Printing doesn't work properly wit Cups in Debian Sarge

[Andreas Janssen]

Hello

I have some very strange problems with my printer (Canon BJC 240,
parallel port) and Cups in Debian Sarge. Actually printing hardly works
at all. Here is an overview:

Printing in Windows XP works without any problems.

Copying text to /dev/lp0 works.

printing text files with lpr -o drucker and lp -d drucker works. However
after finishing the printing the job is not marked as finished. If I
restart Cups with /etc/init.d/cups restart, the page is printed again.
The canon process just keeps on running, even after finishing printing:

canon:/dev/lp0 2 andreas tmp.txt 1 drucker

Here are some lines from my /var/log/cups/error_log:

Job 2 queued on 'drucker' by 'andreas'.
Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttops (PID 18686) for job 2.
Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops (PID 18687) for job 2.
Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstoraster (PID 18688) for job 2.
Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/rastertoprinter (PID 18690) for job
Started backend /usr/lib/cups/backend/canon (PID 18691) for job 2.

That's all. As long as the canon process keeps on running, I cannot
print any other documents. The jobs are accepted, but never executed.
After ending the process with kill, deleting the job and restarting the
printer inside of cups using the web interface, it works again.

If I use the cups pdf printer instead, the job is executed and finished
properly:

Job 5 queued on 'cups-pdf' by 'andreas'.
Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttops (PID 18988) for job 5.
Started filter /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstops (PID 18989) for job 5.
Started backend /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf (PID 18990) for job 5.

Here, no process remains.

So much for printing pure text. It gets even worse if I try to print the
test page. The printer is switched on, pulls in the paper, but the
printing doesn't start. Just like above, the job is marked as being
processed. Several processes are running, but nothing happens:

/bin/sh /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstoraster 16 root Test Page 1
drucker 16 root Test Page 1
canon:/dev/lp0 16 root Test Page 1
/usr/bin/gs-esp -dQUIET -dDEBUG -dPARANOIDSAFER -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH \
-dNOMEDIAATTRS -sDEVICE=cups -sstdout=%stderr -sOUTPUTFILE=%stdout -c -

Now I can press the "resume" button on the printer, and a black line is 
printed. If I kill the processes, delete the job, restart the printer
in Cups and switch it off and back on, it is ready again. All of the
problems remain, however. I can't find anything in the error log
different from the example above.

Installed packages: cupsys, cupsys-bsd, cupsys-client,
cupsys-driver-gimpprint, cupsys-driver-gimpprint-data

I use the gimpprint drivers, but attempts with foomatic-ppd didn't work
as well. I already tried to raise the log level, but in the vast amount
of information being logged I couldn't find anything helpful.

cupsys:
  Installed: 1.1.20final+rc1-7
cupsys-bsd:
  Installed: 1.1.20final+rc1-7
cupsys-client:
  Installed: 1.1.20final+rc1-7
cupsys-driver-gimpprint:
  Installed: 4.2.7-3
cupsys-driver-gimpprint-data:
  Installed: 4.2.7-3
libcupsys2-gnutls10:
  Installed: 1.1.20final+rc1-7
gs-esp:
  Installed: 7.07.1-9

best regards
 Andreas Janssen

-- 
Andreas Janssen <andreas.janssen at bigfoot.com>
PGP-Key-ID: 0xDC801674 ICQ #17079270
Registered Linux User #267976
http://www.andreas-janssen.de/debian-tipps.html