[cups] Epson R200 Ink Levels

[Ian Prideaux]

Hi All,

This is getting rather fragmented, so I'm going to try cross posting to 
all three lists, my apologies if you get multiple copies.

When my Xubuntu 14.04 (cups 1.7.2-0, libinklevel 0.8.0-1.1, escputil 5.2.10)

When I boot, I can print.
I can run system-config-printer, and it works, but I can't see the ink 
levels, and I can't run the self-test page or the head cleaning. It says 
that it submits the job, but nothing happens. Module usblp is not 
loaded, /dev/usb/lp1 doesn't exist, and escputil and ink don't work.

If I modprobe usblp, it loads, /dev/usb/lp1 appears and ink/escputil work.

After I send a normal print job, usblp is still loaded, but /dev/usb/lp1 
has gone and the ink/escputil commands don't work.

If I "modprobe -r usblp; modprobe usblp", the /dev device comes back and 
the commands work again.

If I unplug and reconnect the printer's usb cable, usblp loads and the 
device comes back.

OK, so it's not a big deal to write a little wrapper:
sudo modprobe -r usblp && \
sudo modprobe usblp && \
ink -p usb -d /dev/usb/lp1
and I've written a little perlTk thing to do so.


On 01/07/14 21:24, Markus Heinz [Libinklevel-Tester] wrote:
 > The problem is not with usblp it is with CUPS. CUPS purposefully removes
 > the printer device node when a print job is submitted and does not
 > restore it afterwards.
 >


On 02/07/14 00:38, James Cloos [Gimp-print-devel] wrote:
 > Cups used to use that, but changed to use libusb, instead, to convert
 > to/from the usb encapsulation.  Doing so allows the cups backend better
 > bidirectional communication with the printers.  Which means more
 > features work.
 >
 > If the ink command still requires the usblp module, it SHOULD be ported
 > to work with libusb.  Distributions now tend not to compile the module
 > since cups no longer requires it to print, and having it loaded can
 > interfere with cups.
 >