# [Howto] HPLIP & CUPS

## Stephonovich

This document is the result of countless frustrating hours spent dealing with CUPS, hplip, seemingly inconsequential dependencies, and forum posts.  Many thanks go out to the Gentoo community for their support, as well as the Gentoo Wiki Team.

First, I have a PSC 2610, connected via Ethernet.  As such, I'm using hplip, due to it's built-in support for the scanner and card-reader, among other things.  It also allows you to monitor ink levels, which is quite useful.  If your only concern is printing, use hpijs.  It has no dependencies to speak of (other than cups and foomatic, which should be obvious for printing) Of note, hplip/hijs is the successor to hpoj.  NOT another component, as some people seem to think.  If you are still using hpoj, I strongly suggest upgrading.  If not, this Wiki entry should be of benefit.

I'm using hplip-0.9.4, cups-1.1.23-r1, python-2.3.5, perl-5.8.6-r5, qt-3.3.4-r3, gtk+-1.2.10-r11/2.8.0-r2, foomatic-3.0.2, sip-4.1.1, PyQt-3.13, net-snmp-5.2.1.2, sane-backends-1.0.15, sane-frontends-1.0.13, and libusb-0.1.10a.  System is/was (highly modified now) Jackass! Athlon-XP, running baselayout-1.11.13, gcc-3.4.4, glibc-2.3.5-r1, and binutils-2.15.92.0.2-r10.  Special USE flags are noted where relevant.  

-------------------

TOC

1. Required Components

2. Optional Components

3. Installation

 a. USE Flags

4. SNMP

5. Configuration

6. Troubleshooting

 a. Basic Steps

 b. Network

 c. USB

7. Scanning/Photo Cards

8. HP Toolbox

9. Conclusion

-------------------

Required Components

app-text/ghostscript

dev-lang/perl      	    # Hopefully, you have this already;-)

dev-lang/python    	    # Again, you should have this

dev-libs/libusb    	    # I believe this is only necessary if you're using a USB connection, but I could be wrong.

usblp kernel module      # Thanks to forum member bfdi533 for pointing this out.  Again, necessary for USB.  

dev-python/PyQt    	    # Note the capitalization

dev-python/sip

media-gfx/sane-backends

net-analyzer/net-snmp

net-print/cups

net-print/hplip              # Note that hplip, as of 0.9.4, is still masked.

net-print/foomatic

-------------------

Optional Components

media-gfx/gimp-print        # The GIMP can use it's own special printer drivers, which produce better quality prints.  

media-gfx/sane-frontends # Some OCR programs require this, so I'm including it now.

net-print/foomatic-filters  # A massive database of PPD files for pretty much every printer in use today.

-------------------

Installation

A few USE flags you may or may not want to enable are gphoto2 and usb for sane-backends, lm_sensors for net-snmp, and qt and usb for hplip.  

Presumably, a mere 'emerge hplip' would pick everything up you need.  On my machine, that failed to grab net-snmp, PyQt, and sane-backends, all of which are necessary for various functionality.  You can just run an 'emerge -pv hplip' first and see what it picks up.  If not, manually emerging each package (perhaps with some USE flags) works fine.  Of note, I've added in the ppds USE flag to hplip, as per der bastler's post.  I didn't have a problem without it, but perhaps I just got lucky.  In any case, it can't hurt.  Optionally, you could add it to your /etc/make.conf or /etc/portage/package.use.

```

emerge ghostscript PyQt sip foomatic gimp-print foomatic-filters libusb && USE="lm_sensors" emerge net-snmp && USE="gphoto2" emerge sane-backends && USE="ppds qt" && emerge hplip

```

Now that all everything's emerged, let's get on with it...

USE Flags

OK, so one more thing.  It's a good idea to put these flags into your packge.use.  Why?  As was helpfully pointed out by slycordinator, if you don't, they won't be utilized when you upgrade or re-emerge.  If you don't mind how they're sorted, something like this works:

```
echo "packageCategory/packageName" >> /etc/portage/package.use
```

If you do mind, just open up package.use with your favorite (VI, naturally) editor and place them in whatever order you wish.  Alphabetical makes sense.

-------------------

SNMP

First, a word about SNMP.  I have no experience with it whatsoever.  It is a great mystery to me how or why it works in the first place.  The default file /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf is below, with all comments and un-necessary options removed.  I'm not even sure if this is necessary, though, as the snmpd service doesn't seem to be necessary for printing.  Regardless, here you go.  

As of hplip 0.9.4, this doesn't seem to be a problem.  Apparently there was a mixup in the ebuild.  Net-SNMP never was, and is not a dependency.  net-snmp, however, is.

Portage claims dev-perl/Net-SNMP is required for hplip.  However, due to a typo on my part, I mistakenly emerged net-analyzer/net-snmp instead.  When I later was looking through dependencies, I emerged Net-SNMP, and unmerged net-snmp.  Hmm... no printing.  Interesting.  Emerged net-snmp (note, if you plan on doing this, I suggest making a package, as it takes a fair bit to compile), and it worked again.  Stranger and stranger.  Unmerged the supposedly necessary Net-SNMP, and still works.  I've since then given up understanding in return for a working printer

```

com2sec notConfigUser  default       public

group   notConfigGroup v1           notConfigUser

group   notConfigGroup v2c           notConfigUser

view    systemview    included   .1.3.6.1.2.1.1

view    systemview    included   .1.3.6.1.2.1.25.1.1

access  notConfigGroup ""      any       noauth    exact  systemview none none

```

Also of note, if you compiled in support for lm_sensors, you'll need to do a few more things.  First, if you're running a 2.6 series kernel, you'll need to compile in I2C support, found in Device Drivers --> I2C Support.  lspci can come in handy here for determining what modules to include.  Also useful, /usr/bin/sensors-detect.  This nifty little program will scan your various buses and determine what modules it needs, and if you want, even modify the configuration files for you.

-------------------

Configuration

```

cd /usr/share/hplip     # Default install directory

./check                 # Checks for all required components, and proper versions.  Should return OK on all.

./probe -busb

[b]OR[/b]

./probe -bnet           # Probes either the USB or Network for attached devices.  If you're lucky, it'll be picked up.  I wasn't.

```

Assuming the probe went fine, fire up your browser of choice, and navigate to http://localhost:631  You should be greeted with the CUPS main page.  

Change to Manage Printers, and then click 'Add Printer'.  Login as root, with your root password.  In the next page, you need at least a name.  The name must be <= 127 characters, and contain no spaces.  I suggest your model number, i.e. PSC2610.  The other fields are optional, but can be handy if you have multiple printers.

In the 'Device' field, bounce down to hp:/net/modelNumber?ip=nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn OR hp:/usb/modelNumber?serial=xxx... (depending on whether it's connected via Ethernet or USB) If it's not there (although if that's the case, that means the probe command failed, so why are you reading this section?), don't despair; we'll fix that in a bit.  If it is, though, choose it, and go on.

In the 'Make' field, choose your manufacturer; presumably HP, if you're reading this.  Pretty straight forward.  Onward.

In the 'Model' field, pick your driver.  Note that many times, there are more than one that will work.  In my case, I had to download the correct .ppd file from HP's site, which was then placed in /usr/share/cups/model.  Anyway, hopefully you have one that reads something like '$MAKE $MODEL Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)'.  Also of note, if you chose not to emerge foomatic-filters you may not have much of anything.  If this is the case, you can alternatively download the PPD file directly from the manufacturer's site, or LinuxPrinting.org.

That's it!  Print a test page, and check that everything's correct; particularly the margins.  If something's amiss, skip down to the HP Toolbox section.

-------------------

Troubleshooting

So, probe failed, did it?  Join the club.  Seriously; join it.  Tons of help available there.  But on with the show.

Basic Steps

Let's check the obvious first.  Is it plugged in and powered up?  Are your cables good?  Are the required services started/being loaded by default?

```

rc-update show default     # Check for cupsd and hplip; they should have 'default' to the right.  If it's not, make it so with the bash script below.

for i in cupsd hplip ; do rc-update add $i default ; done

/etc/init.d/cupsd restart    # Start/restart cups - often times restarting a service fixes problems.

/etc/init.d/hplip restart    # Ditto for hplip

```

Network

```

ping nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn          # Where nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn is the IP address you've assigned to your printer.  If you can ping it, there's one less thing to worry about.

cd /usr/share/hplip

./makeuri nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn 

```

Now navigate back to Manage Printers and select 'Add Printer', only this time, choose 'AppSocket/HP Jet Direct' as the Device.  In the 'Device URI' field, type in (or better yet, paste, as it's long) the URI ./makeuri returned.  Continue as normal.  

If makeuri fails (which does happen occasionally), you can look at /usr/share/hplip/data/xml/models.xml for your model number, and use that for the URI.

```

cd /usr/share/hplip/data/xml

sed '/model.*$MODEL/!d' models.xml   # Where $MODEL is your model name.  Use only the model number; and round down.  2610 becomes 2600, and so on.  Retain the 'model' bit as-is, though.

```

The only part you want is in the <model name="x"> field.  For me, it's 'Photosmart_2600_series'.  Armed with this, return to Manage Printers, and select 'Add Printer' as above.  Follow the same steps, selecting 'AppSocket/HP Jet Direct' as the Device.  Only now, in the 'Device URI' field, type in the following:

```

hp:/net/$SED_OUTPUT?ip=nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn     # For me, this looks like hp:/net/Photosmart_2600_series?ip=192.168.1.5

```

USB

I don't have a USB printer.  As such, the only help I can offer you is some basic advice.  First, did you compile in support for USB/USB Printers in your kernel?  What does the command lsusb return, if anything?  Did you compile hplip with the usb USE flag?  Is your kernel compiled with the usblp module, and have you loaded it?  

-------------------

Scanning/Photo Cards

If you have an All-In-One, you'll likely also want to enable the scanner and card reader.  If you managed to get the printer working, and emerged sane-backends, that should be all that's necessary.  I didn't have to do any extra configuration.  Fire up xsane, or your scanning program of choice, and try it out.  For the card reader, you can use the photo utility in the /usr/share/hplip directory.  Alternatively, (and much easier) use the HP Toolbox, as described below.

