Setting up Printers

[Art Alexion]

Scott wrote:

> Is it just my imagination? Am I missing something? Or is (K)Ubuntu
> very much lacking in documentation (official or otherwise) when it
> comes to
> setting up printers?

I hadn't noticed it because, my printers seem to work fine.

>
>
> One of the printers is a HP 6840 Deskjet.  HP of course is famous for
> the best overall compatibility with Linux.  I'd seen my printer among
> those listed on http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net so that sealed the deal.

This is not really true.  The HP deskjets are "winprinters" and use the
windows GDI to make them cheaper to build and sell.  You have to use
something like "pnm2ppa" (or some similar spelling) to get them to work
under Linux.

>
>
> It's a great printer and it works very well under Windows... ;-)  I'm
> still trying to get it to work under Linux.

See above, "winprinter".

>
>
> Oh and after I went to the trouble to find HP's drivers online, I found
> out that they are part of the default Ubuntu installation to begin with!
> :-)  I was thrilled to see that, but puzzled by it.  Did HP send a
> little $$ Canonicals way? :-)

These are probably the pnm2ppa programs that are needed to run HP
deskjets outside of windows.  They are most likely provided by default,
because HP winprinters are so ubiquitous.

>
> Anyway, both printers now show up under "Printers" in GNOME, but when I
> try to print, they response is as if they will, but then it just says
> "paused" under the printer icon.  I try to restart and it just goes back
> to paused again.

Sorry, don't use gnome, so can't help.

>
> In KDE I can't get both to show up at once, because the HP uses CUPS and
> the Brother uses lpr.  But when I try to print to either, the end result
> is the same.  I get nowhere.

Why don't you set up the Brother under CUPS.  Easy to use and
administer.  Have you tried the KDE "Print System Menu".  It may provide
the feedback you need to diagnose your problem.

>
> Both printers accept a print request under GNOME but the icons show
> "paused" afterwards and nothing happens.
>
> In KDE I just get error messages when I try to print on either.

What are the error messages?

>


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