Deep in printer hell.

[Bob Johnson]

On 9/14/05, WOB <wayofbsd at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> When JFK said, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the 
> other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..", I 
> always wondered what exactly "the other things" were.  Apparently, one 
> of them is printer configuration under FreeBSD.

It's actually fairly easy once you understand what's going on.  Most
of the stuff in the Handbook is there in case things don't work, and
can be ignored by most people.

> 
> If I am using a HP Deskjet 940 connected via parallel cable,  is there 
> not some simple way of configuring this printer?
> 
> Is it really necessary to follow all the steps in the handbook - just to 
> print?  The "Basic Setup" instructions are 15 pages printed.  Assuming 
> you can print them.
> 
> I got this printer working 6 months ago under FreeBSD, and apparently my 
> many notes on it are too many.  Now I'm starting from scratch, to 
> redocument it, and it just seems like there should be a simpler way. 
> 
> I'm using 5.4, Fluxbox, Abiword, and Firefox - that's it.
> 
> Eventually I will figure it out again, I just wanted to know if there 
> was some simple script I could run, or "preferred short-cut" for setting 
> up desktop printer.  I realize the handbook is written to be precise and 
> server-centric, but I just want to print Yahoo driving directions, and 
> other such things.

Most of the stuff in the Handbook just works out of the box (e.g.
parallel port configuration), so you can usually skip it.  The only
test I do is dump some plain text to the printer port and see if it
makes something happen at the printer (it doesn't even matter if the
output is correct: it's just testing that the hardware connection is
working).  After that I install ports/print/apsfilter and let it do
its thing.

Apsfilter is a very fancy printer filter (filters are explained in the
Advanced Printing section of the Handbook) that takes the output to be
printed, converts the format if necessary, and then feeds it to a
driver for your printer.  It installs a lot of stuff, but I find it
easier to set up than CUPS (CUPS is good if you need to use networked
printers in a mixed-platform environment).

If you get stuck, check the Apsfilter Handbook
http://www.apsfilter.org/docs/apsfilter-handbook-stable.html but you
probably won't need to.

I recommend letting it install the default collection of drivers even
though you won't need most of them, because there are some unexpected
dependencies that can cause problems when necessary drivers aren't
installed.

The correct driver to use for your printer isn't always obvious.  For
instance, my LaserJet 6L needs the LaserJet 4 driver.  For most
printers, you will use the appropriate Ghostscript driver. 
http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi will help you determine
which one is right for your printer, and save you the head scratching
I went through.

When you install the apsfilter port it will tell you to run the SETUP
script.  Make note of its location (probably
/usr/local/share/apsfilter/SETUP) because that's what actually sets up
the correct driver by modifying your /etc/printcap.

Good luck!

- Bob