CUPS printing, parallel port not found in lpinfo
 

Sorry if this been asked before-- I read most of the other threads on CUPS already and they haven't helped me.

I'm trying to set up my printer on my Slackware 9.1 system.
The Printer is a HP DeskJet 712C, and its connected to my parallel port.

When I type:

bash-2.05b# /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p DeskJet -E -v file:/dev/lp0 -m deskjet.ppd
lpadmin: add-printer (set device) failed: client-error-not-possible

when I type "lpinfo -v" here's what shows up.

network socket
network http
network ipp
network lpd
direct scsi
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp0
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp1
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp2
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp3
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp4
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp5
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp6
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp7
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp8
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp9
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp10
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp11
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp12
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp13
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp14
direct usb:/dev/usb/lp15

^^
notice that the parallel port does not show up.

i also type "modprobe parport_pc" and it says

bash-2.05b# modprobe parport_pc
FATAL: Module parport_pc already in kernel.

^^

I checked my .config file and my parallel port is indeed hard compiled into my kernel.

now when I type: "dmesg | grep parport"

parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP]
parport0: cpp_daisy: aa5500ff(98)
parport0: assign_addrs: aa5500ff(98)
parport0: faking semi-colon
parport0: Printer, HEWLETT-PACKARD DESKJET 710C
lp0: using parport0 (polling).

^ look what shows up!

I know I'm pretty close to getting this working. What am I missing?

thanks in advance for any help!

Is there anything else I need to add that would help?

what does it show when you do:
ll /dev/lp0
Do you have the rights set properly and the device too?

you mean

ls -l /dev/lp0?

when I do that, I get this:

sh-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/lp0
crw-rw---- 1 root lp 6, 0 Apr 27 1995 /dev/lp0

I looks like I get read/write access to lp0. I suppose that means I have the correct permissions.

No takers? Has anyone had any sort of similar experience?

Is it just the way I'm typing it in the CLI?

a shot in the dark but is cupsd running on your system?

also, have you tried using
localhost:631
in the location bar of a webbrowser? It will get you to the cups admin page.

^^

Yeah I tried that first, actually. But there's not much output I can cut and paste when I do it through mozilla.

When I click the "add printers" button, I don't see a "lp0" option.

Ok... now we look if your lp0 is working properly....

- Attach your printer, turn it on and put paper in. Connect it firmly to comp.
- cat /etc/passwd > /dev/lp0
- cat /etc/passwd > /dev/lp0 (2-3 times until it starts printing)

If it prints it means your printerport is working then we can go on...
If not we must reconfigure your port.

This is interesting..

Here's my output--

bash-2.05b# cat /etc/passwd > /dev/lp0
bash: /dev/lp0: No such device or address

Mystery!

^^

how about I go about "enabling" lp0?

I thought my parallel port was enabled when I typed in dmesg and it showed up!

What's going on now?

Just wanted to say thanks to ROLF68!

I had the exact same problem as the original poster with an HP Officejet T45xi. I ran all of the same commands as he did with the same results. After I changed the permissions on lp0 and restarted cups with /etc/rc.d/rc.cups restart it showed up.

Thanks Again Rolf68 and to everyone else here on the forum!
You guys are great!

Hey, well thanks for the update, too.

I'll try the same thing you did!

Linuxquestions makes me happy :)

All I did was

chmod 777 /dev/lp0

Its a home network so I don't care about permissions on the printer

Anyway, it didn't seem to change anything at first until I restarted cups. I assumed it wouldn't work but went in to localhost:631 and to mu surprise, it was there.

Now heres the funny part. I logged out of X to reinstall NVIDIA (did a kernel recompile for i686) and when I did I saw lines in console where I had been trying to access lp0 and had no permissions. Once again, had I just configured from command line rather than KDE, I could have saved myself alot of heartache....

oh well, you live and you learn.

good luck!

I just wanted to put my two cents worth in and say thank you. For whatever reason I guess permissions got changed on my /dev/lp0 and my DJ 722c quit working. This has cured it. Thank you very much :-)

hrm seems to still not to work, even with the permissions change and the cups restarting.

It prints perfectly fine in windows.

Any solution?
 

Hey;

Im have the same problem when I try to use lpadmin (command and gui) to add a printer. I have verified that the
printer port is working but using a cat blah.txt > /dev/lp0. I am getting the dreaded "client-error-not-possible" error.
I changed permissions on the printer port to 770. Any ideas?

