How to set up printer and print

Nem · 03-18-2007, 12:56 AM

Hi all,
I got a question, how can I set up my
printer and print with it? I just
need to print through openoffice.
and which printing system to go with.
I tried to looking at cups but don't know
how to set it up and be able to print
with it through openoffice.
Thx

Daedra · 03-18-2007, 02:17 AM

first couple of questions. What printer do you have? Second, what window manager/desktop environment are you using?

Nem · 03-18-2007, 02:46 AM

I'm currently using
kde 3.5 and I got two printers,
a brother HL-2040 and a epson CX6600.
When I used pclinuxos I had both printers
working so I know that they work with linux.

Bruce Hill · 03-18-2007, 07:50 AM

Open your favorite web browser and enter "localhost:631" then follow the directions. If your printers are listed, it should be easy. If they're not, then you need the ppd file for them. In that case, go to LinuxPrinting.org and look them up. Printing through Open Office is straight forward ... File > Print. You can setup your printer(s) through those menus.

Nem · 03-18-2007, 12:53 PM

Hmm.. I tried cups like you said,
"Open your favorite web browser and enter "localhost:631" then follow the directions".
But it says Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost:631.Maybe I'll take a look at doing
it through openoffice.

H_TeXMeX_H · 03-18-2007, 12:57 PM

If cups has started you should be able to go here:

http://localhost:631/

and add a new printer.

ajt3nc · 03-18-2007, 01:01 PM

You will have to start cups. As root, run /etc/rc.d/rc.cups start.
You may need to do a chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups first.

Nem · 03-18-2007, 03:44 PM

Hey ajt3nc,
Thx for the help that did the trick.
Cups wasn't even running and had to use chmod
to get going. Okey now it loads
http://localhost:631/ but when I go to add printers,
I put in username: root and my root password and click
ok and it doesn't go through. It just erases the username and password!

MannyNix · 03-18-2007, 05:03 PM

try: http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/print9.html
maybe drivers are missing?
gl

Nem · 03-18-2007, 06:53 PM

Well I went to http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/print9.html
and got a driver for the brother printer
and followed these Instructions,

"As root, download the PPD file into /usr/share/ppd/Brother/:

cd /usr/share/ppd/Brother/
wget -c http://www.profv.de/brother/Brother-HL-2040-hl1250.ppd

That's it! Run the CUPS web interface, and you'll find a driver for Brother HL-2040."

I did that and went back to http://localhost:631/
and it's still not letting me by the box asking
for my username and password.

jschiwal · 03-18-2007, 07:07 PM

In your system, cups may not run as the root user. I use the "lppasswd" command to add myself as a cups administrator. I suppose you could do the same for root as well.

Nem · 03-18-2007, 07:52 PM

It's weird I ran the command lppasswd
as root and this is the output,

Code:

# lppasswd
Enter password:
Enter password again:
lppasswd: user "root" and group "sys" do not exist.
lppasswd: Password file not updated!

I have a book on linux and they recommended this
command,

Code:

# lppasswd -a admin
Enter password:
Enter password again:
lppasswd: failed to backup old password file: No such file or directory

I just don't get it.There should be a file named
passwd.md5 in my /etc/cups but there is no such
file there.Is there any way I can add it to /etc/cups?

Bruce Hill · 03-19-2007, 09:58 AM

I don't have passwd.md5 in /etc/cups/ (or anywhere in my system) and CUPS works fine.

Code:

mingdao@titus:~$ ls -lh /etc/cups/
total 545K
drwx--x--x 2 root sys    72 2007-03-19 08:23 certs/
-rw-r----- 1 root sys  2.4K 2006-08-17 00:19 classes.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.3K 2006-08-17 00:19 client.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.2K 2006-02-15 17:34 command.types
-rw-r----- 1 root sys   22K 2006-08-17 00:19 cupsd.conf
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root   48 2006-08-17 00:19 interfaces/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.5K 2006-08-17 00:19 mime.convs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.8K 2006-08-17 00:19 mime.types
drwxr-xr-x 2 root sys    88 2007-01-12 18:50 ppd/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 477K 2007-01-12 17:46 ppds.dat
-rw-r----- 1 root sys   315 2007-01-12 18:56 printers.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root sys   338 2007-01-12 18:56 printers.conf.O
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  946 2006-09-18 03:33 pstoraster.convs

Perhaps that information is outdated. The lppasswd man page is date 7 June 2001, and CUPS has changed considerably since then.

And iirc, the CUPS server starts by default in Slackware-11.0 unless the admin changes that. You've obviously got some permissions messed up in your system -- or maybe you've forgotten your root password. It should give you another GUI screen when you enter root's password and username in the CUPS Admin panel.

Does root's password work in a terminal? If not, you need to first fix your root password problem, then return to CUPS.

In a terminal as a normal user issue "cat /etc/group" to see if you have the group sys. If you are able to login as root in a terminal, and you see the sys group listed, then the statement above from the lppasswd command

Code:

user "root" and group "sys" do not exist

is obviously incorrect.

You can issue "id" in a terminal and it will print the user id, group id, and groups that user is a member of to the terminal. Issue it as user, then issue it again as root.

the-yikes · 03-19-2007, 10:34 AM

Hi all,
Nem like you i had similar problems when i first set about configuring my printers, and as with you i have an Epson and brother printer.

Can i safely assume your running Slackware? if so then i recommend that you remove cups and all drivers you currently have installed, then download the cups package and try a reinstall. After that just allow cups to start automatically at boot up. Once you've done this extract your drivers. Now go into /usr/share/cups/model and check to ensure your printer is listed.

One more thing can you tell me exactly which version of Slackware your running?

Cheers

The Yikes

Nem · 03-19-2007, 11:06 PM

Thx yikes!
I uninstalled cups and
went and reinstalled cups
and I now can add my printers!
I managed to get my epson printer
going, it just needs some adjustment
to be printing fine.But the brother printer,
which I really need to work doesn't want to
work.This is what my cups said after I set it
up with the HL2060 driver from http://openprinting.org

Brother_HL-2040_series_USB_1 "Filter "foomatic-rip" for printer "Brother_HL-2040_series_USB_1" not available: No such file or directory"

Description: Brother HL-2040 series
Location: Local Printer
Make and Model: Brother HL-2040 Foomatic/hl1250 (recommended)
Printer State: stopped, accepting jobs, published.
Device URI: usb://Brother/HL-2040%20series

I just need to get the brother printer going
because I use it for printing loads of text!

Oh yikes,
I'm using slackware 11.0.