Printer setup utiity cannot find ppd for HP Laserjet P1006 (SOLVED:THANK YOU)

Brenton Pettitt · 08-19-2010, 08:17 AM

I have used the HP setup utility recently with 3 other Linux OS's & they all worked ootb.
However, in the case of SW13 the interface is different & lacks the ability to download the driver plugin & firmware required for this printer.

Opensource.com says that this printer is supported for SW9.1 to 12.1 but I'm not sure that categorically means 13 is not supported. It may just be that the support page needs updating.

The utility interface, in the case of SW13, only gives the option to browse the local cups database which I already know does not include this printer or ppd.

The utiliy tries to use an old algorithm but no appropriate ppd is found.

Any help would be appreciated on this problem.

Bruce Hill · 08-19-2010, 10:59 AM

Have you tried setting up the printer using CUPS? Enter "http://localhost:631/" in a web browser.

Brenton Pettitt · 08-19-2010, 11:19 AM

As I said in my initial post this early model HP printer is not included in the CUPS database & therefore it needs to be activated via the HPLIP interface, which in the case of SW13 is not the same as the one in other distributions i.e., it lacks the option to download the driver plugin & firmware required for its operation.

Can they be obtained by other means?.
Thanks again.

Bruce Hill · 08-19-2010, 05:30 PM

Open a web browser and enter localhost:631 ... the driver for your
printer is already in the CUPS interface in Slackware 13.0. Since
I'm looking at it I'll provide you a screenshot.

If that printer were NOT in the database already, you would browse
The Linux Foundation's printer database and find it there.

If you have a PPD file you'd like to use, then the CUPS interface
will allow you to browse and use it instead (see screenshot).

If the HPLIP interface in Slackware 13.0 "lacks the option to download
the driver plugin & firmware required for its operation" then you may
need to get the source and rebuild it properly. That's what we come to
know as a "Slackware feature".

gauchao · 08-19-2010, 06:51 PM

In order to make HP Laserjet P1005 (my printer model) I had to uninstall both HPLIP and system-config-printer. Then I configured it with CUPS. Which driver are you using? You should use the same driver as P1005 model. You will find the driver here: http://foo2xqx.rkkda.com/

Take a look at http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/forum/read.php?42,1688,1688 and see if it is of any further help to you.

Regards

Brenton Pettitt · 08-20-2010, 09:40 AM

Thanks all for your inputs.

Unfortunately I have two problems now. Firstly localhost does not respond to give me the cups database. Tried reinstalling it with slackpkg but that didn't work.

Secondly, I tried the hplip automatic/custom install procedure @ hplipopensource.com and that process supports 14 distros but slackware is not one of them.

So, does anyone know commands for SW13 that would work for the hplip install (hplip-3.10.6.run).

I'm also thinking that cups needs to work as a backend with hplip to have success, but as I said it's not working.

BTW: I have uninstalled the old 3.9 version of hplip that comes with the distro as it doesn't have the complete GUI interface of 3.10.6.

Thanks for any further help

Bruce Hill · 08-20-2010, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brenton Pettitt

Thanks all for your inputs.

Unfortunately I have two problems now. Firstly localhost does not respond to give me the cups database. Tried reinstalling it with slackpkg but that didn't work.

Always post the output of the command you ran and the errors, i.e.:

Code:

http://localhost:613/

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost:613.

mingdao@silas64:~$ ls -l /var/log/packages/cups*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 84532 2009-09-03 12:39 /var/log/packages/cups-1.3.11-x86_64-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3000 2009-06-26 21:52 /var/log/packages/cups-compat32-1.3.10-x86_64-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4712 2009-06-26 02:00 /var/log/packages/cupsddk-1.2.3-x86_64-1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brenton Pettitt

Secondly, I tried the hplip automatic/custom install procedure @ hplipopensource.com and that process supports 14 distros but slackware is not one of them.

So, does anyone know commands for SW13 that would work for the hplip install (hplip-3.10.6.run).

Did you follow the instructions in Slackware-13.0/CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT?

Quote:

HP multifunction printer/scanners require that your user account be a member
of the "lp" group for hp-toolbox to work properly, and to use the scanner
portion of some (all?) units, you'll need to be a member of the "lp" group.
This is because hplip's udev rules set the device with group "lp" ownership.

