[HOW TO] Universal printer solution: gutenprint-ghostscript

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francois
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[HOW TO] Universal printer solution: gutenprint-ghostscript

Post#1 by francois » 16 Oct 2011, 00:50

Strictly speaking there is no such thing as a universal printing solution for the whole park of printers available. However, for recent printers functioning with postscript we can talk about such a concept. To help understand what is going on in the world of printing you are refered to Concept of printing of OpenSuze, a rather well written article on the subject:
http://en.opensuse.org/Concepts_printing

Porteus OS comes with CUPS, a software that is an intermediate between the user and the printer. Simply stated, what is missing in porteus are the drivers permitting CUPS to translate the files that you produce so that the printer with its specific settings could print them. If you would need to read only one link about specific printer definition files (lpr, cupswrapper, ppd, driver ...) related to CUPS this would be the one:
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collabor ... umentation

It was not possible to provide a large range of printer drivers without increasing substantially the size of the porteus OS. This is why these are missing, and thus you have to add them. Porteus is a lightweight system.

This stated, there is some kind of universal printer solution (printer driver wise) for both 32bit and 64bit porteus 1.0 editions. I call it the gutenprint-postscript solution. It seems to hold promise for a lot of printers whatever the brand.You need ghostscript, ghostscript-fonts-std, gutenprint packages or modules (see the following threads for details, these files are available from PPM for the 64bit edition).

INSTALLING A USB PRINTER (for porteus 2.0, this might work for other versions of porteus, please report if this not the case)
1 ) Download ghostscript, ghostscript-fonts-std, and gutenprint modules
-32 bit (on testing actually)
http://ponce.cc/porteus/i486/modules-14 ... i486-1.xzm
http://ponce.cc/porteus/i486/modules-14 ... i486-3.xzm
http://ponce.cc/porteus/x86_64/modules- ... arch-1.xzm
-64 bit (tested)
http://ponce.cc/porteus/x86_64/modules- ... 6_64-1.xzm
http://ponce.cc/porteus/x86_64/modules- ... 6_64-3.xzm
http://ponce.cc/porteus/x86_64/modules- ... arch-1.xzm
2 ) Install these modules in the /porteus/modules folder
3 ) Get into cups using kde > system > manage printing or with http://localhost:631/admin/ in your favorite browser
4 ) Add new printer (do not use the find printer option)
5 ) Select your printer or its generic printer equivalent. Generic printer equivalent of the printer driver could be quite useful when your specific model is not available:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=967
For example: The BROTHER-MFC-7860DW-USB will work perfectly fine with the the gutenprint generic pcl 6/pcl xl printer driver.
6 ) Select set user defaults (unless you want to refine the setup)
7 ) Select Maintenance > Print test page (if it comes out, your in business)

INSTALLING A NETWORK PRINTER
1 ) start CUPS with either:
http://localhost:631/admin/
[url]localhost:631[/url]
http://localhost:631
2 ) add printer
3 ) AppSocket/HP JetDirect
4 ) Connection: socket://hostname (examples: socket://192.168.1.7 or socket://10.0.0.7, these ip address is to be found in your router administration program)
5 ) Name: The printer name (example: BROTHER-HL2170W or BROTHER-MFC-7860DW-NETWORK)
6 ) Model: The model name (example: Brother-HL-1040 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.6 (en))
7 ) Set Default options: Set Default Options (unless you are more refined than me)

ADDING A PRINTER DRIVER THAT DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE GUTENPRINT LIST
There are different ways to add individual printer drivers, iif your printer does not appear in the gutenprint list provided by CUPS once you have installed the gutenscript ghostscript solution. These are considered in detail in the following post:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 6288#p6288

EXAMPLES OF WORKING PRINTERS
From the post Printing under Porteus: summary of problems and solutions, see:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=727
here are a few examples of printers working under porteus:

32bit v 1.0 porteus edition (tested):
-brother hl2170w (works, selecting brother hl-1040), see:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=745&p=6283#p6283
-hp laserjet 3030 (works)
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 6288#p6288
-Brother mfc7860dw (works), but you have to choose an equivalent printer the mfc8220 or the generic printer driver PCL6:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... +LPR#p7510

64bit v 1.0 porteus edition (tested):
-Canon MP145 (works)
viewtopic.php?f=74&t=632&hilit=gutenprint
-EPSON stylus T60-HP Deskjet 930C (works)
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=919
viewtopic.php?f=74&t=632&hilit=gutenprint
-hp laserjet 3030 (works)
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 6288#p6288
-HP laserjet 1010 (works):
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=919
-brother hl2170w (works):
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=745
-Brother mfc7860dw (works), but you have to choose an equivalent printer the mfc8220 or the generic printer driver PCL6:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... +LPR#p7510

It would be really great that you share your positive or negative experience with this gutenprint-ghostscript solution with your own printer on the following thread:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=727
Thanks.

WREAD'S HPLIP MODULE.
There is also another way of providing drivers for printers. Wread has produced the necessary modules to get hplip working under the 32bit edition, see:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=457#p3212

This package provides scanning at the same time as printing:


Edited as of 2013-03-22
Last edited by francois on 03 Apr 2014, 02:19, edited 23 times in total.
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Ahau
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Re: [HOW TO] Universal printer solution: gutenprint-postscri

Post#2 by Ahau » 18 Oct 2011, 12:10

Thank you so much, francois! I'll add this to my list for addition as an article on the main page.
Please take a look at our online documentation, here. Suggestions are welcome!

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francois
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Re: [HOW TO] Universal printer solution: gutenprint-postscri

Post#3 by francois » 19 Oct 2011, 03:50

My pleasure.

However, there should be some update on installing individual drivers to complete the list. I have to manage to understand that part both under 32bit and 64bit versions.

Posted after 1 hour 13 minutes 8 seconds:
Re: [HOW TO] Universal printer solution: gutenprint-postscript
Inserting individual drivers done. I might eventually come back with the ppd method, in contrast to the lpr and cupswrapper method, but not until a few weeks. Anyway the linux foundation printer section has been down for many days, see:
http://www.openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi
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francois
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Re: [HOW TO] Universal printer solution: gutenprint-postscri

Post#4 by francois » 24 Dec 2012, 04:22

I really like this one. Its handy to have it hanging around. 8)
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Re: [HOW TO] Universal printer solution: gutenprint-ghostscr

Post#5 by francois » 24 Mar 2013, 12:51

Updated for porteus 2.0
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