-------------------

HP Toolbox

If you have the printer working correctly, the only other thing that may hamper you is dev-python/PyQt.  I forgot to emerge this, and had quite a time dealing with it.  Once installed, you can do most anything.  

From the Functions tab, there are options for 'Print', 'Scan', and 'Access Photo Cards'.  This last one is very useful.  It presents you with a GUI that allows downloading and uploading from any inserted media cards, rather than using the confusing CLI interface.  

From the Status tab, you can check recent jobs the printer completed, it's current status, and any error messages.

From the Settings tab, you can set special options, if your printer supports them.  This is also where fax options can be set, once hplip has support for it.

From the Print Jobs tab, you can check on any current or previous print jobs.

From the Supplies tab, you can check on ink levels, and the type of installed cartridges.

From the Maintenance tab, you can clean the nozzles, align the print heads, or calibrate the color output.

From the Panel tab, it appears you can view the information contained on the front LCD panel.  It doesn't appear to be functional yet, but this could prove very promising.

From the Information tab, you can view information about your printer and it's connection, as well as print a test page, and open up the CUPS web interface.

-------------------

Conclusion

hplip is a very powerful and sometimes difficult piece of software.  Once configured correctly, it's just as usable as the Windows bundle.

Main things to watch out for are installed packages and USE flags.  Those bit me more times than I can count.  Double and triple-check that everything's been installed to spec, and you should have no problems.Last edited by Stephonovich on Fri Dec 23, 2005 5:50 am; edited 12 times in total

----------

## HackingM2

Thanks Stephonovich, that just saved me no end of time.   :Smile: 

----------

## der bastler

Just let me thank you for your small summary. Another proof that the Gentoo community represents a valuable source of informations.  :Smile: 

As an owner of a brand-new HP PhotoSmart 2610 I have to add some small corrections:

Very important: add ppds to your use flags in make.conf before emerging foomatic and hplip, it's important to get a ppd file tailored by hplip for your printer! See: http://www.gentoo.org/dyn/use-index.xml

 *Quote:*   

> ppds 	Adds support for automatically generated ppd (printing driver) files

 

Second: To get a clean installation, remove cups and foomatic and re-install both by emerging foomatic (this will make sure the ppds use flag is used).

Third: after the successful installation of HPLIP, start the neccessary services:

```
# /etc/init.d/cupsd start

# /etc/init.d/hplip start

# /etc/init.d/snmpd start
```

Without hplip and snmpd the probe script will not work...

Finally, in the CUPS web frontend, follow the installation instructions on hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/install.php (procedure for my HP):

1.) Set a name/location/description; >Continue<

2.) Select AppSocket/HP JetDirect as Device; >Continue<

3.) Enter the URI ./probe returned; >Continue<

4.) Select HP as your manufacturer; >Continue<

5.) Select HP PhotoSmart 2600 Foomatic/hpijs (something like this); >Continue<

Well, that's it. Print a test page to see if it is working.

Again: use flag ppds is a must! In my CUPS config procedure I could not do step 5 because there were no foomatic models available! I re-emerged the whole software only to find out that the small "ppds" makes a big difference...

----------

## der bastler

Oh, just forgot: If one wants to use a built-in scanner (remember, got a PhotoSmart 2610) one has to set the "scanner" use flag.

Compiling hplip, third time...  :Rolling Eyes: 

----------

## kenyon

Thanks for the writeup.

Some comments:

You don't need dev-perl/Net-SNMP, that must have been in an older ebuild accidentally, because I don't see it in the current ebuilds.Some of us are having problems with the /etc/init.d/hplip script; see Bug 97033 Comment 4.

----------

## der bastler

My PhotoSmart 2610 is working fine with my desktop pc. I can scan, print, access a flashcard...

Now for the big "But"... On my notebook I cannot emerge foomatic-filters:

```
>>> emerge (3 of 16) net-print/foomatic-filters-3.0.2 to /

>>> Downloading ftp://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/gentoo-mirror/distfiles/foomatic-filters-3.0.2.tar.gz

--11:23:08--  ftp://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/gentoo-mirror/distfiles/foomatic-filters-3.0.2.tar.gz

           => `/usr/portage/distfiles/foomatic-filters-3.0.2.tar.gz'

Auflösen des Hostnamen »linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de«.... fertig.

Verbindungsaufbau zu linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de[134.147.32.57]:21... verbunden.Anmelden als anonymous ... Angemeldet!

==> SYST ... fertig.    ==> PWD ... fertig.

==> TYPE I ... fertig.  ==> CWD /gentoo-mirror/distfiles ... fertig.

==> PASV ... fertig.    ==> RETR foomatic-filters-3.0.2.tar.gz ... fertig.

Länge: 125,875 (unmaßgeblich)

100%[====================================>] 125,875      222.69K/s    ETA 00:00

11:23:12 (222.69 KB/s) - »/usr/portage/distfiles/foomatic-filters-3.0.2.tar.gz« gespeichert [125875]

>>> md5 files   ;-) foomatic-filters-3.0.2.ebuild

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-foomatic-filters-3.0.2

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/foomatic-filters-3.0.2-multilib.patch

>>> md5 src_uri ;-) foomatic-filters-3.0.2.tar.gz

>>> Unpacking source...

>>> Unpacking foomatic-filters-3.0.2.tar.gz to /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/work

 * Applying foomatic-filters-3.0.2-multilib.patch ...                     [ ok ]

>>> Source unpacked.

./configure --prefix=/usr --host=i686-pc-linux-gnu --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var/lib --build=i686-pc-linux-gnu

creating cache ./config.cache

checking for a BSD compatible install... /bin/install -c

checking whether ln -s works... yes

checking whether make sets ${MAKE}... yes

checking for perl... /usr/bin/perl

checking for printcap/... /etc/printcap

checking for cups/... /usr/lib/cups

checking for cups/filter/... /usr/lib/cups/filter

checking for ppr/... ${exec_prefix}/lib/ppr

checking for ppr/interfaces/... ${exec_prefix}/lib/ppr/interfaces

checking for ppr/lib/... ${exec_prefix}/lib/ppr/lib

checking for a2ps... /usr/bin/a2ps

checking for enscript... /usr/bin/enscript

checking for mpage... /usr/bin/mpage

checking for texttops... /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttops

updating cache ./config.cache

creating ./config.status

creating Makefile

creating makeMan

creating foomatic-gswrapper

creating foomatic-rip

Finished configuring.

Type 'make' to build the package

then 'make install' to install it.

chmod a+rx ./makeMan

if [ "" = "--inplace" ]; then \

  FOOMATIC_RIP=`pwd`/foomatic-rip; \

  FOO_ETC=`pwd`/etc/foomatic; \

  PRINTCAP=/etc/printcap; \

else \

  FOOMATIC_RIP=/usr/bin/foomatic-rip; \

  FOO_ETC=/etc/foomatic; \

  PRINTCAP=/etc/printcap; \

fi; \

export FOOMATIC_RIP FOO_ETC PRINTCAP; \

./makeMan ./*[0-9].in

file: Couldn't find any magic files!

file: Couldn't find any magic files!

file: Couldn't find any magic files!

file: Couldn't find any magic files!

chmod a+rx foomatic-rip foomatic-gswrapper

>>> Test phase [not enabled]: net-print/foomatic-filters-3.0.2

>>> Install foomatic-filters-3.0.2 into /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image/ category net-print

./mkinstalldirs /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image//usr/bin

mkdir /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image/usr

mkdir /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image/usr/bin

/bin/install -c -m 755 foomatic-gswrapper foomatic-rip /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image//usr/bin

./mkinstalldirs /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image//usr/share/man

mkdir /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image/usr/share

mkdir /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image/usr/share/man

./mkinstalldirs /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image//usr/share/man/man1

mkdir /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image/usr/share/man/man1

/bin/install -c -m 644 *.1 /var/tmp/portage/foomatic-filters-3.0.2/image//usr/share/man/man1

/bin/install: Aufruf von stat für ,,*.1" nicht möglich: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden

make: *** [install-man] Fehler 1

!!! ERROR: net-print/foomatic-filters-3.0.2 failed.

!!! Function src_install, Line 35, Exitcode 2

!!! make install failed

!!! If you need support, post the topmost build error, NOT this status message.
```

Any ideas?

----------

## der bastler

Nevermind, after updating every tool (file, perl, ...) used by foomatic-filters and deleting its remains from previous builds (in /var/tmp/portage) everything compiled.

----------

## Stephonovich

 *HackingM2 wrote:*   

> Thanks Stephonovich, that just saved me no end of time.

 

You're very welcome.  It just took me so long to get this working I figured I might as well writeup a HOWTO for it.  If nothing else, for my future reference.

 *der bastler wrote:*   

> Very important: add ppds to your use flags in make.conf before emerging foomatic and hplip, it's important to get a ppd file tailored by hplip for your printer!

 

First, 'Der Bastler'... that translates roughly to 'The Do-It-Yourselfer', right?  I know a bit of German; but I had to go look that one up.  Anyway...

So you're saying if I were to compile with that USE flag, emerge would grab the necessary .ppd file for my printer?  Or am I missing something?  I just got it manually from HP's site and put it in /etc/cups/ppd, and it was picked up just fine.  

 *Quote:*   

> Without hplip and snmpd the probe script will not work...

 

Also, without favorable moon conditions, the probe script will not work... :Very Happy:  Hence my grief and large section dedicated to troubleshooting that aspect.  Even now, it doesn't always work for me.

 *kenyon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> * You don't need dev-perl/Net-SNMP, that must have been in an older ebuild accidentally, because I don't see it in the current ebuilds.
> 
> * Some of us are having problems with the /etc/init.d/hplip script; see Bug 97033 Comment 4.

 

I upgraded to hplip 0.9.4 awhile ago, and you're right, it didn't try to grab it.  I'll update the HOWTO to reflect this.

