Debian lan network printing problem
 

Hi all:

I am new to any forum and also new to Linux, I try to find solutions to problems on my own as I feel learning the how and why of the way programs work stays with a person better than just a given answer but this printing problem I just can't figure out. Here is where I am at ...... I have muddled through setting up a debian wheezy file & print server with Samba for a home network with a raid 5 array in the past few months.

Everything is working really well and I am able to access all of the files and find the debian printer from my three windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit computers but this is where the problem comes in ....... I can print all files except .pdf and .txt from my windows machines to the shared debian USB HP printer. I can print all files when I am on the debian machine and also print all files from my windows machines to another USB HP printer shared on one of my windows machines.

When I try to print pdf or txt to the debian server from my windows machine it shows that it is printing and then the window disappears but nothing goes to the print cue, prints out or gives an error. I can change the extension of the pdf to docx and it prints but not in the proper format I also tried printing the pfd to an image file with no luck. Changing the txt file to docx file works fine.

Please, please help if anyone has a solution or work around for this printing issue as I am at my wits end, I have spent many hours researching via web pages and phone calls to friends without any answers. I also have tried this without any luck ......... 4.3. CUPS Configuration
Windows printer drivers format their output for the printer before sending it across the network. You must configure CUPS to accept the pre-formatted output by uncommenting the following line from /etc/cups/mime.convs:

application/octet-stream application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
Also uncomment the following line from /etc/cups/mime.types:

application/octet-stream

posts the section of your cups file for that specific printer. could be a setting there that is off, also when you configured the HP printer that is physically connected to the Debian box did you use the HP drivers, or the drivers that are built into the OS? how did you install the printer? manually via lpadmin or via the web interface for CUPS, or some other way?

All of that will help narrow down the issue with pdf and txt files.

also the specific model of the printer will help.

hope this is what you need to help
 

Thank you for your responds:

I am very new to Linux so I hope this is what you want me to post: The printer is an older USB HP Photosmart D5160 and I used a driver from Debian's site.... (hplip-3.13.6). As soon as I installed the driver and plugged in the printer debian found the printer I then accessed and shared the printer via web 631.

I don't really know how to post my .conf files but I will try. raw.types # This file was generated by the cups package. You may change it, or
# reconfigure this file with dpkg-reconfigure. If it is removed, it
# will be regenerated by the package scripts.

application/octet-stream
I converted the other conf files to text and uploaded them as one of them is quite long, I hope you can tell from this.

Thank you.

You need to try Foxit from here....
 

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/

In the window that says "Windows 32/64-bit" you just put your mouse over it and left click to bring up your choices of operating system(s), in your case select "linux" and just install it by clicking on the software in your "downloads" file.
I had to do this for my PDF files as I had the similar problem as you.

Hope this helps you.


If you find this helpful and cures your problem then please mark as Helpful.

as you are using the GUI, just open up a terminal (konsole) and cat the files. you should be able to cat them all as user, but if not the system will say you dont have permissions. if you get that error just switch to root and cat them again.

copy/paste into here using code flags::: [ code ] [ / code ] just remove the spaces and what you put there will be exactly what you see in the terminal.

so for example:

as you can see my server does not have CUPS configured for the simple reason i have a network printer that all of my workstations access and my server is for NFS only.

you can also see i had to elevate to root in order to cat my printers.conf

Hope this is right:

root@Debian:/home/mike# cat /etc/cups/printers.conf
# Printer configuration file for CUPS v1.5.3
# Written by cupsd
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE WHEN CUPSD IS RUNNING
<DefaultPrinter HP_Photosmart_D5100_series>
UUID urn:uuid:561b7372-2a03-36c9-798e-ecf21087dae1
Info HP Photosmart D5100 series
Location Debian Server
MakeModel HP Photosmart d5100 Series, hpcups 3.12.6
DeviceURI hp:/usb/Photosmart_D5100_series?serial=MY68C1120C04SJ
State Idle
StateTime 1375061774
Type 8425484
Accepting Yes
Shared Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy stop-printer
</Printer>
root@Debian:/home/mike#

Thank you:

Thank you
 

Thank you PECONET009;5007257 for the info., first I would like to try and figure out what causes the printing error but if this fails I will try your suggestion. I did follow you link but could please let me know extactly which foxit app. you downloaded as there are so many PDF app's on that site?

also try adding this package:

http://pkgs.org/download/foomatic-filters

in addition to updating both cups and cups client via apt-get.

Thanks for the input
 

Thanks for the input but I have already installed that filter and completed apt-get update as well as apt-get dist-upgrade. Have you seen anything wrong in my printer.conf or other problems anywhere?

I have been chasing this issues so long sometimes I get frusterated and have to step back for a while and then come back to try something new. A couple of friends have told me they think it would have to do with the debian server permissions but I just don't know.

The first app that says "Foxit Reader"...
 

The first app that says "Foxit Reader" is the one you need for your PDF issue as this will make your PDF files more easy to print out when needed.
Like I said, I had the same issue that you are having now, I could not print out any PDF files without purchasing the software from Adobe.
Foxit was able to do just that, to print out stuff that we need.

