Hello all,

I have a HP LaserJet 5L which I've been using via LPT, and it's been working just fine. Now I've replaced the printer-LPT port cable with a printer-USB one, but printing doesn't work anymore. When the USB cable is unplugged, lsusb gives:

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0483:2016 SGS Thomson Microelectronics Fingerprint Reader
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

When I plug it in, lsusb gives:

Bus 003 Device 005: ID 04b4:4100 Cypress Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0483:2016 SGS Thomson Microelectronics Fingerprint Reader
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

So something seems to be there, but I don't quite know what to do. I've tried setting the printer's connection type from LPT to USB in Control Center, but it hasn't helped. The printer seems not to have contact with the computer, as it even switches itself to standby when something is supposedly being sent into it.

Any suggestions..?

How did you replace the cable ?

This printer does not seem to have an USB output, or am I wrong

Anyhow I find no entry for this printer in my /usr/share/usb.ids file and Hewlett Packard's vendor number is 03f0.

EDIT may be you mean that you use a parallel to USB adapter. But there is no entry for vendor #04b4 and product #4100 (could be the adapter ?) in my usb.ids

You're correct, it doesn't have a USB output. I'm not totally familiar with the proper terms and abbreviations, so probably I'm being unclear.

The new cable has the same "printer-end socket" at the one end as the old cable, but where the old one had an LPT socket at the other end (to be plugged into the computer), the new one has USB.

The cable hassle is because my laptop has an LPT (and I was able to print just fine), but my girlfriend's laptop hasn't. Instead of buying a USB printer we thought to solve the problem this way, as we don't print so often as to justify buying another printer.

My guess (only a guess) is that what you need is not a cable with an USB output, but an "USB to parallel" adapter or converter. Search Google for it and try to check if it can be used under Linux (you probably will need a specific driver for it).

I had a similar problem trying to use a "USB to VGA" adapter because the VGA output of my laptop is broken. Unfortunately I couldn't find a Linux driver for it, so I ended up using the Windows driver for it; to do that I had to install Windows 7 beta in a virtual machine in my laptop, which took me _some_time_.

So if you do not need to print that often, may be you would be better off buying a cheap color inkjet printer -- but first check that in can be used in Linux (all HP printers can, as you probably know) !

It might be easiest to have your GF share your printer over your network. This is easy if she is running linux, and I am sure it is possible if she is running windows

What, in your opinion, would be the crucial difference of this solution to the one I tried..? Offhand the adapter seems like just a shorter version of the cable I have.

Not sure of the answer, but I think that you need some kind of software (included in the adapter) to convert parallel signals to serial ones.

Anyhow, I think that Tredegar proposed the good way to go: you could share your printer over your network.

hi
i have a hp printer , when i put the usb in my laptop it seems that everything is ok and my system(ubuntu) know it , but when i want to print any document there is no answer , in the screen it shows the printer icon but it doesn't print .how can i solve this problem?

This device is a USB to parallel port adapter.

I believe the module name is sl811hs. You can check the output of the dmesg and lsmod commands to see if the device is fully recognized and to see if the module is being loaded.
A /dev/usblp0 device should be created.

If all this seems to be working then you need to change cups for the printer from /dev/lp0 to /dev/usblp0.