As to the bug, man, I'm stumped.  I assume HP is aware of the situation and will remedy it in 0.9.5.  I didn't have any problems when I upgraded, but then, that's how bugs go.

der bastler, glad you got your problem solved.  Upgrading (or downgrading!) can often solve problems.  Or introduce more.  I recently started using the Break My Gentoo repository, with no ill effects yet.  Only minor packages so far, though.  I did get a CVS version of GIMP which I'm quite fond of...

----------

## der bastler

 *Stephonovich wrote:*   

> First, 'Der Bastler'... that translates roughly to 'The Do-It-Yourselfer', right?  I know a bit of German; but I had to go look that one up.  Anyway...

 

A "Bastler" is someone who does "basteln", i.e. creates makeshift-constructions-which-work. In elementary school the students basteln, too, but it is a matter of paper+glue. 

"der bastler" originates from my Operation Flashpoint mission/addon creation activities years ago. Recently german trolls adopted this nickname for Linux users because they wanted to emphasize the inferiority of Linux (not finished, not professional, one has to compile the kernel twice a day, blablabla...).

The trolls killed my nickname! You bastards!  :Twisted Evil: 

 *Quote:*   

> So you're saying if I were to compile with that USE flag, emerge would grab the necessary .ppd file for my printer?  Or am I missing something?  I just got it manually from HP's site and put it in /etc/cups/ppd, and it was picked up just fine.

 

Well, the ppds flag lets foomatic create a set of ppds which can be found in /usr/share/cups/model/foomatic-ppds. According to the flag description ppds "Adds support for automatically generated ppd (printing driver) files" [1].

 *Quote:*   

>  *Quote:*   Without hplip and snmpd the probe script will not work... 
> 
> Also, without favorable moon conditions, the probe script will not work... Hence my grief and large section dedicated to troubleshooting that aspect.  Even now, it doesn't always work for me.

 

Since I encountered this funny behaviour by myself (Desktop -- probe finds printer; Notebook-over-WLAN -- probe does not find printer) you can ignore my old probe-works-comment...  :Very Happy: 

 *Quote:*   

> der bastler, glad you got your problem solved.  Upgrading (or downgrading!) can often solve problems.  Or introduce more.  I recently started using the Break My Gentoo repository, with no ill effects yet.  Only minor packages so far, though.  I did get a CVS version of GIMP which I'm quite fond of...

 

That was another funny thing... I updated all involved programms but foomatic-filters failed to install. I erased the temporary work directory and it installed properly. I suspect something went wrong with the creation of the man pages, perhaps due to a somewhat corrupted package (md5 resulted in a wink, so that is unlikely) and/or an outdated make utility which got not updated prior to foomatic-filters. 

Anyway, I created a new OpenOffice printer which produces excellent output (provided you use a good paper type). Except for acroread and the gimp nearly every application seems able to print.

* JEdit and Scite misposition highlighted tags/keywords

* Acroread refuses to print

* Right now I try to make gimp print pictures. Result: One page starts with the line

```
%!PS-Adobe-3.0

              %%Creator: Print plug-in V4.2 for GIMP/Gimp-Print 4.2.7 (15 Jul 20
```

and afterwards the printer prints nothing on all sheets within its reach. Got the configuration wrong I guess.

---

[1] http://www.gentoo.org/dyn/use-index.xml

----------

## fraterm

Up until gentoo bug 102926 and maybe 97033 began biting me in some unknown fashion, I was able to just emerge hplij (I did have the qt and ppds flags already) and get started with that.

Right now (perhaps because of those two or one of them) I can print but not scan... because (I think) of an init script change.  Or perhaps a python upgrade.

This is what I get for ~x86 ing perhaps  :Smile:  but I'm going to try with the instructions you have here to see if it un-b0rks the b0rken prints-but-won't-scan system I have now.

In Addition : lm_sensors-2.9.1 requires CONFIG_I2C_SENSOR to be enabled for non-2.4.x kernels.  Just popped up as I went through the lm_sensors emerge... The adventure continues  :Smile: 

----------

## Stephonovich

 *fraterm wrote:*   

> Up until gentoo bug 102926 and maybe 97033 began biting me in some unknown fashion, I was able to just emerge hplij (I did have the qt and ppds flags already) and get started with that.
> 
> Right now (perhaps because of those two or one of them) I can print but not scan... because (I think) of an init script change.  Or perhaps a python upgrade.
> 
> This is what I get for ~x86 ing perhaps  but I'm going to try with the instructions you have here to see if it un-b0rks the b0rken prints-but-won't-scan system I have now.
> ...

 

I presume you meant hpoj?  In that case, no, you won't be able to scan.  It's printing only.  I believe if you emerge sane-backends, you would gain scanning support, but if you want that, just upgrade to hplip.  It's better supported and developed.

As for the lm_sensors, thanks for the tip.  I totally forgot about that.

----------

## EzInKy

 *Stephonovich wrote:*   

>  *fraterm wrote:*   Up until gentoo bug 102926 and maybe 97033 began biting me in some unknown fashion, I was able to just emerge hplij (I did have the qt and ppds flags already) and get started with that.
> 
> Right now (perhaps because of those two or one of them) I can print but not scan... because (I think) of an init script change.  Or perhaps a python upgrade.
> 
> This is what I get for ~x86 ing perhaps  but I'm going to try with the instructions you have here to see if it un-b0rks the b0rken prints-but-won't-scan system I have now.
> ...

 

Hplip is giving a few of us some difficulties, as noted in the bug reports fraterm cited. The individual parts can be used, hpiod, hpssd.py, and probe, to at least get printing and scanning to work, but the package as a whole does not.

----------

## Stephonovich

 *EzInKy wrote:*   

> Hplip is giving a few of us some difficulties, as noted in the bug reports fraterm cited. The individual parts can be used, hpiod, hpssd.py, and probe, to at least get printing and scanning to work, but the package as a whole does not.

 

Ah, my bad.  I thought he meant he previously was having problems.  The wording confused me.

I looked at the bug reports, and I'm a bit stumped.  CFLAGS don't look very troublesome.  I'd suggest trying an earlier version.

One other thing that comes to mind; are people's home routers (if equipped) blocking the traffic?  It could account for some of the problem, anyway.

----------

## der bastler

Just a small summary:

HPLIP is working flawlessly on my desktop at home (HP PSC2610). Probe over wired net -- ok.

My notebook can't probe over net, perhaps because I tried WLAN only. But that problem was solved with makeuri and the known IPs of our HP printers at work (HP LaserJet, HP ColorLaserJet) and at home (HP PSC2610). Did I say I like omni-drivers (a nod towards Nvidia)?

Gimp is solved, I just had to create a proper printer config.  :Rolling Eyes: 

At the moment only one problem remains: When I print highlighted source, the coloured keywords are shifted sideways. Same problem with bold text in Firefox print-outs. Any ideas?  :Question: 

----------

## EzInKy

 *Stephonovich wrote:*   

>  *EzInKy wrote:*   Hplip is giving a few of us some difficulties, as noted in the bug reports fraterm cited. The individual parts can be used, hpiod, hpssd.py, and probe, to at least get printing and scanning to work, but the package as a whole does not. 
> 
> Ah, my bad.  I thought he meant he previously was having problems.  The wording confused me.
> 
> I looked at the bug reports, and I'm a bit stumped.  CFLAGS don't look very troublesome.  I'd suggest trying an earlier version.
> ...

 

My printer is local so I doubt my router is the problem but I tried makeuri nonetheless and this was the output:

```

[ERROR]: Unable to connect to hpiod.

```

And still yet, my printer works and my scanner scans B-)

It is a usb printer, btw.

----------

## alinv

After upgrading from 0.9.3, which worked ok, hplip refuses to start  :Sad: 

Running /usr/share/hplip/hpssd.py by hand works, but it refuses to start from init.d. Strange enough, running 

```
start-stop-daemon --start --exec /usr/share/hplip/hpssd.py --pidfile /var/run/hpssd.pid
```

 from console works as well.

Any hint on how to figure out what's the problem?

Thanks,

Alin

----------

## kenyon

 *alinv wrote:*   

> After upgrading from 0.9.3, which worked ok, hplip refuses to start 
> 
> Running /usr/share/hplip/hpssd.py by hand works, but it refuses to start from init.d.

 

That's part of Bug 97033, BTW.  I don't know why it won't start either.

----------

## alinv

In my case, it doesn't show any error message. 

Eventually, I managed to get it started by adding the --oknodo parameter to start-stop-daemon. I'm not sure if that's ok, but it makes me happy  :Smile: 

----------

## radixvir

hi. i am unable to get probe to find anything. I can print/scan from windows just fine. Are pyqt and sip required for printing? i just want to be able to send jobs to the printer from my server. i tried just adding the printer: hp:/net/Officejet_7300_series?ip=192.168.0.199 (i found the string from the hp forum. the ip is correct). Cups says 

add_printer: bad device-uri attribute 'hp:/net/Officejet_7300_series?ip=192.168.0.199'!

however my hplip install was broken to begin with. The ebuild did not install cupsext, so i had to get it from manually building the hplip source. (the hplip makefile seems broken for me). I am not sure if i have snmpd setup correctly i copied the stuff posted above into /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf and it starts fine but i have no idea if its setup correctly.

can anyone help?

----------

## Stephonovich

 *radixvir wrote:*   

> Are pyqt and sip required for printing?

 

 *HOWTO wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Required Components
> 
> ...
> ...

 

 *Gentoo-Portage.com wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Title: 	sip
> 
> Description: 	SIP is a tool for generating bindings for C++ classes so that they can be used by Python.
> ...

 

Now, from that, one can gather that PyQt is required by the Toolbox, which (to answer your question) is not required for printing or scanning capabilities.  It is rather handy, though.  And as for sip, the reverse dependencies show that PyQt depends on it.

 *radixvir wrote:*   

> i tried just adding the printer: hp:/net/Officejet_7300_series?ip=192.168.0.199 (i found the string from the hp forum. the ip is correct). Cups says add_printer: bad device-uri attribute 'hp:/net/Officejet_7300_series?ip=192.168.0.199'!

