[TAG] Talkback:130/tag.html

[Ben Okopnik]

On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 10:03:00PM -0500, Ian Chapman wrote:
>    Hi Ben, Ian in plain text I hope.  I had to add myself to the group lp and
>    now I can print the text file
>    head -60 /home/stanley82/Artwork/PCB_elements.fp/Trig_HS.fp > /dev/lp0
>    which is a really good start.  I did it a couple of times.
> 
>        Going into System administration printing add printer (gnome cups ad)
>    and something is detected on the parallel port but it does not know what. 
>    I can tell it to use the parallel port and select Epson color stylus 660
>    but I do not know where to find the driver (escp2-660 I believe) and i 
>    since the printer was not detected it may not be a good thing to press on.

A printer driver just defines a set of codes that are sent to the
printer to get it to perform specific actions. If you pick the wrong
one, nothing bad will happen: the printer simply will not do what it's
supposed to do, at which point you can try another driver.

The URLs I recommended list the specific driver needed for a given
printer. I.e., the Epson 660 listing
(http://linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Epson-Stylus_Color_660)
gives the following info:

``
    Epson Stylus Color 660
    Color inkjet printer, max. 1440x720 dpi, works Perfectly
    Recommended driver: gutenprint (Home page, driver for: x86 32 bit, x86 64 bit, How to install)
    Generic instructions for: CUPS, LPD, LPRng, PPR, PDQ, no spooler
''
 
There's more info there, and a number of relevant links. Meanwhile, it
looks like 'gutenprint' is the recommended driver.

>        My packet manager tells me ...
>    Gutenprint - Top Quality Printer Drivers
>    A very high quality package of printer drivers for Ghostscript and
>    CUPS, mainly for Epson inkjet printers, but also for inkjets from
>    Canon and HP, dye sublimation photo printers, and PCL laser printers.
> 
>    (Converted from a rpm package by alien version 8.65.)
> 
>        So I would be really pleased to receive another push in the back.

Install that package, and use the recommended driver in your CUPS
configuration. I find their web interface quite easy to use.


-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *