Hi guys. Having got rid of mdk8.2, I'm now suffering with Slack 8.1.

My HP 656c usb printer (works in windows) was not detected during install. Is not detected when I try to install new usb printer.
I think all usb support is loaded on boot. (/dev/usb/lp0 exists). Do I need a separate driver? Sorry, still newbie after 8 months.

I believe there are at least two modules required. They are usb-core and printer. To see if they are loaded, use the command "lsmod" to list the modules. If not loaded, then use "modprobe printer" to load them. That should activate the usb. Now use the "dmesg" command to see if the printer was detected and assigned. Should be at the end of the listing.

Once that is done you will need a filter to print to the printer. CUPS offers a HP DeskJet 600 Series driver that might work well for you. However, CUPS is not part of the Slack install. It is built as a Slack package in the "extras" tree. You will need two packages, CUPS and the ghostscript package "espgs". The later provides the ghostscript for CUPS to use.

I think apsfilter is an alternative to CUPS. But if you were using Mandy then you should be familiar with CUPS.

Good luck.

Once the modules are loaded try to send a file to the printer. Ex. cat anytextfile > /dev/usb/lp0 and see if it prints. If it doesn't then the printer is not detected, or some modules aren't loaded. If it worked you can go ahed setting up APSfilter or CUPS.
HTH
-NSKL

Modules are loaded and I've downloaded the cups tarball. There is no read me file, do I make install or what, there are now files scattered in /usr/share and /usr/var ?


Feeling really stupid...

If you downloaded the Slack packages, then run "installpkg" from the directory where you downloaded the files. You should have two, cups and espgs.

/Edit
Sorry, but I was thinking of the program "pkgtool" and NOT "installpkg".
Pkgtool provides ncurses menu interface.

I downloaded both cups-1.1.15-i386-2.tgz and espgs-7.05.2_1-i386-1.tgz.

I did installpkg for both, but now cannot find the command to start cups. Anyone now what it is?

These don't work:
"/etc/rc.d/init.d/cups start"
"/etc/init.d/cups start"

Try:

/etc/rc.d/rc.cups start

I'm going to try all that again, I may well have the wrong packages!!

Excalibur,

Thanks after many hours/days/weeks/months of trying, I finally got my printer to work with Slack.

Here is a real newbie question. Where do I put "/etc/rc.d/rc.cups start" to always start when I start the computer?

I use the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file for all of my additions. it is the simplest place to keep track of things in a central file. Also, it is not very likely to be overwritten by installing a package or something.

I use cups, foomatic and the hpijs driver for my Deskjet 810c, gives a better output than any other driver.

I tried:
bash-2.05a# installpkg cups-1.1.16-i386-1.tgz
Cannot install cups-1.1.16-i386-1.tgz: package does not end in .tgz

What next?

Try just running installpkg without any arguments from the directory where you downloaded the package.

Also, I just checked the Slack ftp site and 1.1.16 is available from the current-tree but not for 8.1 extras or the 8.1 patches directory. Make sure the package you have is built for the Slack installation that you have. If you have the current-tree package and are running Slack 8.1, it probably will not work. There are a lot of differences in the current-tree (beta version) than the distributed 8.1 system.

Agreed. Make sure you get these versions: cups-1.1.15-i386-2.tgz and espgs-7.05.2_1-i386-1.tgz.

I've downloaded and decompressed the correct cups file. What command is neede to install it? There is no readme file. Files have been installed in /usr/bin, lib, share, doc, sbin and others...Where is the install or config script file?