BTW Im new to CUPS so please go easy with the technical detail if any and I perfer to use the cmd line to the gui if
I can help it.

Thanks alot

Hey;

I found out what I am doing wrong, its still not perfect and needs a bit of work but Im getting closer.
I found that I could add a printer and have it work properly using the localhost:631 CUPS utility. But as I said above I alway perfer to use the command line. Every time I tried using lpadmin I would type the following:

//Note the next line is the WRONG way to do it
lpadmin -p HPLJ -E -v /dev/lp0 -m /user/share/cups/model/HP... -o PageSize=A4

After many google searches later I was looking into the lpinfo -v command and found a source of my problem. You have to specify the type of port you are using in the -v paramater as in:

//This is the 'right' way
lpadmin -p HPLJ -E -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -m /user/share/cups/model/HP... -o PageSize=A4

This time it gives me a different error, but I the test page button in CUPS gui tool works now. which is closer to where I need to be.

The error that I'm getting is:
lpadmin: add-printer (set model) failed: server-error-internal-error

I am pretty sure this has something to do with CUPS having a problem using the ppd specified with the -m parameter above because it is apparent the printer test page has the staircase problem.

Anyone got any ideas? Hope I helped.

Thx;

Another update;

Aggg no wonder alot of people complain about linux printing :)

Anyways, I got rid of the server internal error, but its still not working right. To get rid of the error simply navigate to /usr/share/cups/model and issue the following command:

lpadmin -p HPLJ -E -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -m blah.ppd -o PageSize=A4

where HPLJ is the name u want to use and blah.ppd is the ppd file you downloaded for your printer.
Also note i set the permissions to 770 on the ppd file with chmod.

Anyways this says the printer installs correctly, huray!!.... wait but its not working. I can't print anything using the lpr command and when i try printing the test page using the localhost:631 gui it does nothing. If I click on "show completed jobs" all the entries are "aborted" and if I try to restart any of them cups gives me the dreaded: "client-error-not-possible " error.

Back to square one.

Anyways I feel like Im really close, its just putting the final pieces in place. If you got any ideas please post, all help is appreciated, and I will continue updating so that anyone who has the same problem will hopefully find an easy solution.

Thx;

I have a bunch of new problems, please see my thread:

thread id=188142

as for the no parrallel port error, make sure you modprobed

parport
parport_pc
lp

got it thanks alot, it worked

hey, I got as far as Movitto Got, but now I'm getting the infamous "client-error-not-possible" message.

Movitto, did you get it to work yet?

Exactly what are you doing when you get the client-error-not-possible message. I found out that I get this whenever I try to do an administrative task, but CUPS is not recognizing me as an admin. If your tying to change printer settings, goto localhost:631 and login as root. After that try setting up your printer (or make sure that its set up correctly) and printing a test page.

Also, what kind of printer you have plays an important role in this process, I have a HP LaserJet 5L, but I used the LaserJet 4L driver, because it is more compatible with my printer. You can find a ton of info on linuxprinting.org

Also make sure you have gimp-print, Im pretty sure thats a must.

I'm printing stuff, from test documents to the "print test page" on the localhost:631 as an administrator.

It says its printing, but no paper comes out, and the printer does not do anything. When I look at the jobs, I see that all the jobs have been aborted. When I click "restart jobs" I get client-error-not-possible thing.

My printer is a HP DeskJet 712C

beajedi;

Can you tell me the driver which you are using for this printer? According to linux printing , you should be using the pnm2ppa driver. Im not sure if this comes standard or not with CUPS, but if it doesnt linuxprinting has a good complete guide to intalling printer drivers and such. If this doesnt work try using th hpijs driver (Even though the link i gave you says it might not work), which supposedly supports all hp printers. As for your error message, it seems that cups is logging you out every time your attempting to do something or another. Try logging in as root, and then immediately restart the printer. If you get the error, then you know that there's the problem (how to fix it, im not sure). Sorry, I couldnt be of more help, I started using linux a little less than a year ago. Just keep with it, cause setting up a printer is supposedly one of the harder things to do in linux.

yeah, I followed the instructions from the linuxprinting website and I got as far as the DeskJet driver thing installed. now I'm at the client-error problem :mad:

Ok, it prints now.

I fixed it by recompiling my kernel, and and hard compiling parallel support right into the kernel.

I suppose before, the computer probably didn't know what to do with my parallel port.

Thanks for the help, guys!