Using Slack10.2 on two machines and I am wanting to use my Epson Stylus C44UX USB printer. I can set it up quite easily for one machine, but have really been struggling to get it set up so the second box can access it.

My difficulty is in knowing how to give the CUPS set-up dialog the correct setup info for a USB port on a remote machine.

Box A IP = 192.168.1.40; (local printer)
Box B IP = 192.168.1.29; (remote machine)
GW IP = 192.168.1.1

My machine (Box A) as CUPS set up as:
location is at lp0
device is USB printer #1
make is EPSON
driver is EPSON Stylus C44UX - CUPS + Gimp-Print v4.2.7 (en)
Device URI: usb:/dev/usb/lp0

The question is, how do I set this up on Box B?
This is how it is set up at present, with several variations, and which doesn't work:
Remote machine (Box B) using CUPS:
location is at lp0
device is (Internet Printing Protocol) ipp
make is EPSON
driver is EPSON Stylus C44UX - CUPS + Gimp-Print v4.2.7 (en)
Device URL: (several variations here, as I've played around):
ipp://192.168.1.40/dev/usb/lp0
OR
http://192.168.1.40:631/dev/usb/lp0
OR
http://192.168.1.40:631/lp0
OR
http://192.168.1.40:631/usb/lp0

And none of these worked.

As Box A is always on and always runs Slackware, so that is stable. How do I get Box B to connect and print via Box A?

Help would be very much appreciated.

Is BoxA set up to share the printer? You have two options for this. Set up IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) and configure your /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file correctly, or you can try setting up samba for printer sharing (usefull if you have any windows box on your network).

**edit**
sorry, I didn't really finish answering your question, to set up BoxB to use the remote printer, edit the /etc/cups/client.conf and specify BoxA as the print serer by adding the line 'ServerName 192.168.1.40'. The server will handle all of the device stuff itself assuming the printer is set up correctly on BoxA.
**edit**

hope this helped,
...drkstr

Hi

What finally worked for me was simply setting up the client box (box B) through the add printer GUI and assigning it as a network printer and correctly giving it the cups address:

ipp://192.168.2.2:631/printers/printer

The network printing port is port 631. You don't have to use /usb/lp0. Just put /printers/(whatever you have called your printer when you installed it on Box A).

What throws mine off is that I am using DHCP on my home network, so whenever my Box A is rebooted, it gets a new IP address and I have to amend my Box B. You will have the same problem if these are not static addresses.

Just make sure you installed the printer on Box A as a shared printer.

Hope this helps

Bob

Drkstr

Thanks for your help - I was beginning to get concerned!!
The second part of your instructions look clear enough, but I was hoping you could clarify how I set up the Box A to share the printer. Using the web admin tool, I didn't see any of those options available. Can you advise, please?

Thanks

this is a pretty good guide for setting it up. It's for Gentoo so disregard all of the stuff on installing the packages and just focus on the configuration part.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/printing-howto.xml

Let me know if you have any additional questions and I will try to help.

regards,
...drkstr

BobNutfield & Drkstr
Thanks guys for your input here. I have followed up on the link you suggested, Drkstr, and modified the cupsd.conf file to allow 192.168.1.* under the location option as the Gentoo file recommends. I then restarted the CUPS server. On Box B, I re-entered the web admin tool and changed the ipp to ipp://192.168.1.40:631/Epson (where Epson is the name of the printer on Box A). Then when I print a test page on Box A all is fine; on Box B though, 72% of the page is printing apparently, except nothing is coming through the printer.
What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks for your patience


edit: typo

does it give you an error message when you try and print? If so what is it? How are you printing the requested file? I'm not familiar with webadmin, what happens when you try and print regularly?

regards,
...drkstr

I had the same issue (looked like it was printing but wasn't). I was printing from Ubuntu to Slackware (were the local printer was attached.) Try entering the ipp address like this:

ipp://192.168.1.40:631/printers/Epson

The "printers" is a folder containing "Epson" (or another printer if you had one)

This address works for me.

Hope this helps

Bob

Ah yes, I missed that, good call BobNutfield.

...drkstr

Thanks for your continued help guys

The error message on the Box B is "Unable to get printer status (client-error-forbidden!)"
The meaning of this is obvious (I think), i.e. permissions. So, considering that I thought that I restarted the CUPS daemon after I edited the .conf file to allow anything from 192.168.1.* perhaps I should just double-check: how does one start the CUPS daemon??

Cheers

Hi

try starting it with:

#usr/sbin/cupsd start

Are you using the gnome desktop?

Bob

No Xfce. This is what I get when I enter the line you suggested:

cupsd: Unknown argument 'start' - aborting!
Usage: cupsd [-c config-file] [-f] [-F]

All very confusing

in Slackware you need to restart with 'sh /etc/rc.d/rc.cups restart'

Let me know if you are still having problems and I will walk you through the entire configuration I did to get it working on my sys. I don't have the time at the moment but I will be able to later tonight.

regards,
...drkstr

Thanks drkstr - I would appreciate that. I have re-set up the Box B CUPS but now am getting an error message that the destination printer doesn't exist??!!

I'd appreciate your guidance because I am sure it is something small and straight forward that I am overlooking, but can't see for trying ...

Cheers

dOObidOOb, Very sorry, gave you a bum command. Was trying to do it from memory. It looks like drkstr is able to guide you much better than I. I will leave you in his (or her?) capable hands. I will watch this post to see how you are doing.

Hope it goes well.

Bob