 

My first thought is that you didn't choose AppSocket/HP Jet Direct as your device in CUPS.  Failing that, what version of CUPS and hplip are you running?

 *Quote:*   

> however my hplip install was broken to begin with. The ebuild did not install cupsext, so i had to get it from manually building the hplip source. (the hplip makefile seems broken for me). I am not sure if i have snmpd setup correctly i copied the stuff posted above into /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf and it starts fine but i have no idea if its setup correctly.

 

If it started fine, then yes, it's working.  It never seemed to do anything useful for me either, but it is.  Repeated tests consisting of 'emerge -C net-snmp && /etc/init.d/hplip restart' proved that.  On that note, if you plan on doing so, do a quickpkg of net-snmp first.  Bugger takes awhile to compile.

----------

## dwblas

Slightly off topic - has anyone tried the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) from this month's LJ; http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/hal .  The author claims that hardware just works.  And no, he doesn't mainfest any signs of mental instability.

----------

## radixvir

thanks for you help. i dont know why but i mysterically was able to add it this time. it still wasnt detected by the probe.py but i typed it in manually and it worked. i think it was because one of the hp daemons was not starting correctly

----------

## gnychis

Hi,

this HOWTO was excellent.  I was able to setup a network printer in about 20 minutes with it.

I got a test page printing correctly, firefox prints correctly.... but then there is xpdf, which is what i use to read PDF documents.  When i select print, it wants a command line argument, what is the command line argument to print?

like say I am at a bash shell, and I have a text only file, how do i print it?

Thanks!

George

----------

## der bastler

 *hedpe wrote:*   

> but then there is xpdf, which is what i use to read PDF documents.  When i select print, it wants a command line argument, what is the command line argument to print?
> 
> like say I am at a bash shell, and I have a text only file, how do i print it?

 

lpr works for me...

On the other hand for good quality pdf printout I'd use hp-toolbox and its "print..." option.

----------

## Stephonovich

 *hedpe wrote:*   

> Hi,
> 
> this HOWTO was excellent.  I was able to setup a network printer in about 20 minutes with it.
> 
> I got a test page printing correctly, firefox prints correctly.... but then there is xpdf, which is what i use to read PDF documents.  When i select print, it wants a command line argument, what is the command line argument to print?
> ...

 

I would agree with der bastler.  For command line, lpr seems logical.  I don't use xpdf (yes, the shame, the shame... I like Adobe's better), so I've never experienced that problem.  A quick Google revealed a tool bundled with xpdf that may be of use; pdftops.  As the name implies, it converts a PDF to Post Script.  This would result in higher quality prints.

----------

## mhoskins

The HOW-TO is very good. I appreciate the effort that has been put in to it. I am stuck somewhere in the woods here.  I followed the build instructions and all the USE flags and everything emerged with no problems.

```

$ sudo ./check

 HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.4)

 Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 0.1

 Copyright (c) 2003-5 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

 This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

 This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

 under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

 Checking Python version...

 --> Version 2.3.5 installed.

 --> OK

 Checking for SIP...

 --> OK

 Checking for PyQt...

 --> OK

 Checking Qt version...

 --> Version 3.3.4 installed.

 --> OK

 Checking SIP version...

 --> Version 4.1.1 installed

 --> OK

 Checking PyQt version...

 --> Version 3.13.0 installed.

 --> OK

 If any errors or warnings were reported, please refer to the installation instructions for

 installing dependencies at: http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/install.php#setup_env

```

```

$ sudo ./probe -bnet

 HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.4)

 Device Detection (Probe) Utility ver. 1.2

 Copyright (c) 2003-5 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

 This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

 This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

 under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

   Device URI                             Model            Name

   -------------------------------------  ---------------  --------

   hp:/net/Deskjet_6800?ip=192.168.1.105  HP Deskjet_6800  HP78F0E1

```

The CUPS page reports the following:

```

HP DeskJet 6840 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended)     

Description:

Location:

Printer State: idle, accepting jobs.

Device URI: hp:/net/Deskjet_6800?ip=192.168.1.105

```

```

$ sudo ./makeuri 192.168.1.105

 HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.4)

 Device URI Creation Utility ver. 2.3

 Copyright (c) 2003-5 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

 This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

 This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

 under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

 Creating URIs for '192.168.1.105':

 [ERROR]: Failed (error code=12). Please check address of device and try again.

```

All the daemons appear to be running. I went out and got the approproate PPD file. When I run the probe, everything appears to work. At the pulldown for "Device" under CUPS it says "hp no_device_found". So the config file was updated but some bit of information was not located. I tried the HP Deskjet route and that seemed to work to some degree. I get:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> "open device failed; will retry in 30 seconds..."
> 
> Device URI: hp:/net/Deskjet_6800?ip=192.168.1.105
> ...

 

from CUPS. So, something is still not happy. Clues are very welcome.

```

$ epm -q hplip net-snmp cups sip sane-backends sane-frontends PyQt perl python ghostscript foomatic

hplip-0.9.4

net-snmp-5.2.1.2-r1

cups-1.1.23-r1

sip-4.1.1

sane-backends-1.0.15

sane-frontends-1.0.13

PyQt-3.13

perl-5.8.6-r5

python-2.2.3-r5

python-2.3.5-r2

ghostscript-7.07.1-r8

foomatic-3.0.2

```

----------

## KotBehemot

Hi there i have a different problem, my printer is HP DeskJet3650 at first it doesn' wanted to print any test page but everything was allright, lsusb showed me that i have a printer connected to USB

```
lsusb

Bus 005 Device 003: ID 04b4:0001 Cypress Semiconductor Corp. Mouse

Bus 005 Device 002: ID 03f0:7204 Hewlett-Packard

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

```

Than i have downloaded ppd file for my printer and also instaled cups and added it to rc-update, configured cups in administration tools via web browser, but it doesn't wanted to print any than tried to do emerging foomatic with it's databases still nothing at last something helped me when i downloaded hplip, it probes mine printer and else and finally i can print but when i try to get into HP Device Manager i can' get to it, cause it says i don' have any HP devices and i have to add tham in cups but i have it added allready and also typing in terminal hp-testpage says to me there is no any hp-devices but hp-probe says

```

hp-probe

 HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.4)

 Device Detection (Probe) Utility ver. 1.2

 Copyright (c) 2003-5 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

 This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

 This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

 under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

   Device URI                                Model                              

   ----------------------------------------  ---------------                    

   hp:/usb/deskjet_3600?serial=TH36P124ZX6B  HP deskjet_3600

```

 i got hp-device that is my printer. dunno what is maybe anyone know this problem and might be helpfull solveing it??

----------

## mhoskins

I went back through my notes and found that was a problem with the PyQt module before hplip emerged. The PyQt actually out of date. Once it was brought up to date, and hplip was re-emerged, and the daemons were restarted, the CUPS test print page that was queued up from a previous test came right out very nicely.

The only comment I would make regarding the whole document would be to move the emerge of hplip to the end of the emerge code window. That way all of the dependencies would be up to date for anybody who cut and pasted the command string into a terminal window. My .02.

Thanks again to the author and contributors. Very nice work.

----------

## Stephonovich

mhoskins, glad you got it working.  Sorry I didn't reply; but I don't have as much time as I'd like to check many forums anymore.  The emerge string has been changed as you suggested, BTW.  Never thought of that.  Good tip.

Rucok, my first question; did you emerge hplip with the usb flag?  Second, how exactly did you add the printer in CUPS?  With the 'USB Printer #n' option?  If so, try again, using AppSocket/HP Jet Direct, with the string hp:/usb/deskjet_3600?serial=TH36P124ZX6B that you quoted below.  Basically, identical to the HOWTO.  

On a related note, hplip 0.9.5 was recently released.  It should make it's way into Portage within a few days, and this may fix problems several users are having.

----------

## Stephonovich

I posted this article on the Gentoo Wiki.  Page is here.  Had some formatting issues I had to work around, and a bit of re-writing to have it fit the style up there.  In any case, thought I'd post it.

----------

## KotBehemot

Thanx for reply, first of all i want to say i didn' add my printer in CUPS with AppSocket/HP Jet Direct will try it and second i don' have hplip 0.9.5 in my portage tree yet, so i suppouse will have to wait  :Smile:  but thx for the advice...

----------

## Stephonovich

 *Rucok wrote:*   

> Thanx for reply, first of all i want to say i didn' add my printer in CUPS with AppSocket/HP Jet Direct will try it and second i don' have hplip 0.9.5 in my portage tree yet, so i suppouse will have to wait  but thx for the advice...

 

I'm fairly confident the AppSocket/HP Jet Direct method will solve your problem.  Let me know if it doesn't.

As to 0.9.5, yeah, it's not in Portage yet.  Seems to be taking a bit longer than usual to make it's way in...

----------

## bfdi533

I have an HP psc 2410 Photosmart printer connected via usb.  I did the emerge with the usb USE flag and followed the HOWTO up to the probe part. 

hp-probe -busb -ldebug fails to find the printer yet lsusb shows it is connected:

```
ebdhome hplip # hp-probe -busb -ldebug

 HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.5)

 Device Detection (Probe) Utility ver. 1.3

 Copyright (c) 2003-5 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

 This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

 This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

 under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

 [DEBUG]: Sending: 'msg=probedevicesfiltered\nfilter=none\nbus=usb\nformat=cups\ntimeout=5\nttl=4\n'

 [DEBUG]: Received: 'msg=probedevicesfilteredresult\nresult-code=0\nnum-devices=0\nencoding=none\nlength=0\ndata:\n'

 [WARNING]: No devices found. If this isn't the result you are expecting,

 [WARNING]: check to make sure your devices are properly connected.

ebdhome hplip #

```

```
ebdhome hplip # lsusb

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Bus 001 Device 009: ID 03f0:3611 Hewlett-Packard

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

ebdhome hplip #

```

```
ebdhome hplip # ACCEPT_KEYWORDS=~x86 emerge -pv hplip

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!

[ebuild   R   ] net-print/hplip-0.9.5  +X +cups +foomaticdb +ppds +qt +scanner +snmp* +usb 0 kB

Total size of downloads: 0 kB

ebdhome cups #

```

Any help would be great as I just switched from hpoj and now have no printing and no scanning.

