Begin
On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:59:55 GMT, donato wrote:
> I'm having a hard time getting the printer to print. If I configure it in
> KDE it, says that the printer is ready and is accepting jobs but it doesn't
> print the test page. I get an error which shows the path to /lpr :
> Connection refused.

I don't know what ``configuring it in KDE'' means. I speculate it means
it added an entry to /etc/printcap (or whatever spooler KDE favours) and
the spooler reports ready-and-waiting. Once the spooler tries to hand
off a job to the printer it finds it cannot connect to it. Apparently
the configuration given was not entirely correct, then.


> So far, I've only found man pages that talk about printing on lpt (parallel
> port) and nothing about network printing.

The ideas are related. In both cases you setup a spooler on the local
machine that takes printjobs and feeds them to the printer. A bit like
giving an email to sendmail for it to send whenever it can. While the
target printer often is locally attached, the spooler doesn't really
care either way; as long as it knows how to find the printer it's happy.


> I shouldn't need a bunch of scripts to make it work. FreeBSD has been
> around long enough that printing should be a simple task.

Ha.

Unix has always been a tool for people knowing what they were doing. It
helps if you know something of the mechanics and background involved
instead of treating it as a mysterious black box that magically just
works.

If you want simple, hassle-free printing on unix, get a printer that
does postscript, and then you don't strictly need filters. For using
features on the printer, or perhaps converting other input formats into
postscript, you might want to use them anyway.

For anything else you will need to take the postscript input and
convert it to whatever input format your particular printer fancies.
The alternative spoolers do fancy stuff with filters and configuration
front-ends to make things their version of easy, user-friendly, or
whatever. If all you need is to spool postscript to a remote printer,
writing a printcap entry with suitable rm= and rp= capabilities should
do well enough.


--
j p d (at) d s b (dot) t u d e l f t (dot) n l .
This message was originally posted on Usenet in plain text.
Any other representation, additions, or changes do not have my
consent and may be a violation of international copyright law.

> I don't know what ``configuring it in KDE'' means. I speculate it means
> it added an entry to /etc/printcap (or whatever spooler KDE favours) and
> the spooler reports ready-and-waiting. Once the spooler tries to hand
> off a job to the printer it finds it cannot connect to it. Apparently
> the configuration given was not entirely correct, then.
>
>
>> I shouldn't need a bunch of scripts to make it work. FreeBSD has been
>> around long enough that printing should be a simple task.
>
> Ha.
>
> Unix has always been a tool for people knowing what they were doing. It
> helps if you know something of the mechanics and background involved
> instead of treating it as a mysterious black box that magically just
> works.
>
______________________________________

KDE has a dialog box similar to any gui. There isn't really a way to enter
bad info. We're taking about an IP address and the name of the printer.
As I said, it's seen and marked ready by KDE. I am not new to FreeBSD. I
started with 2.2.7.
I just found a few websites with info on that printer with FreeBSD. One of
them mentions cups which I tried on an olde version with no luck.
In the meantime, which print command would I try if I wanted to print from
the command line? I have already tried
lpr -P 192.168.0.90 and lpr -P HP.

donato wrote:
> FreeBSD 7.0 Beta - IP address 192.168.0.200
> HP C6180 Printer - IP address 192.168.0.90


This is where Openprinting.org[1] comes in handy.
If your printer is the HP Photosmart C6180[2], Openprinting.org tells
you which parts you need to make it work.

FWIW, HPLIP[3] is in the FreeBSD ports tree[4] and works fine with my HP
Photosmart 8250.

> I shouldn't need a bunch of scripts to make it work. FreeBSD has been
> around long enough that printing should be a simple task.

Well, see, FreeBSD, (other *BSDs adn Linux for that matter) doesnt care
what you think.
It is (and have always been) a case of "if it don't work - you get to
find out how to make it work".

OTOH, both the BSDs and Linux have great communities that will help you
out. Like this newsgroup for FreeBSD.
Most of the time, you can also find the answers by searching on Google
(either web or groups).

HTH, Happy NewYear!