Output as I checked and ran it on this box:

Code:

mingdao@silas64:~$ cat /etc/slackware-version
Slackware 13.0.0.0.0
mingdao@silas64:~$ lsp hplip
hplip-3.9.4b-x86_64-2
mingdao@silas64:~$ groups
users lp wheel floppy audio video cdrom plugdev scanner vboxusers usbdevices
mingdao@silas64:~$ hp-setup

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.9.4b)
Printer/Fax Setup Utility ver. 9.0

Copyright (c) 2001-9 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.


Done.
mingdao@silas64:~$

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brenton Pettitt

I'm also thinking that cups needs to work as a backend with hplip to have success, but as I said it's not working.

BTW: I have uninstalled the old 3.9 version of hplip that comes with the distro as it doesn't have the complete GUI interface of 3.10.6.

Thanks for any further help

If you're going beyond the Slackware installed packages, you'll need
to read and find out what to do in that case. Slackware has a working
CUPS and a working HPLIP that work with your printer model. So why
not first use them and install as has been suggested before; then if
the software provided does not work, you can investigate what you
need to do to properly install and use later versions.

Usually, but not always, you could changed the SlackBuild(s) that come
with the stock Slackware, get the new source, and rebuild and upgrade
the packages. Or, as I do for mutt and others, build a new package
with your own SlackBuild and install it.

I'm not saying that CUPS and/or HPLIP do not work on Slackware 13.0.
My box is running Slackware64 13.0, and they work fine on it. They
also display your printer model as a choice. It could be that one
or both of them don't work on Slackware 13.0; as SCIM works on
Slackware 13.1, but not on Slackware64 13.1. My advice is to
FIRST try the apps that come with Slackware.

Brenton Pettitt · 08-22-2010, 03:26 AM

Thanks very much for all your contributions to my printing problems.

The other distros I've tried didn't have the P1006 in their Cups database so I used hplip successfully in those cases. However, because I can't get cups to work with localhost:631 I am surprised that your screenshot shows it is indeed there. Must be a different version of cups.

As a noob, and coming from Windoze, I'm quite proud of myself that I have got this far with slackware given that it doesn't hand feed you as some other Linux distros with a click & go approach that appeals to many computer users. Everything else is working fine and it just needs the printer to work and I am a Slackware convert.

These are some outputs relative to the problem.

l

Quote:

s -l /var/log/packages/cups*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 84442 2010-08-22 16:31 /var/log/packages/cups-1.3.11-i486-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4700 2010-08-18 03:17 /var/log/packages/cupsddk-1.2.3-i486-1

Quote:

root@iinet:~# cat /etc/group | grep root
root:x:0:root
bin:x:1:root,bin
daemon:x:2:root,bin,daemon
sys:x:3:root,bin,adm
adm:x:4:root,adm,daemon
disk:x:6:root,adm
lp:x:7:lp,root
wheel:x:10:root
floppy:x:11:root
audio:x:17:root
video:x:18:root
cdrom:x:19:root
tape:x:26:root
plugdev:x:83:root
power:x:84:root
netdev:x:86:root
scanner:x:93:root

Some help on the cups problem will be appreciated.

Bruce Hill · 08-22-2010, 04:48 AM

You didn't post your HPLIP version, nor what your error is when
you open a web browser and try to launch "localhost:631"

But ... I suspect something from your output above. Are you logged
into X as root? If so, that might be your problem.

Brenton Pettitt · 08-22-2010, 05:36 AM

Quote:

You didn't post your HPLIP version

hplip-3.9.4b-i486-2

Quote:

what your error is when
you open a web browser and try to launch "localhost:631"

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost:631.

Tried as user but still no cups GUI.

Bruce Hill · 08-22-2010, 07:44 AM

What is the output of "ls -l /etc/rc.d/rc.cups"

Brenton Pettitt · 08-22-2010, 09:00 AM

bash-3.1# ls -l /etc/rc.d/rc.cups
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4318 2009-08-22 12:21 /etc/rc.d/rc.cups

Bruce Hill · 08-22-2010, 09:09 AM

There's your problem ... the cups server is not executable.

Issue "chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups" as root and then "/etc/rc.d/rc.cups start"
and hopefully you'll be good to go.

Let's get CUPS working, then you can try your printer with
the driver provided. If it's not acceptable, we'll go further.

Brenton Pettitt · 08-22-2010, 09:47 AM

Voila! It works. I'm tickled pink. What great support you have all given me.

To Bruce Hill & all others who provided their advice & knowledge on this problem THANK YOU!

As a 72yo Slackware has been a somewhat steep learning curve for me but thankfully I'm retired and was able to spend some time learning its peculiarities.

I'm looking forward to working with SW and I'll certainly be keeping it as one of my two favorite distributions (Fedora).

Thanks again guys.