[cups.general] Can not get proper output on Lexmark 2491

Chad Wilson anon at anon.org
Tue May 11 10:33:34 PDT 2004


Anonymous wrote:
> Chad Wilson wrote:
>
> > >
> > My understanding thus far of Linux printing is so:
> > Everything is first converted to PostScript from its On-Screen format via a pre-filter to MIME-type application/postscript.
> > If you have a PS printer, then life is easy and you just convert to the MIME-type application/vnd.cups.postscript and backend it to the printers PS Interpreter/RIP.
> > If you dont have a PS printer, then it has to use GhostScript as the RIP and possibly a combination of other filters to get the appropriate raster format.
> > I am still a bit confused on what other phases are involved to get it converted to the proper PDL and where cupsomatic/foomatic fit in.
> > I know that the impact printers we have support "Espon emulation" and IBM's PPDS. What is the series of conversions that I must pass to get a file to print properly? Obviously I need proper MIME type handlers but beyond that I am lost. There are no PPD's for this printer, nor is it listed anywhere as being directly supported by foomatic, cups-raster, or ghostscript. Going on the hunch that "Espson Emulation" might lead to a solution, I am trying the Espon/Omni 24 pin 136 column driver. Thanks for the input.
> >
> > Chad
> >
> Most needle printers work with IBM Proprinter or EPSON emulation.
> There are 9- and 24pin printers. Choose a similar EPSON model.
>
> Install Foomatic then you will have the choice of all printers.

Thanks for the response, but I must admit that I still have no clue what to do. I do not understand this reference to  "Epson Emulation".
The printer is a Lexmark 2491, 24pin impact printer. Is "Epson Emulation" the PDL? If so, then I need to have cups-raster perform raster-to-epson? As mentioned, I tried using the Epson 24 pin generic driver. I am not sure if this is a PPD or a foomatic filter or what. All I know is that it is listed as a printer type along with postscript, raw, and text. When I use this driver, the output of the printer is garbage - characters beyond normal ASCII printing(128+).

This printer works using LPRng with the following entry:
tq2|unix2:\
        :ab:\
        :ml=0:\
        :mx=0:\
        :sd=/var/spool/lpd/tq2:\
        :af=/var/spool/lpd/tq2/tq2.acct:\
        :rm=netq0.xx.xx.xxx:\
        :rp=tq2:\
        :lpd_bounce=true:\
        :if=/usr/share/printconf/util/mf_wrapper:

I can not figure out what magic filter does other than prepare the options for Ghostscript.

There has to be a way to get this printer to work using CUPS since CUPS still uses GhostScript. Isn't there some way I can get magic filter to work with CUPS?

Aparantely there are NO PostScript forms printers in production so I am left with no options other than to continue to trouble shoot this one.

Chad




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