# Lexmark E232 [SOLVED]

## peter_poulsen

Hi

I have bought a Lexmark E232, partially because it has Linux support. The drivers that comes with the printer is for RedHat  :Sad: . Have any of you any idea on how to get it working in Gentoo?

PS. I have tried following the CUPS guide, but unfortunately the E232 does not seems to be included in the foomatic package, and I cannot find it on linuxprinting.org either.Last edited by peter_poulsen on Tue May 03, 2005 5:11 am; edited 1 time in total

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## FranZ

I think you should try 

```
emerge rpm2targz
```

 rpm2targz the file and then untar to see the contents of the file, or you can view the contents using mc.

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## Blasted

I have a E232 myself and as I'm fairly new to Gentoo (and Linux in general  :Smile: ) I have some problems setting it up. I made the rpm file into a tar.gz, but I don't know which files go where?

The setup script failed, so I tried copying the driver files manually to /usr/lexprint, and it finished without any errors. CUPS still wont recognize it, so i guess something is still missing.

Anybody that can help?

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## peter_poulsen

I ended up using the "HP LaserJet Series PCL 6" driver. It works fine except I cannot change the toner density.

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## Blasted

Thanks!

I gave up on the Lexmark driver myself, as several people at Linuxprinting.org reported it almost impossible to install and not working with CUPS. It was recommended to give the generic PCL 6 driver a go instead (seeing that the E232 uses PCL emulation as printing language) I guess any standards PCL PPD driver should work?

I had to do some "research" on this, so for anyone else that has a similar printer, I followed loosely the excellent tutorial at Gentoo Printing How-To:

1. made sure my usb printer was installed and detected: dmesg | tail

If not, install the usb modules in the kernel

2. emerge cups and emerge foomatic. Someone also recommended emerge ghostscript.

3. foomatic-configure -s cups -n Lexmark_E232t -c usb:/dev/usb/lp0 -p Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer -d pxlmono -o PageSize=A4

4. killall -HUP cupsd

5. Goto http://localhost:631 and test printer

SUCCESS (yay  :Smile: )

I also used the following resources:

Linuxprinting.org forums 

Foomatic tutorial

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## genterminl

Sorry to change this right after I posted - but my E232 is now working fine, using the "Generic PCL 6/PCL XL Printer Foomatic/pxlmono (recommended)" driver.

I was having lots of problems - but they turn out to be due to a bad parallel port on my motherboard.  I now have it connected USB, and its great.

$199 at Staples with a $100 rebate.

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## Maedhros

Moved from Installing Gentoo.

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## bakreule

 *Quote:*   

> $199 at Staples with a $100 rebate.

 

Have you actually received the rebate yet?

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## genterminl

I just purchased the printer on Saturday, and submitted the rebate request on line  today (Monday).  I'll update this post when I get confirmation or an update on the rebate status.

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## peter_poulsen

I have noted that about 5mm of the bottom the page does not get printed. Does anybody know how to fix this? 

(I don't print a hole lot, which is why I didn't note it until now  :Smile: )

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## augury

 *peter_poulsen wrote:*   

> I have noted that about 5mm of the bottom the page does not get printed. Does anybody know how to fix this? 
> 
> (I don't print a hole lot, which is why I didn't note it until now )

 

ive seen it print both ways, i can't remember exactly how to fix it.  ive been using the ljet4 for some reason but i think i switched it from the hpijs.  if i remember correctly, it was the hpijs that worked the best.  theres three different page size related defaults in the driver, i probably set them all to letter.

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## peter_poulsen

hjips only prints in 300x300  :Sad:  However, when printing a testpage I can see the dimensions of a page:

```

Page Size: 7.77x11.29in

           197.4x286.8mm

Lower-Left: 0.25x.02in

            6.4x5.2mm

Upper-Right: 8.02x11.49in

             203.7x291.9mm

...

```

Is there anyway I can make another driver use those dimensions, because it does not appear to cut the top of the pages?

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## augury

The hpijs i have uses 600dpi.  I know this printer only goes up to 600x600.  maybe just add a line "*DefaultResolution: 600dpi" and remove the others.  Theres also *DefaultQuality: 600GrayscaleK and the associated entry.  It will also allow duplex logic which doesn't do any good.  Sometimes it'll only print one sheet at a time so i make two printers one for envelopes and one for letter tray jobs.

I have a brother-laserprinter hl-5040 that prints at 1200x600 and uses ljet4 but isn't as fast by about 3 to 2.  To refill the toner you have to have a non-exchange program cartridge.  Otherwise theres a chip that counts your printouts and kills the printer after so many.  Its hard to tell if it goes by toner or pages.  The worst printers to deal with are the hp photoidiots.  You've got to have hplip which isnt in portage and hpoj.  To start it you have to start hpoj, hotplug/coldplug usb, connect cups into an hp socket and come up with the right driver.

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## peter_poulsen

OK, now it at least prints in 600dpi, but images looks horrible compared to the ljet4 driver. Is there really no generic way of changing the paper layout? I really like the output when I used the ljet4, it was just the placing of the paper that was annoying.

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## genterminl

The Staples $100 rebate arrived this week.  Not too fast, but within the range they claimed when I origianlly submitted.  

Regarding page size, resolution, and margins - I'm using the PCL 6/PCL XL P.pxlmono with CUPS, and the CUPS test page claimes 8.5 x 11.0in with corners at 0x0 and full page, with 600x600dpi.

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## peter_poulsen

OK, I gave it the following:

 *Quote:*   

>  foomatic-configure -s cups -n lp -c file:/dev/lp0 -p Generic-PCL_6_PCL_XL_Printer -d pxlmono -o PageSize=A4

 

and the CUPS test page claimes 8.26 x 11.7in with corners at 0x0 and full page, with 600x600dpi, which look pretty ok. I think I'm happy with the result and will call this thread for solved.

Thanks alot for all the input and suggestions  :Very Happy: 

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## jsosic

So, can you switch to lower dpi in Linux? Can you read catrigde toner levels and general printer info? Or does that print with testpage... I'm thinking about purchasing e232...

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## peter_poulsen

I can change the dpi and the toner intensity. However I cannot read any info about the printer, besides those on the test page which does not include toner level.

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## Davitelj

Why dont ya ppl use original Lexmark ppd for E232? It is on the driver CD, in the mac driver.

In the PPD file you will wind line 

```
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 /Library/Printers/Lexmark/filter/pstopsprinter1
```

You have to comment it out because it can not be executed on linux... (does anyone have something which can replace it?

PPD and other files needed can be found on www.jakovljevic.net/LexmarkE232.tbz2

Locations where to put directories found in PPD you can find in PPD....

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## rushfan

 *Blasted wrote:*   

> Thanks!
> 
> I gave up on the Lexmark driver myself, as several people at Linuxprinting.org reported it almost impossible to install and not working with CUPS. It was recommended to give the generic PCL 6 driver a go instead (seeing that the E232 uses PCL emulation as printing language) I guess any standards PCL PPD driver should work?
> 
> I had to do some "research" on this, so for anyone else that has a similar printer, I followed loosely the excellent tutorial at Gentoo Printing How-To:
> ...

 

Thanks for that info.  :Wink: 

I just followed your advice and got my E232 to work. I was beginning to think it was hopeless, despite knowing it worked on my old distro so there had to be a way to make it work.

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