[cups] Dell B1160w on Raspberry Pi -- no pstospl filter for ARM? or is there a workaround?

Carl McCabe cwmccabe at gmail.com
Sun Oct 30 12:09:07 PDT 2016


Hello CUPS list,

I am attempting to set up a Raspberry Pi with CUPS to serve as a wireless
print server, connecting it to my Dell B1160w laser printer.  I have been
unsuccessful and I am now trying to confirm whether or not there is a way
to get it working.  I believe that points (5) and (6) below identify the
problem and I'm wondering if the problem is surmountable.

What I have done:

(1) I installed CUPS on the Raspberry Pi, added my user to the lpadmin
group, and updated cupsd.conf to make the cups web interface accessible
over the local network.  The following is what I did through the web
interface:

(2) When I use the web interface to "Administration > Find New Printers" I
do see that my "Dell B1160w Mono Laser Printer (Dell B1160w Mono Laser
Printer)" is recognized.  However, when I "Add This Printer", Dell printers
are not found in the printer "Make" list.

(3) So I download the Linux PPD file directly from Dell, here:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=M4HVD
In the zip file, there are i386, noarch, and x86_64 directories.  Because
the Raspberry Pi is an ARM processor, I decided to try the PPM file found
in the noarch directory (/noarch/at_opt/share/ppd/B1160w.ppd).

(4) I copied the noarch B1160w.ppd file into /usr/share/ppd/cupsfilters/.
--and then, back in the Add Printer web interface, Dell shows up in the
Make field and "Dell B1160w Mono Laser Printer (en)" shows up in the Model
select list.  With that selected, I'm able to add the printer.

...but this is where my problems start and I am hoping for advice.

(5) When I tried to print a test page from the web interface, the Jobs tab
immediately shows that the job is "stopped".  The Administration/Manage
Printers page showed the following as the status for this printer:
"Idle - "File "/usr/lib/cups/filter/pstospl" not available: No such file or
directory""

(6) The Administration/View Error Log page shows the following:
"E [30/Oct/2016:14:27:28 -0400] Dell_B1160w_Mono_Laser_Printer: File
"/usr/lib/cups/filter/pstospl" not available: No such file or directory
E [30/Oct/2016:14:27:28 -0400] [Job 1] Unable to start filter "pstospl" -
Success.
E [30/Oct/2016:14:27:28 -0400] [Job 1] Stopping job because the scheduler
could not execute a filter.
E [30/Oct/2016:14:31:06 -0400] SSL shutdown failed: Error in the push
function.
E [30/Oct/2016:14:32:29 -0400] [Job 1] Stopping unresponsive job."

(7)   It seems that pstospl may be the missing link.  Looking in
/usr/lib/cups/filter/, I do not see a pstospl file.

(8) So I searched through the files downloaded from Dell and find that
pstospl (and pstosplc) are there, but only in the i386 and x86_64
directories, not in the noarch directory.  Is this the problem, that no
pstospl filter exists for ARM processors?

(9) I took a chance on the i386 and x86_64 versions of pstospl  -- here's
what happened with I "Print Test Page" using the i386 version and then the
x86_64 (same outcome with both):
Administration/Manage Printers status for the printer says "Idle - "Sending
data to printer.""
And the status message on the Jobs tab says "stopped *"Filter failed"*"

And this is where I'm stuck.  I've Googled variations of "pstospl,
raspberry pi, dell b1160w, CUPS, arm" without finding information that has
helped me find a solution.

I believe the above information outlines the problem, but I am happy to
supply more detailed error logging information if that would be helpful.  I
am grateful for any tips you may have on how to get this Dell B1160w
printer working on my Raspberry Pi.

Thank you,
Carl

(P.S. in case you're wondering, yes the B1160w is a wireless printer, but
it seems to have another incompatibility with my wireless router, so this
Raspberry Pi / CUPS setup is my work around.)



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