[tlug] printer won't print (was: Re. SuSE/Libranet/Panther friendly laser printer)

[Peter Evans <peter@example.com>]

> OKI MICROLINE 22NR (BW) & 5400 (color) are cheap PS3
> emulation Linux compatibles

Perhaps I should have got one. But I didn't. A bit more websurfing
suggested that the right printer for me (among those available in Japan)
was the Canon LBP-1120. It wasn't at Yodobashi, but the LPB-1210 was, at
a rather appealing 71% discount. I quickly went to a manga kissa to read
up on Linux compatibility. (A new experience for me. The comfy chair is
perhaps more intended for the enjoyment of other kinds of websites,
requiring only one hand for the keyboard or rat.)

What I saw ( http://cweb.canon.jp/drv-upd/lasershot/linux/captlinux.html
) looked good. The driver for the Canon LBP-1210 was for TurboLinux and
Red Hat, not SuSE 8.2 (which I'm using); but I thought if it was OK for
RH it would be OK for SuSE 8.2 as well. It needs CUPS 1.1.17 (1.1.19
recommended), and I hadn't (and haven't) a clue what version I have --
How would I find out? -- but I thought I'd take the chance.

So I plugged it into the computer (via USB). There's a "readme" PDF
which I can't read as this system never displays Japanese-language PDF
files (I've always been vaguely indending to find out why, never got
around to it). An "online manual" talks of installing one .rpm before
the other, so I downloaded them in that order and let YaST2 do its thing
with both. It did; no error messages. Now time to install the new
printer. YaST only lets you choose among printer files named *ppd, and
Canon perversely named this one somethingorotherPPD, so I renamed it and
installed it (or I think I did).

No error message; all looks good. The only trouble is, it doesn't print.
YaST's test button produces nothing, attempting to print a web page
produces nothing.

If, say, I now want to print something (in KDE), the printer menu tells me:

$BL>A0(B (N): [little icon of a printer with a lightning mark across it] lp1
$B>uBV(B: $B=hM}Cf(B... ($B%8%g%V$rl=j(B: USB printer on //Canon/LASER%20SHOT%20LBP-1210?serial=5135cG
$B%3%a%s%H(B: Canon LBP1210 CAPT ver.1.0

When I attempt to print, the computer makes the same little beep that it
makes when I plug a flash memory card into the USB port. So there's some
connection there. Moreover, the computer "knew" from the start that what
was connected was calling itself a Canon so-and-so.

Time to cut my losses, I thought. I downloaded blahblahblah.dmg.gz for
Mac OSX, unplugged the printer cable from the USB port and plugged in a
flash memory stick so I could transfer it to the Mac. No "sda2" icon
popped up on my desktop. I unplugged both the stick from one USB port
and a card adapter from the other, and clicked the "sda1" icon (which I
was happily using yesterday).

Oh, here's a new one: "mount: can't find /media/sda1 in /etc/fstab or
/etc/mtab". Can this Canon "bargain" have actually screwed with my system?

So I burned the blahblahblah.dmg file (and a pile of other stuff, too)
onto a CD (!) and stuck that into my little albino Mac. (OK, it's not
Linux. But there is a certain resemblance, no?) I installed it, as a USB
CAPT printer. All seemed to go well. But when I attempted to print
something, all that happened was bouncy bouncy bouncy printer icon. When
I clicked this, I read:

# The printer is not supported, or the printer information
# is not acquired correctly. If the printer is supported,
# delete the printer from the printer list then add it
# again.: 10322

Yeah yeah. I deleted the job, I deleted the printer, I added it again.
Oh, something's changed: I now see a little "printer ready" sort of
thing when I print. (The time before, there had been no "printer ready"
or "printer not ready".) But it didn't actually print. Why not? "This
printer is not supported...." -- no change.

Could the printer actually be defective? To save a hundred yen or so,
Canon has omitted a test button. So I plugged the printer into a
<small>Windows XP</small> machine, and fed the software CD and so forth.
Doze's "wizard" got everything double quick. I attempted to print. It
printed, immaculately.

All right, I plead guilty to not having read the fact-filled manuals.
But for chrissakes, one of them announces that it's 132 pages long and
starts with an explanation of $B$3$N@example.com@=q$NFI$_J}(B (or similar), telling
me such useful stuff as that when I see a little$B!VCm0U!W(B sign, I'd
better $BCm0U$9$k(B. Puhleeze!

Any tips other than (a) "Upgrade to SuSE 9.2/9.3 or something else from
the last year or two" (I shall do so by June, but don't have time right
now) or (b) "Well then, stick to Windoze [snigger] and piss off"?

P$BB@(B "my brain hurts" Evans

And now I think I'll reboot this (SuSE) machine in hopes of regaining
use of the USB ports....