CUPS Disaster: printer queues going AOL or becoming disfunctional

[Tommy Trussell]

i edited your message to move your response to the bottom. please don't
top-post.


On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 11:44 AM, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:

> At Wed, 9 Jul 2014 11:26:53 -0500 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for
> general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
>
> > On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 6:04 PM, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Software versions:
> > >    1) Host Server: CentOS 6.5 (up to date),
> cups-1.4.2-50.el6_4.5.x86_64
> > >    2) VM server:   Ubuntu 14.04 (up to date), cups 1.7.2-0ubuntu1
>  amd64
> > >    3) Diskless workstations: Ubuntu 14.04 (up to date), cups
> > > 1.7.2-0ubuntu1 amd64
> > >
> > > We have two networked (hard Ethernet, with static IP addresses) Laser
> > > printers, a HP LaserJet 4200 (old but works great) and a Brother Color
> > > MFC-9970CDW.
> > >
> > > What happened:
> > >
> > > I updated the Host Server (standard yum update) and then rebooted it
> (the
> > > update brought in a new kernel). And then printer queues became
> > > 'disfunctional'. Printing a test page resulted in a
> > > client-error-document-format-not-supported type of error. Deleting and
> > > re-installing the print queues fixed it. Why did this happen? And why
> does
> > > re-installing the print queues fix it? Followup question: is there a
> way
> > > to do
> > > fix this from the command line? It is a royal pain to have to do this
> with
> > > the
> > > web GUI, esp. since it precludes doing it remotely.
> > >
> > > Also, just as a side adventure, the Ubuntu VM system decided to (on its
> > > own!)
> > > remove the color printer. I have not clue as to  why that happened.  I
> did
> > > *uninstall* the pesky cups-browserd package (which is a total disaster
> for
> > > a
> > > server or even fixed desktop machines with fixed hardwired printers).
> > >
> >
> > Since you mention the host and VM CUPS versions that cues me to suggest
> > first looking for an interaction between them. Think about where the
> print
> > jobs are being spooled from. Will users other than Ubuntu VM users need
> to
> > print to and manage them? If it makes more sense to support the queues
> from
> > the host, then delete all your printer definitions from Ubuntu, create
> them
> > in the host CUPS, then have the Ubuntu CUPS definitions point to the VM
> > printer queues. (There are a few ways to do that; which ways work for you
> > depend upon several factors.)
>


> >
> > As for the HP printer, after you decide which CUPS server you are going
> to
> > support I would suggest you make sure you have all the open-source HP
> > printer utility packages installed, especially any packages that
> > specifically mention your printer. I don't know whether the versions
> > straight from HP have any advantages, but I would first try looking for
> the
> > ones the distro provides first. They may or may not have been installed
> by
> > default.
> >
> > I have a different model Brother printer and its non-open-source software
> > has to be reinstalled any time the OS gets upgraded. Alternatively, it's
> > possible your edits to the CUPS config got blown away by a software
> update
> > or just a glitch.
> >
> > I just looked up your printer at Brother's linux support site -- the url
> > might be:
> >
> >
> http://support.brother.com/g/s/id/linux/en/index.html?prod=mfc9970cdw_all
> >
> > (You may have to go through the Brother site first to get that link to
> work
> > because I stripped out my country and language.)
> >
> > I suggest you might go through the installation instructions and see if
> > your edits are still in effect, and also that you have the latest version
> > of the driver appropriate to the printer and the OS of the CUPS server
> you
> > are supporting.
> >
>
> The host (the CentOS 6.5 machine) is the server for everything. The other
> machines just have 'raw' (postscript?) print queues feeding into the CentOS
> 6.5 queues).  Since *both* printers are PostScript there should not be
> much in
> the way of filters anyway.
>
>
I don't know about the HP, but Brother says that printer supports "PCL6,
BR-Script3" so that printer is not PostScript.

As I am sure you know, CUPS "automagically" makes all printers PostScript
compatible, but you also cannot be sure a so-called "raw" queue does no
transformation.

I think it would be best to test the queues using processes on CentOS
before moving to the Ubuntu queues. For example you might create a test.ps
postscript file you can spool to the printer using the command line
options. Or, of course, the Test Page feature built into CUPS.

I suggest you might want to go back and reinstall your Brother
"cupswrapper" software on CentOS OR confirm you are using an open-source
compatible PPD that supports your printer's flavor of PCL6.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/attachments/20140709/0c7b0d0f/attachment.html>