UPDATE: You need to add the usblp module is a requirement for the USB printing to work.  Once I compiled this and installed it (modprobe usblp), hp-probe then found my printer.

----------

## Stephonovich

I haven't had time to do anything computer related for the past few months due to work.  Indeed, I wiped my Gentoo install awhile back.  I'm heading out for the Navy in March, so that will obviously cut my time even further.  If I decide to get an x86 laptop, I'll put some form of Linux on it; perhaps Gentoo.  I'm leaning towards an Apple (sacrilege, I know) because, quite honestly, I've gotten tired of tweaking.  Linux is great, but once you no longer have the time to deal with it's quirks (especially with a distro such as Gentoo), it becomes a hassle.  

In any case, this project will probably remain untouched from now on.  I'll edit to include the module you mentioned, however.  Thanks for the heads-up.

----------

## slycordinator

One problem that could come about with this guide is that it tells you to set the USE flags in the command line. So if later you remerge that program, it's going to have whatever flags are set in make.conf and /etc/portage/package.use

So if I run and update, the program gets updated but has those USE flags unset.

It's a better idea to set them in package.use

Like when I noticed that gaim was installed without spell-checking support (and I liked the feature), I did:

```
echo "net-im/gaim spell" >> /etc/portage/package.use
```

Now everytime I install gaim, it has spell-checking support.

But it's hardly a MAJOR issue; just worth noting.

----------

## gemini91

I had a tough time getting this to work on my systems, so I thought I would update this 

with how I did it. One system is running ~x86 the other ~amd64.

Both systems run UDEV-078, HPLIP-0.9.7, CUPS-1.1.23-r5

The first problem was getting hpssd and hpiod to run, I woud get errors about 

no socket, connection refused, when running hp-probe -busb

Edit

/usr/share/hplip/hpssd.py

CHANGE: #!/usr/bin/env python

TO: #!/usr/bin/python

Restart hplip:  /etc/init.d/hplip restart

EDIT: NOTE YOU WILL LOSE THIS WITH AN UPDATE TO HPLIP

After that when I went into cups to configure the printer, under Device:

I had 'hp no_devices present'

Instead of hp:/usb/photosmart.7550?serial=CN33T420CT7E (HP photosmart_7550)

Also when bringing up Toolbox I got the same error 'no hp devices present'

I re-emerged cups, restarted cups (/etc/init.d/cupsd restart) and everything worked.

I hope this will save someone a lot of time.

----------

## webhawg

I agree.  This guide was very helpful.  My PSC 2610 works great.

----------

## Stephonovich

 *slycordinator wrote:*   

> One problem that could come about with this guide is that it tells you to set the USE flags in the command line. So if later you remerge that program, it's going to have whatever flags are set in make.conf and /etc/portage/package.use
> 
> So if I run and update, the program gets updated but has those USE flags unset.
> 
> It's a better idea to set them in package.use
> ...

 

Excellent point.  And quite frankly, I'm not sure why I didn't notice it before.  I follow that procedure myself.  IIRC, I was testing USE flags with it, trying to figure out what was necessary.  As such, I hadn't committed anything to my make.conf yet, and I guess I forgot to change it for the guide.  I'll add a note.

Oh, and as for my farewell message, such as it was, eh... I made the mistake of browsing the forums some more after I wrote that, and saw quite a few advancements since I left.  Things that had annoyed me are now fixed.  Sadly, it appears I'm stuck again.  Tweaky soul can't resist:D

----------

## tkhobbes

Hi all

Excellent - I found out about hplip through this article, and I think it will eliminate another blocker regarding "not switching completely to Linux".

I have a Deskjet with a duplex-thingy, and as far as I understand, the toolbox could manage this.

However - I cannot add the printer to CUPS as described; I don't see this "URL-like" hp:/usb/... entry in the list.

When doing /usr/share/hplip/probe -busb, this is the output:

```

thomas@linux /usr/share/hplip $ ./probe -busb

 HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.7)

 Device Detection (Probe) Utility ver. 1.3

 Copyright (c) 2003-5 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

 This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

 This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

 under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

   Device URI                                Model 

   ----------------------------------------  --------------- 

   hp:/usb/DESKJET_970C?serial=ES9AJ131SPJQ  HP DESKJET_970C

```

But, as said, this entry does NOT show up in CUPS...

What could that be?

Another question: The printer is attached to a gentoo-server - the toolbox will be installed on a gentoo-client. Will this work?

----------

## slycordinator

 *tkhobbes wrote:*   

> But, as said, this entry does NOT show up in CUPS...
> 
> What could that be?

 

Probably need to restart cupsd. If you installed hplip after cups was installed then the currently running cups daemon won't know about hplip.

```
/etc/init.d/cupsd restart
```

 *Quote:*   

> Another question: The printer is attached to a gentoo-server - the toolbox will be installed on a gentoo-client. Will this work?

 

All you need to do is install hplip on the server. Then on the client when you install cups just edit /etc/cups/client.conf and uncomment the ServerName line and change the server to be the actual print server.

----------

## tkhobbes

OK - after a full reboot (?), I can add the printer using the hp:/usb... thingy.

What I now want to do is use the hp-toolbox on the client for full control on the printer; the client-cups is connected (or how do you say?) to the server-cups and I can see the newly added printer also if I point my browser (on the client) to http://localhost:631.

However, the hp-toolbox utility is still complaining about no printer being available with the hp: cups backend...

How comes?

----------

## KotBehemot

```
However, the hp-toolbox utility is still complaining about no printer being available with the hp: cups backend... 
```

I got the same problem, and stil nothing, i can' run hp-tollbox and manage with it my hp printer, check the ink level, etc.

even what Stephenovich wrote:

```
I'm fairly confident the AppSocket/HP Jet Direct method will solve your problem. Let me know if it doesn't.

As to 0.9.5, yeah, it's not in Portage yet. Seems to be taking a bit longer than usual to make it's way in...
```

didn't help, because when i try to add my printer with this method then i can't add my printer, because it doesn' see it's driver, i have even upgraded hplip to 0.9.7, and still nothing.

----------

## yinkoshaumer

I got my HP PSC 2575 to print through cups w/o a hitch.

However, when I try to start hplip it fails at starting hpssd with out any error message. I tried the couple work arounds as stated before (modifying the the start-stop-daemon command) but I haven't been able to get it to launch.

Any help is appreciated.

----------

## denilsson

I have tried to install the hplip software for a couple of months but never succesed.

I can print over the network using cups, and hpjis but i wanted to access the builtin cardreader on the printer.

So i Did try in an other way.

My setup in the webinterface on the "HP Photosmart 8450"

Host Name:			HP8450

Active Gateway:			192.168.0.1

Active Preferred DNS Server:	192.168.0.1

Active Alternate DNS Server:

Connections	Enabled		Hardware Address	Connected	IP Address	Subnet Mask  

----------

## Decibels

Are any of you guys using this driver having problems print image files?

HP Laserjet 1022. Seems to print text, pdf, webpages fine. But if open an image file like a png, jpg that is large, the printer will error out.

If I print anything like that it want to print out about 2-4 pages usually. Usually I get 1 page with nothing but a title, then errors out on the

2nd page. If I check the logs (which say nothing really, even with full debug2 on) it is trying to print and 3 and 4 pages usually, but hung up

on the 2nd page. Printer job hangs up, and have to delete the job in order to print anything else.

I use to be able to print large images with my Deskjet 722, also scan a document with xsane and printout the resulting image file.

With this laserjet 1022, I found that I have to scale images taken with camera, scanner,.. down in Gimp, then it will print. 

This became more apparent when using xsane to scan a letter size document. I had to use the COPY function of Xsane to get anything I scanned

to print out. Then I had to setup copy to 600dpi (300dpi seemed to not work right with resulting output to printer), and then use the Zoom setting in

Xsane to .95. Then it scanned and sent image to the printer almost the same size. If I use a Zoom of 1.0, printer will printout 1 page, then hang on the

second with the printer errored out.

It looks like a border (margin) issue almost. I just sucks that with the Deskjet everything just seemed to work. With the LaserJet, images have to be 

MANUALLY scaled to work or the printer errors and job hangs on page.

----------

## KotBehemot

At last, i solved why i could not run toolbox, the solution is very easy, my uri was not ok dunno why, to solve that problem i run hp-setup and it configured my printer for me, and now toolbox is running nicely:-))))))

----------

## tkhobbes

hp-setup does not work for me - the printer is not attached to the actual client, it's attached to a server (which has both hplip and cups installed).

When running hp-setup on the client, it says:

```
 [ERROR]: No devices found.

 [ERROR]: Error occured during interactive mode. Exiting.

```

Seems that via network, the toolbox is really not working...  :Sad: 

----------

## KotBehemot

Try hp-setup as root and this is complet howto from hp site:

```
Add the printer using HP-SETUP for Network Printers

Network Printer

Note: See your printer documentation for specific instructions on connecting the USB, Parallel or Network cable to your printer and computer.

   1. Open a console/terminal window.

   2. Follow these steps to log in as the super user;

         1. Enter this command:

            $ su 

         2. Press Enter.

         3. Enter the root password.

            Note: The root password gives you administrative privileges on the system.

         4. Press Enter.

   3. Using the Printer Setup Menus on your printer, print the "Network Configuration" page.  This page will have the IP address of the printer, which is essential to complete the printer setup.

         1. Note: See your printer documentation for specific instructions on printing the network configuration page.

   4. Open a console/terminal window.

   5. su

   6. Enter this command add your Network printer:  (The -a option will setup your printer with a default name and settings, option -m configures a network printer.)

      # hp-setup -m <ip.address.of.printer.from.step.1> 

      (for Ubuntu type: $ sudo hp-setup -m <ip.address.of.printer.from.step.1> ) 

      Note:  You may see a message stating "[WARNING]: Found multiple possible PPD files", If prompted, select the option that best fits your printer model.

   7. Your printer should print out a test page. If the test page prints successfully, your printer is configured correctly.

   8. If your printer supports faxing you will want to complete the fax configuration as prompted.

Printer setup is now complete.
```

Hope this will work for u  :Smile: 

----------

## chrisashton84

```
 Creating URIs for '192.168.1.105':

 [ERROR]: Failed (error code=12). Please check address of device and try again.
```

I get this every time I try to set up this printer (again).  I already had it set up a couple of months ago... it gives

```
"open device failed; will retry in 30 seconds..."

Device URI: hp:/net/Photosmart_2570_series?ip=192.168.1.105
```

now when I try to use that setup.  I am able to go to the printer's ip address in a browser and use those tools without any problem, and my rommmates can print from windows over the network.  The only thing that has changed is the version of the linux software, and my roommate installed the software on a windows computer.  Any ideas?  This is very annoying... also, before anyone asks, CUPS printing works normally with the cups-pdf software.