References:
1) http://www.openprinting.org/
2) http://www.openprinting.org/show_pri...otoSmart_C6180
3) http://hplip.sourceforge.net/
4) http://www.freshports.org/print/hplip/
--
Torfinn Ingolfsen,
Norway

"Torfinn Ingolfsen" wrote in message
news:477994a4$1@news.broadpark.no...
> donato wrote:
>> FreeBSD 7.0 Beta - IP address 192.168.0.200
>> HP C6180 Printer - IP address 192.168.0.90
>
>
> This is where Openprinting.org[1] comes in handy.
> If your printer is the HP Photosmart C6180[2], Openprinting.org tells you
> which parts you need to make it work.
>
> FWIW, HPLIP[3] is in the FreeBSD ports tree[4] and works fine with my HP
> Photosmart 8250.
>
>> I shouldn't need a bunch of scripts to make it work. FreeBSD has been
>> around long enough that printing should be a simple task.
>
> Well, see, FreeBSD, (other *BSDs adn Linux for that matter) doesnt care
> what you think.
> It is (and have always been) a case of "if it don't work - you get to find
> out how to make it work".
>
> OTOH, both the BSDs and Linux have great communities that will help you
> out. Like this newsgroup for FreeBSD.
> Most of the time, you can also find the answers by searching on Google
> (either web or groups).
>
> HTH, Happy NewYear!
>
> References:
> 1) http://www.openprinting.org/
> 2) http://www.openprinting.org/show_pri...otoSmart_C6180
> 3) http://hplip.sourceforge.net/
> 4) http://www.freshports.org/print/hplip/
> --
> Torfinn Ingolfsen,
> Norway

_________________________
Thanks for the info. LOL @ BSD doesn't care what I think.

donato wrote:
> FreeBSD 7.0 Beta - IP address 192.168.0.200
> HP C6180 Printer - IP address 192.168.0.90
>
> I'm having a hard time getting the printer to print. If I configure it in
> KDE it, says that the printer is ready and is accepting jobs but it doesn't
> print the test page. I get an error which shows the path to /lpr :
> Connection refused.

Can't tell. KDE probably uses CUPS. Is it installed? Is it
configured? Is it running? CUPS has its own versions of lpr and
something else, which are different from the base FreeBSD versions.
Maybe you just haven't given the path to those commands correctly.

> So far, I've only found man pages that talk about printing on lpt (parallel
> port) and nothing about network printing.

The Handbook has a section on network printing. There are web resources
for using CUPS on FreeBSD, but I haven't been able to overcome my
apathy.

> I shouldn't need a bunch of scripts to make it work.

You picked the printer.

> FreeBSD has been around long enough that printing should be a simple task.

It is, until you start adding in non-FreeBSD components like KDE, CUPS,
and HP drivers.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

> Can't tell. KDE probably uses CUPS. Is it installed? Is it
> configured? Is it running? CUPS has its own versions of lpr and
> something else, which are different from the base FreeBSD versions.
> Maybe you just haven't given the path to those commands correctly.
>
>> So far, I've only found man pages that talk about printing on lpt
>> (parallel
>> port) and nothing about network printing.
>
> The Handbook has a section on network printing. There are web resources
> for using CUPS on FreeBSD, but I haven't been able to overcome my
> apathy.
>
>> I shouldn't need a bunch of scripts to make it work.
>
> You picked the printer.
>
>> FreeBSD has been around long enough that printing should be a simple
>> task.
>
> It is, until you start adding in non-FreeBSD components like KDE, CUPS,
> and HP drivers.
>
> --
> Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA
__________________________________
Non-FreeBSD components? They are all in the ports collection which came on
the FreeBSD CD. Secondly, after so many years of FreeBSD development,
there is no reason why I should even have to ask how to make it work. It's
not as if it's my first time around.

donato wrote:
> [snip]
> Non-FreeBSD components? They are all in the ports collection which came on
> the FreeBSD CD. Secondly, after so many years of FreeBSD development,
> there is no reason why I should even have to ask how to make it work. It's
> not as if it's my first time around.

I tend to agree with Donato.

Even IBM's AIX makes such a mundane task actually a mundane task and
less of a PhD thesis effort.

The computers work for -US-, not the other way around.

If FreeBSD wants to participate in the Enterprise arena (and perhaps it
actually does not), it's going to have to adapt to the facts of life in
today's business environment.

David J. Dachtera
DJE Systems

David J Dachtera wrote:
> donato wrote:
>> [snip]
>> Non-FreeBSD components? They are all in the ports collection which came on
>> the FreeBSD CD. Secondly, after so many years of FreeBSD development,
>> there is no reason why I should even have to ask how to make it work. It's
>> not as if it's my first time around.
>
> I tend to agree with Donato.

