printer ??

[linuxmetal]

having problems getting my HP 520 deskjet working in slackware.
i installed the lpr package , apsfilters and ghostscript... i compiled ghostscript and apsfilters and they are working fine....
when i do SETUP in apsfilter and chose (6) hpdj and chose my printer i get the following error

Error : your gs version doesnt have driver "hpdj" compiled in.

How do i get this work any ideas running slackware-current

[linuxmetal]

anyone have ideas i still cant get it to work ?? i have read the HOW-TO documents and the http://www.linuxprinting.org/database.html and it just simply doesnt work....???

[st0rmrd]

can't help much but suggest not using lpr which is pretty much outdated, but cups... in general it works better and it's better customizable...

if using cups is not an option, try downloading the source code and compiling it. the readme file should tell you how to select the appropriate driver...

as for cups, try installing it with an rpm package if it's available (my distro, suse 7.3) had both options and my hp 920c worked correctly only with cups...

just a thought...

[linuxmetal]

lpr is outdated ?? it still currently used by slackware-current ..lp is outdated...and that doesnt help because it ha nothing do to do with the spooler...the problem is the driver ....apsfilter

[linuxmetal]

thanks st0rmrd

ill try cups :) is cups a filter program ?? like apsfilter ?

[TonyH]

Linuxmetal I have a lexmark Z55 USB printer and lpr was the only thing that would make it work, using the Lex-supplied linux driver. Dont know if yours is USB or not or if this helps. PRinter driver for mine had a dependency on a certain version of ghostscript and enscript, might see if theres any requirement like that for ur driver. Tony (slackware 8.1)

[linuxmetal]

cant get my HP 520 working...the problem is this...when i do setup for apsfilter and select my printer its not listed...but is as hpijfs says its not compiled into gs ?? and if i chose HP printers its not listedd ? i have to clue how to get my printer driver

[linuxmetal]

what steps did u take to get yours working...my kernel finds my parreel printer under lp0

[TonyH]

Forgot to say: Had to use the LPR printing system=cups wouldnt work.
All I did was d/l the driver ineeded from lexmark, very easy-self
installing driver prog, switched the priintsystem to lprNG
and rebooted it, works great. Dont know if HP will be that
easy or not. Also metal: pm me I wanna find out how
and where to get that slckware update u talked about running. TOny

[linuxmetal]

got printer test page to print in apsfilter but not by lpr , or lp ? any ideas what command line do u type to print

[linuxmetal]

new problem now..if i do lpr /etc/fstab it prints the first line and then the printer stops ?? for every file i try to print ??

[TonyH]

gotten over my head now metal. I think slackware has something missing inthe printing dept, this 8.1 vers im using doesnt have Cups print system in it, and cups will run more than half the printers i think. Sorry I cant be any help. tony

[linuxmetal]

slackware isnt missing anything...the dont use cups....just as they dont grub bootloader...thats what makes open source so beatiful..he he.

is cups a filtering program ?? like aspfilter right ? to setup your printer ?

[TonyH]

Yes cups is Common Unix Printing System, I thought every distro included it lol. I was tryin to put slckware on a 166 Pentium yest an old compaq deskpro, and when I was settng up printer it kept telling me File-missing, libcups.so.2 or sometihng. Thats why I thought ihad missing files. Yes cups will run a lot of printers, Im sure u can d/l it for slackware, may try it myself. Good luck on the printer. Tony

[linuxmetal]

well im learning...this is one topic ill learn fast...i started reading about printers in my freeBSD book it explains it way better...im a command line guru....i dont run x on my server....no need to

i just have to know how to pass apsfilter to /etc/printcap ? and ill be all set ....because i can print gs files correctly doing a test page in apsfilter....but cant print text files like /etc/fstab ? it dones one cariage line and stops

[linuxmetal]

TonyH : figured out all my printer problems..its not to hard now that i understand what went wrong first of all apsfilter installs it to the wrong place so if u type /usr/share/apsfilter/bin/apsfilter it will as for the basedir which is /etc/apsfilter so to fix this i made a symb link to /usr/share

and then reran the apsfilter program and setup my setings and boom

if i do
lpr /etc/fstab it now prints correctly....

[linuxmetal]

the only problem is i dont know where to make it so if comment # are in text files it highlightes it

[linuxmetal]

i see...if its script it prints that way..LOL

[TonyH]

Command line guru im not! APSfilter-no clue, though i found a howto in slackware for it, havent read it yet. I think linux printing needs to be a separate course, from the OS education. Gets too complicated. Good luck with it too Tony