----------

## tkhobbes

Rucok: I know this how-to you posted; however, it is apparently referring to the situation where the printer is connected to a local workstation via usb; my hp-printer is connected to some server (and correctly detected there), but I want to use the hp-toolbox on a client - the printer is visible also in my client's CUPS (which basically just mirrors the server's CUPS, or however I might describe that...), but the hp-toolbox complains because no printer is attached to the client (which is correct) - so it does not seem to be working via network, only when the printer is attached locally.

----------

## Camakazi

This is a great howto, it got my brand-new PSC 1410 working via USB, I had only one alteration in-order 

for the printer to actually spool and print instead of telling me it had, but not actually doing so...

I have no idea why, as everything is controlled by hplip, but after emerging hpijs it all worked, it doesn't use

hpijs in anyway, but seems to require it to be emerged  :Smile: 

my next task, install and set up samba so my wifes computer can print to it  :Smile: 

----------

## OpelBlitz

This thread helped me to get printing working for my OfficeJet 6110/JetDirect 175x, which in the past... I had no problem doing!  However, whenever I try to do raw printing to socket or lpd, it just prints out 2-3 lines of text, then all blank pages.   I don't care now though, since I now have it working through hplip.  Now, I'm merging sane to see if I can get scanning working as well.  :Very Happy:   Thanks guys!

----------

## heinzg

Hi there,

I wonder if someone here can help me with a FAX problem.

I have a Color LaserJet 2840 with which I can print & scan with using HPLIP version:

hplip-0.9.10  +X +cups +foomaticdb +ppds +qt +scanner +snmp

I have used hp-setup / CUPS to setup the printer which results in the same problem,when I try send a fax from my workstation, I get an error -- 

and the following in /var/log/messages:

```

Apr 11 21:01:24 gentoo python:  [ERROR] Unable to set locale.

Apr 11 21:01:26 gentoo hpiod: unable to connect to port 9220 JetDirectChannel::Open: Connection refused hpfax:/net/HP_Color_LaserJet_2840?ip=192.168.0.10 io/hpiod/jetdirect.cpp 124

Apr 11 21:01:27 gentoo python: sendfax [ERROR] Unable to open channel (Unknown internal error).

Apr 11 21:01:27 gentoo python: sendfax [ERROR] Fax send error.

Apr 11 21:01:29 gentoo python: sendfax [ERROR] Error, aborting.

```

I am new to HP print servers, but I did try telnet to port 9220 -- oneone there 

Can this be a wrong port that HPLIP is calling on?

I am grateful for any help on this. 

Cheers

Heinzg

Can't seem to find any real info about this problem on the Net. 

I am able to fax from windos on this printer.

----------

## heinzg

Hi there,

Is there nobody out there using FAX via HPLIP yet?   :Confused: 

Cheers Heinzg

----------

## yj

some how i cannot run /etc/init.d/snmp start with error Re-caching dependency info (mtimes differ) You need an /etc/snmpd/snmpd.conf  config file to run snmpd how can i fix this problem. This is for my printer setup.

thanks

----------

## DaGr8Gatzby

I am also having problems with HPLip. I have an OfficeJet5610. I have regular printing with cups working(although intermittently) with the hpijs ppd file. hp-toolbox still does not detect my printer. 

```

Dreamz% hp-toolbox -g

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.11)

HP Device Manager ver. 6.2

Copyright (c) 2003-6 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

 [DEBUG]: Connected to hpssd on localhost:47230

toolbox [DEBUG]: Connected to hpssd on localhost:47230

toolbox [DEBUG]: Connected to hpiod on localhost:57574

toolbox [DEBUG]: Initializing toolbox UI

toolbox [DEBUG]: HPLIP Version: 0.9.11

toolbox [DEBUG]: Print command: hp-print -p%PRINTER%

toolbox [DEBUG]: PCard command: hp-unload -d %DEVICE_URI%

toolbox [DEBUG]: Fax command: hp-sendfax -d %FAX_URI%

toolbox [DEBUG]: FAB command: hp-fab

toolbox [DEBUG]: Copy command:  

toolbox [DEBUG]: Scan command: xsane -V %SANE_URI%

toolbox [DEBUG]: Email alerts: False

toolbox [DEBUG]: Email to address(es): 

toolbox [DEBUG]: Email from address: 

toolbox [DEBUG]: Auto refresh: False

toolbox [DEBUG]: Auto refresh rate: 1

toolbox [DEBUG]: Auto refresh type: 0

toolbox [DEBUG]: Using default 'C' locale

toolbox [DEBUG]: Starting GUI loop...

toolbox [DEBUG]: Rescanning device list...

toolbox [DEBUG]: Exception: 4 (Unknown/invalid device-uri field)

toolbox [DEBUG]: {}

toolbox [DEBUG]: Cleaning up child processes.

```

This is the device URI in cups.

usb://HP/Officejet%205600%20series?serial=CN645DF70N04CY

Also, hp-check states I do not have HPLip installed.

```

Dreamz% hp-check

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 0.9.11)

Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 2.0

Copyright (c) 2003-6 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

Basic system info...

--> Linux Dreamz 2.6.16-gentoo-r9 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jun 7 19:25:57 CDT 2006 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Currently (previously) installed version...

--> 0.9.11

Checking Python version...

--> Version 2.4.2 installed.

--> OK

Checking for user interface dependencies...

Checking for SIP...

--> OK

Checking for PyQt...

--> OK

Checking Qt version...

--> Version 3.3.4 installed.

--> OK

Checking SIP version...

--> Version 4.2.1 installed

--> OK

Checking PyQt version...

--> Version 3.14.1 installed.

--> OK

Checking for library dependencies...

Checking for libsnmp...

--> OK

Checking for libjpeg...

--> OK

Checking for libusb...

--> OK

Checking for libcrypto...

--> OK

Checking for libpthread...

--> OK

Checking for application dependencies...

Checking ghostscript...

--> Version 8.15.2

Checking gcc...

--> gcc (GCC) 3.4.4 (Gentoo 3.4.4-r1, ssp-3.4.4-1.0, pie-8.7.8)

--> OK

Checking automake...

--> automake (GNU automake) 1.9.6

--> OK

Checking autoconf...

--> autoconf (GNU Autoconf) 2.59

--> OK

Checking make...

--> GNU Make 3.80

--> OK

Checking ReportLab (optional)...

 [WARNING]: Not installed. Fax coverpage support will be disabled.

Checking kernel module...

Checking for ppdev (optional)...

 [WARNING]: Not found. Parallel printers will not work properly with HPLIP.

Checking for CUPS...

--> scheduler is running

--> OK

Checking existing CUPS queues...

  Printer                         Device URI                                                  HPLIP Installed?  

  ------------------------------  --------------------------------------------------------  --------------------

  HP_Officejet_5600_series_USB_1  usb://HP/Officejet%205600%20series?serial=CN645DF70N04CY           No         

Note: Any CUPS queues that are not 'HPLIP Installed', must be installed

with the 'hp:' or 'hpfax:' backends to have them work in HPLIP. Refer

to the install instructions on http://hplip.sourceforge.net for more help.

If any errors or warnings were reported, please refer to the installation instructions at:

http://hplip.sourceforge.net/install/index.html

```

Any help would be appreciated.

----------

## kfiaciarka

Hi, I managed to set up my printer and it is printing:) But I can't launch hp-toolbox:

```

hp-toolbox

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "/usr/bin/hp-toolbox", line 39, in ?

    import base.async_qt as async

  File "/usr/share/hplip/base/async_qt.py", line 81, in ?

    from qt import *

ImportError: dynamic module does not define init function (initqt)

```

And result of hp-check

```

hp-check

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 1.6.6a)

Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 2.1

Copyright (c) 2003-6 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it

under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

Basic system info...

--> Linux test 2.6.16-ock5 #4 Sat Jul 1 18:49:58 CEST 2006 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 2800+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

Currently installed version...

--> 1.6.6a

Checking Python version...

--> Version 2.4.3 installed.

--> OK

Checking for user interface dependencies...

Checking for SIP...

--> OK

Checking for PyQt...

error: PyQt not installed.

Checking Qt version...

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "/usr/bin/hp-check", line 164, in ?

    qtMajor = int(qVersion().split('.')[0])

NameError: name 'qVersion' is not defined

```

My versions of this packages are

sip-4.4.5

PyQt-3.16 ( there is no newer release)

I'd appreciate any help:)

----------

## Decibels

 *DaGr8Gatzby wrote:*   

> <snip> hp-toolbox still does not detect my printer. 
> 
> <snip>
> 
> ```
> ...

 

I had problems with the hp-toolbox several times also. You have to remove the printer if you already installed it

with cups and run the /usr/share/hplip/setup .

Otherwise it will work, but the toolbox won't, cause 'it' didn't install it. Kinda goofy, but from what I remember it

is that way. At least on mine (hp laserjet 1022), the toolbox doesn't really do much. Might be more useful if your

not using KDE, where you have the printer manager. So if your using fluxbox, blackbox,.... then it would be.

Try removing the printer and then run the 'setup'.

