Epson Stylus C86 Printer

[Mike Jeays]

On Mon, 2005-05-16 at 17:49, Lowell Gilbert wrote:
> Mike Jeays <Mike.Jeays at rogers.com> writes:
> 
> > I have just bought one of these printers, and am having trouble getting
> > it to work with ghostscript. It is connected via a USB port, and it
> > responds momentarily when I send anything directly to /dev/ulpt0.  
> > 
> > I would appreciate the correct parameters for ghostscript - I think it
> > should work with device ijs and 'server' ijsgimpprint, which has been
> > installed in /usr/local/bin.
> > 
> > Some of the instructions recommend CUPS and FooMatic, and seem much more
> > complicated than I ought to need for a local installation.
> > 
> > I tested the printer with Windows, and it does work.
> 
> You haven't mentioned what kind of problems you're having.
> 
> Personally, I use apsfilter, which I find makes life very easy...

I have had help from several people, especially Ted Mittelstaedt, and
now have a working printer.  It can be done as follows:

Install ijsgimpprint without CUPS:

cd /usr/ports/print/gimp-print
make deinstall # if you need to
make WITHOUT_CUPS='yes'

Make sure you have ghostscript installed, with the 'ijs' driver

Create a filter as follows:
#!/bin/sh

gs -sDEVICE=ijs \
   -sIjsServer=/usr/local/bin/ijsgimpprint \
   -sDeviceManufacturer=EPSON  \
   -sDeviceModel=escp2-c84 \
   -sIjsParams=Quality=720x360sw,InkType=CMYK,MediaType=Plain \
   -dIjsUseOutputFD \
   -dNOPAUSE \
   -dBATCH \
   -sOutputFile=- -

(This is simple one that will ONLY handle Postscript files; I plan to
enhance it by filtering text files through enscript first).  Put it in a
suitable directory (mine is in /home/mike/bin/C86-test, which is not a
very good choice), and chmod +x it.

Create an /etc/printcap containing:

lp|C86:\
  :lp=/dev/unlpt0:\
  :lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:\
  :if=/home/mike/bin/C86-test:\
  :sd=/var/spool/lpd:\
  :mx#0\
  :sh:

In the filter above, change the 'escp2-c84' to match your printer as
closely as possible.  Google for ijsgimpprint to get some valid codes.

Good luck, and thanks to everone who helped.