 03:39 PM

OH yes, sorry. I had to create /etc/sane.d/hpaio.conf and add my printer/scanner.

I print through cups and that works fine without any configuration other than cups... I don't think I succeeded in network printing but I didn't check because I'm not spending $60+ on a free throwaway printer that is now only used as a scanner.

For network scanning, I think the key is making sure the saned user is the one running the daemon. and they are also part of the lp group. and the computer trying to connect is properly listed in /etc/hosts.allow.

justwantin · 09-04-2009, 05:56 PM

I have never had problems with network scanning with sane and hpoj/sane and sane/hplip on 12.1. It changed around the time of 12.2's release with printing and scanning now having to go through the hp backend and hence everything seems to have to be configured the hplip way for network printing to work, or so it seems to me.

I've had people on the kde list say that they network scan and print via hplip on their client box but they appear to all have been using one of the automagic distros that sorts it all out for you so you're just one more dumb node on the net.

I'm going to install slack-13 on the server maybe later today after I set up another client and will probably do a complete printer install the hplip way just to see if this is indeed the case. I'll post my results. Failing that I might just uninstall hplip since I can build and install hpijs standalone and then install the hpoj. HP does not say it won't work, just that it is not compatable with how hplip now works I erealy don't need hplip on a headless box.

justwantin · 09-27-2009, 09:03 PM

I have resolved my network scanning problem. With clean installs of slack-13 on both a client and a server, groups and permissions correct and sane configured correctly I still could not access the scanner on the server from a client. I did have the user a member of lp on both machines a user and group saned on the server, etc but I still had to edit the MODE in /lib/udev/rules.d/55-hpmud.rules from MODE="660" to MODE="666". There must be a permission somewhere that I missed to have to do this but I haven't figured it out yet and it seems that this is the fix of last resort recommended to another slacker on the hplip list.

HPLIP might be the cats meow for some folks but for me I wish there was an alternative if one didn't want all those bells and whistles. Hpoj is just too old to consider using as an alternative

Also note that at least on my clients even if xsane can find the networked scanner, skanlite still cannot. I discussed this previously on my hints webpage for an earlier version of kde4. You will still have to use skanlight -d [networked scanner] either cli or edited into an icon or menu item. Use whatever is returned with scanimage -L

Code:

rick@rick:~$ scanimage -L
device `net:192.168.1.4:hpaio:/usb/PSC_2350_series?serial=MY493C10JCKJ' is a Hewlett-Packard PSC_2350_series all-in-one
rick@rick:~$ skanlite -d net:192.168.1.4:hpaio:/usb/PSC_2350_series?serial=MY493C10JCKJ