 *kfiaciarka wrote:*   

> Hi, I managed to set up my printer and it is printing:) But I can't launch hp-toolbox:
> 
> <snip>
> 
> My versions of this packages are
> ...

 

Is there any bugs on those versions? I'm using these versions on amd64 and toolbox works, maybe you can downgrade.

Both those packages are masked and might be for a reason. Have you already tried the stable version and went to the masked because they didn't work?

```
PyQt-3.14.1-r1

sip-4.2.1
```

----------

## kfiaciarka

My printer does work but hp-toolbox doesn't. On amd64 I have no problem as you:) Problems occured at gentoo ~x86.

----------

## Unlucky_Alf

For hp-toolbox to be able to detect your printer the printer url must be in format hp:/usb/[printer name, serial number]. The easiest way to get it right is to use hp-setup. To check the printer url use lpadmin -t.

----------

## ovis

Oke this is what happens in the log file if i use xsane:

```

Sep 27 23:03:42  [17226472.012000] ppdev0: registered pardevice

Sep 27 23:03:42  [17226472.032000] ppdev0: negotiated back to compatibility mode because user-space forgot

Sep 27 23:03:42  [17226472.032000] ppdev0: unregistered pardevice

Sep 27 23:03:42  [17226472.036000] ppdev0: registered pardevice

Sep 27 23:03:47  xsane: unable to fill data buffer: size=18411: prnt/hpijs/hplip_api.c 450

Sep 27 23:04:17  hpiod: ParDevice::wait_status timeout status=78 mask=88 val=0 us=30000000: io/hpiod/ppdevice.cpp 118

Sep 27 23:04:18  hpiod: ParDevice::wait_status timeout status=d8 mask=40 val=0 us=1000000: io/hpiod/ppdevice.cpp 118

```

Any one know what to do ?

----------

## Havin_it

 *tkhobbes wrote:*   

> Rucok: I know this how-to you posted; however, it is apparently referring to the situation where the printer is connected to a local workstation via usb; my hp-printer is connected to some server (and correctly detected there), but I want to use the hp-toolbox on a client - the printer is visible also in my client's CUPS (which basically just mirrors the server's CUPS, or however I might describe that...), but the hp-toolbox complains because no printer is attached to the client (which is correct) - so it does not seem to be working via network, only when the printer is attached locally.

 

@tkhobbes - if you're still following - I'm just about to move to this client/server setup myself.  I assume you never had further success using HP Toolbox from the client machine?

This doesn't surprise me; as I interpret things, it is not intended for this purpose.  I think the hp:/net/ -style URI is exclusively for use with Ethernet (non-USB) printer models.  I hoped it might work myself, and did a pre-emptive test on my laptop using the uri hp:/net/PSC_750?ip=127.0.0.1 - tried with makeuri, and manual setup in CUPS, but no luck.  I just don't think it's meant to work this way, though I guess they could make it do so without much work... any hplip devs listening?

The next-best solution would be to use the Toolbox on the server, via VNC or X forwarding.  Unfortunately my server is X-less, and I have no experience in using the aforementioned techniques.  Just a thought...

UPDATE: X-forwarding is actually a piece of piddle to set up - I managed it in under half an hour, and it turns out that (as of Xorg 7) you only need to emerge xauth on the server, not the whole x-server.  I think if you want to use the HP Toolbox on the server, this is probably the way to go.  I won't retread the HOWTO here as the one on gentoo-wiki gave me almost all the info I needed, but here are two things I'd add:

1) You need to stop X from running with the argument "-nolisten tcp" on your client box.  This took a bit of locating.  For me, as I use KDE, the file you need to edit is /usr/kde/3.5/share/config/kdm/kdmrc - look for the line 

```
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp

# and change to

ServerArgsLocal=
```

2) ssh -X didn't work for me, which I think may be due to having USE="pam".  Try ssh -Y instead.

It worked nicely with Azureus, I'll get back to you when I've finished setting up the printer and tried the Toolbox.

----------

## tkhobbes

Thanks, Havin_it!

I now emerged hplip on the server by turning the X use flag on for it (via /etc/portage/package.use). However, the hp-toolbox binary is still not present on the server?

Now, if I get you correctly, I just need to emerge xauth (which, however, would emerge about 15 other packages, too...) on my server box?

Also, I would be glad if you could help out with the ssh-forwarding stuff - I read a lot about this, but never did it - what exactly do I need to do once the hplip toolbox is working on the server to invoke it from the cliend?

Thanks

----------

## Havin_it

I think you need xauth on the server - the HOWTO is a bit ambiguous, but it says 'try emerging' it if you don't have an x-server on it, and forwarding isn't working.  See http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_X-forwarding

Once you've added the configs to the files it indicates there, you just need to reconfigure your client's X so it listens for tcp connections.  (Take note that if your client box is directly connected to the Internet this is a bit risky, but if you're on a LAN I'm guessing it isn't.)  Before going any further you might want to check it's not listening already: run

```
ps ax | grep X
```

and see if it has "-nolisten tcp" as an argument.

For KDE the file you need to edit is /usr/kde/3.5/share/config/kdm/kdmrc (see above); for other desktop environments, the best way to find it is use your file-finder utility to search the DE's install directory (/usr/gnome?) for files containing the line "nolisten" and edit appropriately.  Be sure you have a good idea what you're doing before you go randomly hacking files though!

Once you've done all that and restarted your X on the client, you should be good to go.  If ssh -X user@host [command] doesn't work, try ssh -Y instead.  If you need any more help please do ask.

Are you sure you don't have the toolbox installed?  It should be at /usr/share/hplip/toolbox and symlinked to /usr/bin/hp-toolbox.  If you don't, it could be another USE problem.  Try adding qt3 (possibly even qt4) to the package.use for hplip.

Good luck - it worked a treat for me, and I'll be happy to help further if necessary.

----------

## tkhobbes

Hi there

OK, xauth is emerged. But when I add qt3 to the use-flags of hplip, there is another whole bunch of stuff that shall get emerged... and I don't know If I really want qt3 and all its dependencies on my server just because of this bloody toolbox...  :Smile: 

Could you find out with what use-flags your hplip has been compiled?

Thanks.

----------

## Havin_it

Old programmer's saying: Can't use a GUI without a gui library!

In weighing your decision, bear in mind that you don't need the toolbox to scan or print from your client, only for maintenance tasks like cleaning and aligning cartridges - and there may be CLI tools for those tasks anyway (I haven't checked).

My package.use line is:

net-print/hplip X qt3

I also have scanner and snmp USE-flags set globally.  I can't/don't wanna use emerge right now to check the actual run-time flags, as emerge is busy with glibc  :Sad: 

----------

## tkhobbes

Well - what I basically want to do is use the toolbox because what I am really missing is using the two-side printing option of my Deskjet 970 - it has this neat feature to turn pages and print both sides of it, but you need a driver to support this. And I thought that the toolbox could help with this, at least, this is what hp's homepage said when I last checked....

----------

## Havin_it

You should (I think) have this option in the CUPS server options for the printer, accessed through the web interface.  I looked at the 'Set Printer Options' page for my PSC 750 and it gives all the same options I had in kdeprint when the printer was installed on my laptop: paper type and printout quality, banners, and double-sided printing (even though my model doesn't have that feature!).  Before you re-merge hplip with gui-ness, you might want to check on that.

----------

## tkhobbes

Yes, saw it there, but does not work.  :Sad: 

----------

## Havin_it

I guess you should go ahead and build the GUI version then.  It's only really costing disk-space after all, it'll only cost any performance (and even then not much) when you use it.  And if you find it still doesn't work, you can dump it.  Better to know, I think...

On an unrelated note, I have a tip for those who may want to turn your printers off sometimes.  I did have the USB Printer Support in-kernel, and found that when I turned the printer off and on, hp-probe couldn't find it anymore. (Nor, as it turned out, could the kernel.)  To have the usblp driver restart correctly, you need to have it as a module, and also remember to include loadable module support (and module unloading!) in the kernel config.

Something I'm wondering:  Is there a way of having cupsd and hplip start/stop along with the printer being on/off?

----------

## Narius

Something to note is don't use underscores in the name, I did and it looked as if it worked, until I tried to print, and didn't.  Stick to just alphanumeric characters and no spaces

----------

## Havin_it

That's odd, think I've always used underscores in my printer names and never had such a problem.

I did have a major prob with hplip the other day though; net-analyser/net-snmp upgraded, taking libnetsnmp.so.9 up to libnetsnmp.so.10 which b0rked hplip.  Fixed by re-emerging hplip, but too late to avoid me losing face with the gf... :/

----------

## myhan

hi all, thanks for this great howto, in about 1 hour i got my PSC1600 working perfectly... the only problem is: why doesn't the scanner work??? i can use hp-toolbox fine, i get everything displayed correctly, if i type in 

```
# sane-find-scanner -q
```

 i get 

```
found USB scanner (vendor=0x03f0 [HP], product=0x4811 [PSC 1600 series]) at libusb:004:004
```

but when i use the command 

```
# scanimage -L
```

 i get 

```
No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,

check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the

sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation

which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).
```

how is this possible? before it didn't show up the vendor and product names (just vendor=0x03f0, product=0x4811) but after that i edited /etc/sane.d/dll.conf and added a "hpaio" line, after that it did show up those names but was still unable to find the scanner with scanimage -L. what could be the issue? thanks in advance...

----------

## vt_guy

New install. Printer works from cups. Scanning works from xsane. All the HP probe, config etc... work fine.

But, If I start up the toolbox GUI I get this (can't cut paste so typed some of it in):

"No Installed HP Devices found. To install a device use the cups web interface blah blah...

Only device installed with the hp: cups backend will appear in the hp device manager...."

Ideas?

The "hp cups backend" caught my eye to make me think I missed a step but I don't see any directions to that effect.

----------

## vt_guy

Installed the ~ version 1.6.12 and it works. Evidently cups 1.2.6 and hplip 0.9.7-r3 don't work together on my system....

