I just bought a Samsung ML-1430 laser printer today. I chose this printer specifically because it's supposed to be compatible with RedHat. I installed it under my windows XP partition and it works fine. Next, I followed the instructions to install it under the Linux partition using the CD supplied with the printer and everything seems to go without a hitch, but I can't print anything.

Specifically, after I've finished the installation, I check the printer queue and it looks ok:

[root@localhost root]# lpstat
Printer: quark@localhost
Queue: no printable jobs in queue
Status: job 'root@localhost+486' saved at 17:22:59.022

Next, I try to send a file to the printer (I've tried both text and postcript files and I get the same results):

[root@localhost root]# lp x.log
request id is root@localhost+560

at this point, the printer wakes up and starts warming up, and the data LED starts flashing, so I know it's receiving something. I can check the queue again:

[root@localhost root]# lpstat
Printer: quark@localhost
Queue: no printable jobs in queue
Server: no server active
Status: job 'root@localhost+560' saved at 17:28:30.214
Rank Owner/ID Class Job Files Size Time
done root@localhost+560 A 560 x.log 656 17:28:30

But no printout ever comes out.

Furthermore, if I log out and reboot, the system no longer recognizes the printer setup. If I now try to query the queue, I get:

[root@localhost tmp]# lpstat
Printer 'missingprinter@localhost' - cannot open connection - No such file or directory
Make sure the remote host supports the LPD protocol
Printer 'missingprinter@localhost' - cannot open connection - No such file or directory
Make sure the remote host supports the LPD protocol

As if I hadn't installed the printer. What's going on?

I'm at a complete loss and I would greatly appreciate any insight anyone might have. Many thanks in advance.

Actually, this turned out to be a relatively trivial problem.

I had to forget about the CUPS software that came with the printer CD. I went instead to www.cups.org and downloaded the latest version (cups-1.1.18-source.tar.gz in this case) and installed it.

The printer works fine now and prints both text and postscript. Also the printer configuration doesn't disappear when I reboot anymore.

I hope this info will be useful to someone else out there

I have a fresh install of RedHat 9 and was having the same problem with the printer. I got cups 1.1.20 and tried to install it, but I got fatal errors (Gosh I hate when that happens).

However, I remembered that under Mandrake, I got the printer to work by selecting the ML-1200 printer. I did that and it works under RedHat 9 as well.

(BTW, I have cups 1.1.17 installed now).

Cheers!

Thanks bluesmokeband,

Unfortunately, now that I've upgraded to RH9 myself, I seem to have a new set of problems with my printer. I tried your suggestion of selecting the ML-1200 driver in the printer configuration, but that didn't work for me.

However there are other strange things going on with my printer, but I don't want to double-post, so I have to switch back to my most recent thread ominously titled "printer and modem stopped working under RH9"

Many thanks again for replying!

We've downloaded the Linux ML1430 driver from the Samsung, but it seems that it requires a Gnome GUI to install it. We have a server only system (Martian NetDrdive -- no X/GUI) with CUPS pre-installed, and just want to use this printer from Windows (and possibly Mac) clients. How could we install this printer so it can be used from these Windows clients? The assumption is that the client machines would install the Windows drivers and this would require a "raw" printer definition in CUPS, correct?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

SJ