Problems printing to remote (LPR) printer

[GernotHassenpflug]

Helge Blischke wrote:
> Tom Watson wrote:
>
>>> Tom Watson wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Tom Watson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> Tom Watson wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Tom Watson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I have a remote printer attached to my nice router.  It has a
>>>>>>>>>> nice print queue, and I have been able to print to it
>>>>>>>>>> successfully using an older
>>>>>>>>>> version of CPUP (v1.1.x it says on the test page).  The
>>>>>>>>>> printer is a
>>>>>>>>>> Cannon ip1600, and the URI that I use is
>>>>>>>>>> "lpr://router/lpUSB0". I have done a bit of investigation, and
>>>>>>>>>> using TCPDUMP I was able to see that the "good" instance (the
>>>>>>>>>> actual system is a Fedora 8 Linux box) emits about
>>>>>>>>>> 1.9 Mbytes of data to the printer.  The "not working" instance
>>>>>>>>>> (CUPS 1.5 from Fedora 16) emits around 176kbytes, and the
>>>>>>>>>> printer swallows the data in about 1 second or so, with no
>>>>>>>>>> output to the printer.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Something is not right in my neighborhood, as this DOES work
>>>>>>>>>> with an
>>>>>>>>>> earlier instance of CUPS.  The only thing that I think that is
>>>>>>>>>> happening is that somehow the driver doesn't go through the
>>>>>>>>>> Postscript (Ghostscript) interpreter to get the raster data
>>>>>>>>>> for the printer.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Thanks for the assistance.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Can you please supply an error_log (log level debug) for a test
>>>>>>>>> print of both the cups 1.1.x and cups 1.5.0 system?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Helge
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the log file. I saw that your cups 1.5.0 installation uses
>>>>> gutenprint 5.2.7 for this printer. The ip1600 is supported for the
>>>>> first time in this version but still marked as "EXPERIMENTAL" which
>>>>> means essentially untested.

The iP1600 and several other devices have been removed from the latest 
gutenprint (5.2.8 pre-release is available) since it turns out the 
format cannot currently be supported in gutenprint.

Regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug
gutenprint Canon backend maintainer (and error generator, as it turns out!)

>>>>> Yout working configuration uses a canon proprietary filter named
>>>>> pstocanonij.
>>>>>
>>>>> Before digging deeper into the gutenprint issue, I'd suggest to
>>>>> re-install the pstocanonij filter. I found installable packages for
>>>>> this printer (ip1600) at
>>>>> http://software.canon-europe.com .
>>>>>
>>>>> As I do not know which system you are on, I cannot give more detailed
>>>>> information.
>>>>>
>>>>> Helge
>>>>>
>>>> I did a lookup both on canon-europe and usa.canon and there was no
>>>> Linux
>>>> driver listed (maybe I missed it?).  On the cups 1.3.9 system, I use
>>>> the
>>>> iP2200 driver on that system, and it uses gutenprint 5.0.2.  The F16
>>>> system uses cups 1.5.0 and Gutenprint 5.2.7
>>>>
>>>> I located a version of 'pstocanonij' on the CUPS 1.3.9 system, but I am
>>>> a bit puzzled where the printer database (given a printer, what filters
>>>> to
>>>> work, and which '.ppd' file to use).  It IS out there somewhere, and I
>>>> really do want to use 'pstocanonij' but my question is how do I make it
>>>> link up.  Maybe you can give me a clue.
>>>>
>>>> Of course, a URL for canon's latest 'pstocanonij' might help as well,
>>>> providing it works on Linux.
>>>>
>>>> I suspect that once I understand just how it connects together, I'll
>>>> make it work out (one way or another!).
>>>>
>>>> Again, thanks for the help.
>>>
>>> If both of your systems are Linux systems provided by the same
>>> distributor, you may have a chance that the pstocanonij filter from the
>>> "old" system runs an the "new" s<ystem as well. You need to transfer the
>>> filter executable, the PPD from the old system, and, on the new system,
>>> execute ldd pstocanonij
>>> to see if any libraries are missing. At best you can solve missing
>>> libraries by setting up symbolic links.
>>> Just try.
>>>
>>> Helge
>>>
>>> PS: when googling for pstocanonij I found some hints pointing to
>>> canon-asia.com for source code, but wothout details.
>>>
>> I've got the pstocanonij moved over, and it seems that all the libraries
>> are there.  That's the good news.  My big question, is how do I get CUPS
>> to use the program with my printer.  Somewhere there is a descriptor that
>> tells which filter to use.  I'm sure it is there somewhere, I'm just a a
>> loss as to where it is specified.  I've looked at the documentation, but
>> it isn't clear to me what files I need to modify.  I don't believe that if
>> I put the file in '/usr/lib/cups/filter' it will magically use this nice
>> file, and it looks from my attempts at re-establishing the printer
>> description, that this is the case.
>>
>> So, what is the next step?
>>
>> Thanks again for the help so far.
>
> First, put the pstocanonij into /usr/lib/cps/filter and make sure it gets
> the same permissions as the other filters in this directory.
> Second, edit the printer's PPD ( /etc/cus/ppd/printername.ppd, where
> printername is the name of the cups queue associated with the printer) and
> insert the line
>
> *cupsFilter: "applocation/vnd.cups-postscript 0 pstocanonij"
>
> near the beginning of the PPD, say, just before the first *OpenUI line.
> Third, restart cups.
>
> Helge
>
>