Mystery printer in firefox under Ubuntu 14.04.5

[Robert Heller]

At Thu, 16 Mar 2017 10:48:35 -0400 (EDT) "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> At Thu, 16 Mar 2017 11:40:05 +0000 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > On Wed 15 Mar 2017 at 17:36:18 -0400, Robert Heller wrote:
> > 
> > > For some unknown reason a "mystery" printer is showing up in FF's selection of
> > > printers. This printer does NOT show up in 'lpstat -t'. It is not in
> > > /etc/cups/printers.conf. And I know for sure that I uninstalled the (stupid)
> > > deamon that finds new random printers (don't need or want that sort of "user
> > > friendliness"). Is this a Ubuntu issue or a Firefox issue or a Unity/Gnome
> > > issue? I have not seen this on my CentOS machines, ever. It only seems to
> > > happen on the diskless Ubuntu machines I set up using DRBL.
> > 
> > Please post
> > 
> > 1. The entry for this printer in Firefox's print dialog.
> 
> Don't have the exact thing right now -- the machine in question is not powered
> up right now and I am not presently at the library. It is something like
> "NPI76<more digits>"

OK, I am at the library now.  The "mystery" printer entry is: "NPI7659FE".

> 
> > 
> > 2. The name of the "(stupid) deamon".
> 
> cups-browsed
> 
> This daemon is (I guess) meant to be helpful (?) on a laptop that 'roams'
> about and it seems to find new printers and/or remove printers that are no
> longer available. We don't want / need this on *hard (network) wired*
> workstations with a pair of *hard (network) wired* printers.  We don't want 
> printers coming and going automagically.
> 
> > 
> > 3. The outputs of
> > 
> > 	/usr/sbin/lpinfo -v
> > 	lpstat -t
> > 	systemctl status avahi-daemon.service
> 
> 
> On the Ubuntu VM server (serves the /tftpboot of the kernel, the root and /usr 
> file systems to the PXE booting diskless workstations):
> 
> ub140464.wendellfreelibrary.org% /usr/sbin/lpinfo -v
> network ipp
> network ipps
> network http
> network lpd
> network https
> network socket
> network ipp14
> direct hp
> serial serial:/dev/ttyS0?baud=115200
> network smb
> direct hpfax
> network dnssd://hp%20LaserJet%204200%20(0001E67659FE)._pdl-datastream._tcp.local/
> ub140464.wendellfreelibrary.org% lpstat -t
> scheduler is running
> system default destination: BrotherColorLaser
> device for BlackandWhiteLaserjet: ipp://192.168.1.251:631/printers/BlackandWhiteLaserjet
> device for BrotherColorLaser: socket://192.168.1.252
> BlackandWhiteLaserjet accepting requests since Sat 27 Sep 2014 05:47:52 PM EDT
> BrotherColorLaser accepting requests since Fri 05 Dec 2014 04:03:05 PM EST
> printer BlackandWhiteLaserjet is idle.  enabled since Sat 27 Sep 2014 05:47:52 PM EDT
> printer BrotherColorLaser is idle.  enabled since Fri 05 Dec 2014 04:03:05 PM EST
> 
> There is no systemctl.  The machines are not running systemd, they are Ubuntu 
> 14.04.5 and using upstart.
> 
> I will get the exact info from one of the workstations later today.
> 

The output on one of the workstations is:

adultpatron1.wendellfreelibrary.org% sudo /usr/sbin/lpinfo -v
[sudo] password for heller: 
network lpd
network socket
network https
network http
network ipp
network ipp14
network ipps
direct hp
serial serial:/dev/ttyS4?baud=115200
network smb
direct hpfax
network dnssd://Brother%20MFC-9970CDW._pdl-datastream._tcp.local/
network dnssd://hp%20LaserJet%204200%20(0001E67659FE)._pdl-datastream._tcp.local/
network socket://192.168.1.246
network lpd://colorprinter/BINARY_P1
adultpatron1.wendellfreelibrary.org% lpstat -t
scheduler is running
system default destination: BrotherColorLaser
device for BlackandWhiteLaserjet: ipp://192.168.1.251:631/printers/BlackandWhiteLaserjet
device for BrotherColorLaser: ipp://192.168.1.251:631/printers/BrotherColorLaser
BlackandWhiteLaserjet accepting requests since Wed 15 Oct 2014 11:24:28 AM EDT
BrotherColorLaser accepting requests since Mon 02 Jun 2014 03:16:19 PM EDT
printer BlackandWhiteLaserjet is idle.  enabled since Wed 15 Oct 2014 11:24:28 AM EDT
printer BrotherColorLaser is idle.  enabled since Mon 02 Jun 2014 03:16:19 PM EDT

Note:  192.168.1.251 is the IP address of the server running CentOS 6.

> > 
> > 4. The makes/models of printers on the network.
> 
> HP LaserJet 4200
> Brother MFC-9970CDW
> 
> > 
> > We assume you have a wireless-enabled network.
> > 
> 
> There is wireless, but all of the workstations are hard wired and none have 
> wireless.  Both printers are hard wired.  One printer does not have wireless 
> (the *old* HP B&W LaserJet) and the other has the wireless turned off.
> 
> The Ubuntu "server" is running as a VM on a CentOS 6 machine.  The CentOS 6 is 
> the main file server (/home) and is also the DNS, DHCP, and LDAP server.  It 
> is also the network print server (or at least tries to be).  Both the Ubuntu 
> "server" and the CentOS 6 machine provide tftp and nfs services.
> 
> 

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
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