6 hours of trying to configure my printer - solved

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Hi bsdnobody,

  Looks great to me!  apsfilter is a really nice filter program,
allowing duplexing, multiple pages per page, etc.

  Of course, you actually don't need to run it.  The real grunt work
in your scenario is being done by ghostscript, which is converting
the incoming postscript that apsfilter is massaging, into the
language that HP Deskjets understand.  Using Ghostscript in this
way works great if Ghostscript happens to support your printer
model (which it does)  Ghostscript tends to support a lot of HP
deskjet models.  The apsfilter port installed ghostscript for you.

  For people that don't have a model of printer supported by Ghostscript,
you can configure Ghostscript to pump out "ijs" format, then pump
this into the program ijsgimpprint which puts it into gimp-print.
Gimpprint http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/ has support for a whole
lot more printers.

Ted

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of bsdnooby
> Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:01 PM
> To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> Cc: FreeBSD Newbies
> Subject: Re: 6 hours of trying to configure my printer - solved
>
>
>
> I got my printing working by installing "apsfilter" and by following
> some of the instructions in the (printed) "The FreeBSD
> Handbook 2ed".  I
> am using FreeBSD 5.3, an HP940c Deskjet, parallel port connection, and
> the "lpr" method of printing (rather than the "CUPS" method).
>
> Initially I followed the instructions in the book, and was able to get
> some garbled output to come out of my printer.  Then I installed
> apsfilter, which enabled some perfect printouts from Firefox.  The
> apsfilter install created a new print queue that I had to
> tweak to make
> them compatible with the methodology I learned from the book.  I never
> got the "text" and "postscript" filters documented in the book
> to work,
> but apsfilter works fine - so I'm using that.  The sequence I followed
> is probably not ideal, but this is roughly what I did:
>
> 1. Make sure FreeBSD can see my printer:
>
> dmesg | grep lp
>
>   lpt0: <Printer> on ppbus0
>   lpt0: Interrupt-driven port
>   lpt0: switched to polled standard mode
>
> 2. Enable printer in with:
>
>   lptcontrol -p -d /dev/lpt0
>
> 3. Make sure printer is able to print:
>
>   lptest > /dev/lpt0
>
> 4. Add enable command to /etc/rc.local
>
>   (
>     I had to create /etc/rc.local, so I guessed I need to make it
> executable with:
>
>     chmod 550 /etc/rc.local
>   )
>
> 5. Create printer spool directory
>
>   mkdir /var/spool/lpd
>
> 6. Build apsfilter:
>
>   cd /usr/ports/print/apsfilter
>   make install clean
>   rehash
>
> 7. Configure apsfilter:
>
>   cd /usr/local/apsfilter
>   ./SETUP
>
> 8. Make spool directory accessible by daemon group:
>
>   chown daemon:daemon /var/spool/lpd/hp940
>   chmod 770 /var/spool/lpd/hp940
>
> 9. Add "ps" and "lp" aliases to the apsfilter-created entry in
> /etc/printcap:
>
>   # APS1_BEGIN:printer1
>   # - don't delete start label for apsfilter printer1
>   # - no other printer defines between BEGIN and END LABEL
>
> ps|lp|hp940|ijs/DESKJET_940;r=300x300;q=medium;c=full;p=letter;m=auto:\
>       :lp=/dev/lpt0:\
>       :if=/usr/local/etc/apsfilter/basedir/bin/apsfilter:\
>       :sd=/var/spool/lpd/hp940:\
>       :lf=/var/spool/lpd/hp940/log:\
>       :af=/var/spool/lpd/hp940/acct:\
>       :mx#0:\
>       :sh:
>   # APS1_END - don't delete this
>
> 10. Enable lpd daemon in /etc/rc.conf by adding:
>
>   lpd_enable="YES"
>
> 11. Reboot
>
> 12. Manage print jobs
>
>   list print job = "lpq -P hp940"
>   remove print job = "lprm #" (#=jobnumber)
>   cancel all jobs = "lprm -"
>
>
> I have tested Firefox and Abiword, the two programs I will be printing
> from - and they both seem to work when I print to the "default
> postscript" printer.  Any suggestions or fixes to these
> instructions are
> encouraged.  I am really new to Unix and FreeBSD, so please
> forgive any
> bad advice contained above.
>
> Some useful links:
>
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/print
ing-intro-setup.html
http://www.defcon1.org/html/Networking_Articles/natdhowto-whisky/aps-filt
er/aps-filter.html
http://www.defcon1.org/html/Networking_Articles/apsfilter/apsfilter.html
http://www.freebsddiary.org/apsfilter.php


thx!
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