----------

## Hagar

 *myhan wrote:*   

> hi all, thanks for this great howto, in about 1 hour i got my PSC1600 working perfectly... the only problem is: why doesn't the scanner work??? i can use hp-toolbox fine, i get everything displayed correctly, if i type in 
> 
> ```
> # sane-find-scanner -q
> ```
> ...

 

Make sure the hostname "localhost" points to 127.0.0.1

hplip only binds to 127.0.0.1 !

If you've messed up your /etc/hosts and localhost returns some other IP it will not work.

----------

## jtp755

maybe im missing something but hp-toolbox doesnt exist on my system...i just installed everything

cups 1.2.6

hplip 0.9.7-r3

all cli commands work fine along with printing and all...just hp-toolbox isnt there..any ideas?

----------

## timeBandit

 *jtp755 wrote:*   

> maybe im missing something but hp-toolbox doesnt exist on my system...i just installed everything ...
> 
> all cli commands work fine along with printing and all...just hp-toolbox isnt there..any ideas?

 

Check your USE flags for hplip, hp-toolbox needs X and qt3 set.

----------

## jtp755

thanks so much...the qt3 flag was the answer...i only had qt

----------

## cferthorney

Brilliant guide thanks!

Any warnings about LSB missing can be ignored.  I ignored them did 

```
./probe -bnet
```

 and all was well  :Smile: 

hp-toolbox is exceptionally powerful - and it works unlike that naff HP Director thing on Windozes! (Sorry I know I shouldn't swear in case children are about   :Wink:  )

----------

## 86me

Wanted to add a tip here for the archives. If you originally tried adding a printer via cups and had it hang after the first step (naming and location) and then tried adding it to cups via hp-setup and got a "foomatic-rip" error when trying a test page print. Delete the printer from cups and try this:

```

# chmod -x /usr/libexec/cups/backend/bluetooth

```

This stopped cups from hanging after the first step and allowed me to finish the process via cups. After that, everything went buttery smooth.

I avoided Linux printer setup for the longest time because of tales of frustration.

I am so excited to be able to print and scan via a networked device!

----------

## Holysword

Hi there

I am not sure, but it seems that you can use hp-toolbox only when CUPS configured the printer via hp:// protocol. My personal problem is that my printer is in a (local) print server, so it uses lpd:// protocol instead...

Any way to make hp-toolbox recognize something under lpd protocol? ><"

----------

## Havin_it

 *Holysword wrote:*   

> Hi there
> 
> I am not sure, but it seems that you can use hp-toolbox only when CUPS configured the printer via hp:// protocol. My personal problem is that my printer is in a (local) print server, so it uses lpd:// protocol instead...
> 
> Any way to make hp-toolbox recognize something under lpd protocol? ><"

 

Yeah, I think that would only work for one of HP's own JetDirect servers (which themselves are quite old I guess, I think commodity printers with built-in Ethernet/Wifi became the norm back when hplip was still hpoj). If it's worth the expense to you, you could always get a SheevaPlug (or an NSLU2 if you can locate one) and install a mini Linux on that, where you could install hplip and sshd and then use hp-toolbox via X forwarding. Or if you are a super ninja hardware hacker (or know one), maybe you can do all that with the server you have  :Wink: 

----------

## Holysword

 *Havin_it wrote:*   

> Yeah, I think that would only work for one of HP's own JetDirect servers (which themselves are quite old I guess, I think commodity printers with built-in Ethernet/Wifi became the norm back when hplip was still hpoj). If it's worth the expense to you, you could always get a SheevaPlug (or an NSLU2 if you can locate one) and install a mini Linux on that, where you could install hplip and sshd and then use hp-toolbox via X forwarding. Or if you are a super ninja hardware hacker (or know one), maybe you can do all that with the server you have 

 

Would this "hacking" thing be something like this? (I mean in section "Configuring Print Servers")

If its not, then I don't have a clue xD

----------

## Havin_it

If your server is one of those models, I guess it will get you IPP support which CUPS would rather you use (further up that page). However it still won't get you HP Toolbox, as that needs to run on the machine that's attached to the printer.

----------

## aCOSwt

Hello,

I am desesperatly looking for the version of hplip I should try :

1/ The stable 2.8.6.b prints honestly but hp-toolbox is buggy desperately looking for PyQt3 when built with Qt4...   :Confused: 

2/ Then up to 3.9.8 they are reported not having the correct definition for A4 page format...

3/ 3.9.12.r1 has a perfectly working hp-toolbox but just cannot print with some musb.c desperatly complaining about an invalid deviceid...Last edited by aCOSwt on Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## Havin_it

 *aCOSwt wrote:*   

> Hello,
> 
> I am desesperatly looking for the version of hplip I should try :
> 
> 1/ The stable 2.8.6.b prints honestly but hp-toolbox is buggy desperately looking for PyQt3 when built with Qt4...  :?
> ...

 

Hmm. Whichever one you choose, the behaviour you mention in each case sounds like a bug.  It might be worth scouring bugs.gentoo.org to see whether any of these have already been reported.  Query "ALL hplip" so you can see any that have already been "resolved", as well as those that are still open ("resolved" often doesn't mean that you can expect it to be fixed without you having to take some steps on your own system).

In choosing which item from your list to approach, the first question would be: Is your overall system set to stable (arch) or testing (~arch)?  Personally I'm on testing ~x86 so my choice would be (3).

Whichever one you choose, feel free to give us more information here (full error output etc.) and maybe we can help some.

----------

## aCOSwt

Thanks Havin_it for answering.

1/ Yes indeed, 1 is a known bug... actually corrected in next versions...

2/ However... next versions up to 3.9.8 carry the problem with A4 page format, another known bug...   :Rolling Eyes: 

3/ I have not find my way yet about this one. I asked my question on HPLIP's message list. One will see...

The vast majority of questions looking like this I found on google received as an answer the advice to...

... change the usb wire...   :Rolling Eyes: 

I am running amd64 for the overall system. But I was ready to package.keyword ~amd64 for this one.

I think pb 3 linked with the new hpcups driver. Next time, I will re-emerge 3.9.12 with the good old hpijs and -hpcups !

----------

## aCOSwt

Considering a fair amount of HP devices not working after a canonical setup procedure, and this because of several known bugs upstream obviously does not care about...

Here is the last hope procedure for making these devices print :

SYMPTOMS :

- The printer cannot print anything at all or

- The printer starts printing then stops and hangs definitely or

- The printer prints the first job then hangs definitely

AND

- The printer is impossible to switch off apart from removing the power supply

AND

- In your kernel logs, you can read things such as :

kernel: usb X-Y: device descriptor read/64, error -110 or

kernel: usb X-Y: device descriptor read/64, error -71 

or could be others of the kind,

AND

- You are dead sure that your usb connectors and cables are of appropriate quality

EXPLANATION :

The HP driver cannot handle correctly the bidirectional communication.

WORKAROUND

The only workaround found by all those who faced this issue (under Suse, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Mandriva, Debian...) is to :

Enforce unidirectional communication by forcing the device to use the generic CUPS backend and ignore HP backends.

Which will get the following inconveniencies :

- No status reporting from device,

- Device Inaccessible via HP toolbox

- Scanning impossible if device of the all-in-one kind

But... at least... it will print !

HOWTO

1/ Ensure you get CONFIG_USB_PRINTER=y/m in your kernel configuration file. (As hpcups no longer requires usblp, you might have disabled it)

2/ Build hplip USE=(hpijs static-ppds -hpcups) other flags adapted to your needs

3/ Ignore hp-setup and configure the printer via the localhost:631 interface

Ensure that you select the usb:// protocol and *not* the hp:/usb one

(You can crosscheck this after configuring under the manage printer tab of the cups interface.)

Well, hope this will be useless for the vast majority of you, hope it will help those in this situation.

Feel free to integrate this in the troubleshooting part of the initial post.

----------

## schachti

I've got a problem when trying to send a fax. When running hp-sendfax as an ordinary user, it quits with a segfault. When running hp-sendfax as root, I get the following output:

```

Using printer: Officejet_Pro_8500_FAX

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "/usr/bin/hp-sendfax", line 202, in <module>

    dlg = SendFaxDialog(None, printer_name, device_uri, mod.args)

  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui4/sendfaxdialog.py", line 121, in __init__

    self.initUi()

  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui4/sendfaxdialog.py", line 142, in initUi

    self.initRecipientsPage()

  File "/usr/share/hplip/ui4/sendfaxdialog.py", line 386, in initRecipientsPage

    self.db = fax.FaxAddressBook()

  File "/usr/share/hplip/fax/fax.py", line 203, in __init__

    self.load()

  File "/usr/share/hplip/fax/fax.py", line 206, in load

    self._fab = os.path.join(prop.user_dir, "fab.pickle")

  File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/posixpath.py", line 67, in join

    elif path == '' or path.endswith('/'):

AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'endswith'

```

Does anyone has an idea what's going wrong here? Do you need further input? I'm using a HP Officejet Pro 8500, ~amd64 system, net-print/hplip-3.10.2.

----------

## h2sammo

 *Quote:*   

> HOWTO 
> 
> 1/ Ensure you get CONFIG_USB_PRINTER=y/m in your kernel configuration file. (As hpcups no longer requires usblp, you might have disabled it) 
> 
> 2/ Build hplip USE=(hpijs static-ppds -hpcups) other flags adapted to your needs 
> ...

 

i have read several other threads on this forum insisting USB_PRINTER should be disabled in kernel. why do you have it enabled?

i dont see a usb:// otpion , this is the only option with HP Deskjet in its name: 

```
hp:/usb/Deskjet_6980_series?serial=MY85F2R05204YX
```

----------

## aCOSwt

 *h2sammo wrote:*   

> i have read several other threads on this forum insisting USB_PRINTER should be disabled in kernel.

 

You *are* right h2sammo and the threads you read *are* right.

As long as...

Everything works properly with hpcups !

The HOWTO you quote is for those who just cannot make their printer work with hpcups because hpcups cannot handle properly the bidirectionnal communication.

In this paticular case, they must forget hpcups, fall back on hpijs.

And hpijs *does* require usblp !

Hence CONFIG_USB_PRINTER=y/m

----------

