If I can remember all of the steps, here's how I did it:
I am using Gentoo Linux, so I have to compile the kernel from time to time
. In my kernel I have:
<*> = built in, <M> = module, < > = not enabled
Parallel port support:
<*> Parallel port support
<*> PC-style hardware
<M> Multi-IO cards (not using this)[*] Use FIFO/DMA if available[*] SuperIO chipset support
[ ] Support foreign hardware
[ ] IEEE 1824 transfer modes
Character Devices:
<*> Parallel printer support
[ ] Support for console on line printer
<M> Support for user-space parallel port device drivers
I followed the tutorial at Gentoo's documentation site:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/printing-howto.xml disregarding the fact that it's for a USB printer. For the hp deskjet 710 and 712c you'll need to get the pnm2ppa drivers.
I also got cups and foomatic. to configure foomatic I did:
foomatic-configure -s cups -p 71232 -c /dev/lp0 -n Deskjet -d pnm2ppa .
Although in the gentoo doc it says you can test the printer with $echo "test" > /dev/lp0 , I've STILL not gotten this to work, but my printer works fine, so I wouldn't worry if that doesn't work.
After all this I started cupsd and my printer was set up.
I knew I was getting closer to getting things working when $dmesg | grep parport gave this:
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778) [PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP]
parport0: irq 7 detected
parport0: faking semi-colon
parport0: Printer, HEWLETT-PACKARD DESKJET 710C
lp0: using parport0 (polling).
instead of before parport wasn't able to detect my printer. Good luck, and hopefully you get things working. I was really persistant, (almost 2 months I had no printer), but finally I got it to work
. Keep at it.