printer problems

[Robert Holtzman]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008, Lisa Kachold wrote:

>
> "The Zen of Troubleshooting {Grasshopper}"The error is the answer!
>
> "BJ210 Printer 'BJ210' may not be connected"Let's go look at each layer of a print connection:
>
>
> A)  Devices:
>
> How are you connecting your printer?

It's a parallel port printer connected via a parallel port to USB 
adapter cable.

>
> 1) If your printer is Parallel port connected:
>
> If the printer is capable of direct ASCII text printing, the following
> command as root should print a single page with the word
> Hello on it:
>
> $ echo -en "\rHello\r\f" >/dev/lp0
>
> 2) via USB:
>
> $ dmesg | tail -n 50
>
> Do you see your printer?

The thing that caught my eye was "lp: driver loaded but no devices 
found".

> Do you see other usb devices?

    30.901440] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
[   30.901504] /build/buildd/linux-2.6.24/drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c: 
v0.25:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
[   30.968766] usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 4 if 0 alt 1 proto 
2 vid 0x067B pid 0x2305 (conflicts with "no devices found"?)
[   30.968854] usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp

> If the printer is capable of direct ASCII text printing, the following
> command as root should print a single page with the word
> Hello on it:
>
> $ echo -en "\rHello\r\f" >/dev/usb/lp0---although you might not always see it print if it's not ASCII---

This is weird:

[holtzm at localhost]~$ echo -en "\rHello\r\f" >/dev/usb/lp0
bash: /dev/usb/lp0: Permission denied
[holtzm at localhost]~$ sudo echo -en "\rHello\r\f" >/dev/usb/lp0
bash: /dev/usb/lp0: Permission denied

Not even with sudo!

[holtzm at localhost]~$ ls -l /dev/usb/lp0
crw-rw---- 1 root lp 180, 0 2008-10-28 10:25 /dev/usb/lp0

>
> $ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

/proc/bus doesn't exist in Ubuntu, however there are a load of usb 
directories in /lib/modules and /lib/linux-restricted-modules

>
> If you are not successful with these commands, terminate all processes
> that use /dev/usb/lp0. Use lsmod to check which USB
> modules are loaded (usb-uhci, usb-ohci, or uhci)
> and how they depend on each other. For instance, the following entry
> in the output of lsmod shows that the module usbcore
> is being used by modules printer and usb-uhci:
> B) Cups and Networking
>
> Is the cupsd process running?
>
> $ tail /var/log/cups/error_log
> $ ps -ef |grep cup

[holtzm at localhost]~$ ps -ef |grep cup
root      5532     1  0 09:59 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/cupsd

>
> Is the port open or is something else in the way?
>
> $ netstat -anp |grep 631

[holtzm at localhost]~$ sudo netstat -anp |grep 631
[sudo] password for holtzm:
tcp        0      0 127.0.1.1:631           0.0.0.0:* 
LISTEN      5532/cupsd
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:631           0.0.0.0:* 
LISTEN      5532/cupsd

>
>
> And VERIFY that the POWER is ON on your PRINTER!

According to my original post:

>> In case anyone wonders, the printer powers up, the physical 
connections
>> are tight, and the requisite noises are heard when turning the power 
on
>> or off.

Having said all of the above (which pertains to Ubuntu ), as of this 
morning Debian began co-operating and I was able to print documents. I
made no changes to anything.It must have been the goat I sacrificed last
night. Ubuntu, however, continues to thumb it's nose at me. I think it's 
holding out for a virgin but I can't find any.

Many thanks for the detailed reply

  -- 
Bob Holtzman
Your mail is being read by tight lipped
Homeland Security agents who fail to see
the humor in Doctor Strangelove