upgrade to Slackware 13.0, printer communication error, hplip
 

Hello,

I recently upgraded from slackware 12.2 to slackware 13.0, and I am no longer able to use my printer,and can't seem to communicate with the device in hplip's device manager. My printer appears there with a red X. and an error message reads, 'device communication error'.

I'm using hplip-3.9.4b

I see that the printer is found by my machine:
sh-3.1$ dmesg | grep parport
parport_pc 00:07: reported by Plug and Play ACPI
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778), irq 7 [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
parport0: Printer, HEWLETT-PACKARD DESKJET 960C
lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven).

But can't find anyway to have it recognized with hplip.

sh-3.1$ uname -r
2.6.29.6-smp

Thanks in advance for any help.

First check if the cups service is running, then go to http://localhost:631/ and see whether it's configured correctly or whether you can control it from there.
If that fails, check if you have the printer drivers installed, and that they did they didn't get lost in the upgrade. You should need either gutenprint (Works, but lacks some features) or foo2zjs (Great).

If that doesn't help, then I'm out of ideas already. Good luck!

-A

Thanks for your reply.

I go to http://localhost:631/ and see my printer there with driver CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.2
Printer State: idle, accepting jobs, published
Device URI: hp:/par/DESKJET_960C?device=/dev/parport0

When I click on "print test page" I get the error:
"The PPD version (135236731) is not compatible with Gutenprint 5.2.4"

Yikes! Are there two versions of Gutenprint (how do I tell? I looked in the /usr/share/Gutenprint and /usr/lib/gutenprint folders, but no clues). What's a good plan of attack from here? Any idea what that error means?

Thank you for reading.

I assume that this old printer configuration with Gutenprint 5.2.2 is an artifact from Slackware 12.2 and that Gutenprint 5.2.4 replaced 5.2.2 during the upgrade, so it requires a new configuration of your printer.

I suggest you click on "add printer" and configure yours as you did before using the new version. If that works, you can safely remove the "old" one.

-A

Aie.

I was trying to add the printer again without removing that artifact first, and it wouldn't recognize any device. After removing it, I could chose the printer and new driver, and it prints again.

Oddly, hplip device manager still says there is a communication error, even for the jobs I *did* print. It says to correct the problem and try again.

I tried the HP Device Manager, and encountered some few error messages as well. Still managed to print a test page in the end, but I don't need it at all. All the other programs print fine, so I won't rely on it any more :)

-A