If you click on the link I gave in my post it will take you to the page and the app that you will want will be looking at you, the first one that says "Foxit Reader" there will be second window to your right that says "Windows 32/64bit", this is the window that you left click on and then select "Desktop Linux". This will then download into your "Download" section of your desktop, click on this when it has finished downloading and it will install. It is a very good piece of software that I have saved for future use so that I can reuse when I do a full install of a different linux system.

Give it ago and see for yourself.

Hope it all works out for you.

Thanks
 

Thanks PECONET009 for the respond but I had figured that out and downloaded the file once I stopped and really thought about you description of the win32 or win64 drop down. Thanks again for all your help but I am running Wheezy 64bit so that app. will not install on my machine. I did however find a Linux version of adobe reader for free which installed OK but must be for 32bit because it will not open a PDF file. Even if adobe did work I am not sure it would help the printing issue to the Wheezy printer from windows.

I am starting to believe that the printing issue is in PDF format communication between the windows machine and the Wheezy machine, I will keep trying from time to time to find a fix for this printing issue.

Huge Thanks to all that have offer suggestions.

If you can not print from any windows PC then it could be due to samba. Is your smb.conf setup for raw printing i.e. cups options = raw?

michaelk;

Thank you for the input, below is a cat of the printing portion of my smb.conf file and also what is happening when I print. As you can see I am having no problems printing from windows to debian except for .pdf files.



I can print all files except .pdf from my windows machines to the shared debian USB HP printer. I can print all files when I am on the debian machine and also print all files from my windows machines to another USB HP printer shared on one of my windows machines.

When I try to print pdf to the debian server from my windows machine it shows that it is printing and then the window disappears but nothing goes to the print queue, prints out or gives an error. I can change the extension of the pdf to docx and it prints but not in the proper format I also tried printing the pfd to an image file with no luck.






[printers]
comment = All Printers
browseable = no
path = /var/spool/samba
printable = yes
guest ok = no
read only = yes
create mask = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /var/lib/samba/printers
browseable = yes
read only = yes
guest ok = no
# Uncomment to allow remote administration of Windows print drivers.
# You may need to replace 'lpadmin' with the name of the group your
# admin users are members of.
# Please note that you also need to set appropriate Unix permissions
# to the drivers directory for these users to have write rights in it
; write list = root, @lpadmin

Check to see if this option is in the global section and add if not.
cups options = raw

cups options
 

michaelk;

Cups options = raw was not included in the Global section so I added as you suggested and restarted cups but still the same printing issues persist

Thank you for your suggestion, I will continue to research I refuse to give up and although no solution has yet come from all of the suggestions from everyone I am very grateful for the suggestions as I have learned other things about Linux through the experience.

Did you restart samba?

If you try again here: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/ , there is another window of where it asks you of which type of Linux system type you want to download, so you just scroll down to select (in your case you are using Wheezy) "deb" of which it will be compatible for your system.
So you just select (second window) "Window 32/64bit" for the window to open up to what system you need, select "Desktop linux" then you need to click on "Download" of which the window will open up to reveal which system package you need, since you are using Debian Wheezy, you need to select "Deb" then it will download the correct package for your system, just click to run it.
Hope it all works out for you.
I have tested it, and it works fine.
It does work, you just need to believe sometimes.

PECONET009,
Have you tested this using a cups networked printer?

To michaelk;

I did restart Samba but it made no difference, thanks for the suggestion sometimes it can be the simplest things that we forget to do.



To PECONET009;

Thanks to you also for the post, I tried 2 of the drop down packages (bz2 and deb) just in case one would work but no luck. When I try to install each package I get error message This package is uninstallable

Wrong architecture 'i386'

See if this works for you...
 

DEB Package

Using the Linux version of ubuntu or debian.
Use the root account on terminal to execute the below command for installation.

dpkg -i FoxitReader_1.1.0_i386.deb

Please use the root account on terminal to execute the below command for uninstallation.
dpkg -r FoxitReader

FoxitReader 64bit error
 

Hi PECONET009;

The install error of FoxitReader is as I thought ...No 64bit install available same as Adobe Reader.

root@Debian:~/Downloads# dpkg -i FoxitReader_1.1.0_i386.deb
dpkg: error processing FoxitReader_1.1.0_i386.deb (--install):
package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)
Errors were encountered while processing:
FoxitReader_1.1.0_i386.deb
root@Debian:~/Downloads#

Thanks for you help I will keep looking for an answer. I am thinking about searching other PDF apts from debian's site instead of the canned one from Wheezy install.

What kind of print server are you using?
 

I think I have just misread your original post (lack of sleep, etc).
What kind of print server have you set up?
Is the print server a single small box design that is labelled as a print server? (these do not work, as I have tested these out in the past).

If you are using two computers to communicate with each other with different operating systems then you might have to change the PDF files format (such as "Print as Image") to send to either computer for printing.

Sorry if I misunderstood your post.

Still could be a filter/driver issue. Try configuring the printer via IPP like the follow link. However select a Postscript printer driver instead of the one for your actual printer.

https://howto.ccs.neu.edu/howto/prin...to-windows-xp/

Ok, have found something new...
 

First you will have to download Libreoffice, once that is installed then (command line interface, CLI) download the cups-pdf file. example: sudo apt-get install cups-pdf, this should give you access to your non-printing issue with PDF files.