You may have removed too much text. The only point left is that since
KDE and CUPS were in ports, they must be FreeBSD components. I thought
that was pretty funny, actually.

> Even IBM's AIX makes such a mundane task actually a mundane task and
> less of a PhD thesis effort.

Which mundane task--setting up printing? It turns out that even in the
simplest setups, it's not exactly mundane. There's such a variety of
I/O, rendering, and PDL technologies that "one size fits all" often
means "no, you can't print".

If "donato" had something more severe than a configuration problem,
there ought to be some dialog with the FreeBSD maintainers of KDE and/or
CUPS.

As for some things not being documented very well, we can all agree on
that. There ought to be a Handbook section on CUPS. Someone was
working on that, but it's not there yet. Unlike proprietary OSs, this
is something where ordinary users can contribute--if they are willing to
make the effort.

> The computers work for -US-, not the other way around.

Right. By doing what we tell them, not by assuming that our situation
is just another virus-prone, often-failing monoculture.

> If FreeBSD wants to participate in the Enterprise arena (and perhaps it
> actually does not), it's going to have to adapt to the facts of life in
> today's business environment.

Fact: users can't differentiate between the operating system and add-on
desktop environments and printing packages.

That's not a problem with FreeBSD, particularly when those users can be
pointed at PC-BSD (http://www.pcbsd.org/).

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:07:08 -0600, David J Dachtera wrote:
: donato wrote:
: > [snip]
: > Non-FreeBSD components? They are all in the ports collection which came on
: > the FreeBSD CD. Secondly, after so many years of FreeBSD development,
: > there is no reason why I should even have to ask how to make it work. It's
: > not as if it's my first time around.
:
: I tend to agree with Donato.

I sympathize with Donato but don't agree. The base printing stuff is
through the printcap mechanism and lpd, not CUPS and one of the
desktop environments. If Donato is reading this s/he might check to
make sure that CUPS is properly configured, including the make.conf
knob that keeps the base lpd stuff from breaking it on a world
install.


:
: Even IBM's AIX makes such a mundane task actually a mundane task and
: less of a PhD thesis effort.
:
: The computers work for -US-, not the other way around.
:
: If FreeBSD wants to participate in the Enterprise arena (and perhaps it
: actually does not), it's going to have to adapt to the facts of life in
: today's business environment.

Please help to improve it. The project needs your time, effort, or
perhaps funding. IBM has resources that our group of volunteers
lacks

Howard Goldstein wrote:
> [snip]
> :
> : Even IBM's AIX makes such a mundane task actually a mundane task and
> : less of a PhD thesis effort.
> :
> : The computers work for -US-, not the other way around.
> :
> : If FreeBSD wants to participate in the Enterprise arena (and perhaps it
> : actually does not), it's going to have to adapt to the facts of life in
> : today's business environment.
>
> Please help to improve it. The project needs your time, effort, or
> perhaps funding. IBM has resources that our group of volunteers
> lacks

As is so often the case, I can tell what needs to be done; however, I
lack the C coding skills to bring it into existence.

In my case, I'm thinking of an Enterpise-class site - a prominent
Chicago healthcare institution where, if FreeBSD were at all acceptable
by he application vendor (Cerner), we would always be adding some
variation of PostScript-capable printer: HPLJ-whatever, Xerox WorkCenter
Multifunction devices, etc. Nothing "exotic". Even I could whip up a
shell script to accept the queue name, printer type mnemonic and IP
address and apply template parameters to create "printcap" entries, or
the equivalent.

David J Dachtera
DJE Systems

David J Dachtera wrote:
> Howard Goldstein wrote:
>> [snip]
>> :
>> : Even IBM's AIX makes such a mundane task actually a mundane task and
>> : less of a PhD thesis effort.
>> :
>> : The computers work for -US-, not the other way around.
>> :
>> : If FreeBSD wants to participate in the Enterprise arena (and perhaps it
>> : actually does not), it's going to have to adapt to the facts of life in
>> : today's business environment.
>>
>> Please help to improve it. The project needs your time, effort, or
>> perhaps funding. IBM has resources that our group of volunteers
>> lacks
>
> As is so often the case, I can tell what needs to be done; however, I
> lack the C coding skills to bring it into existence.

Who says you need C?

> In my case, I'm thinking of an Enterpise-class site - a prominent
> Chicago healthcare institution where, if FreeBSD were at all acceptable
> by he application vendor (Cerner),

Corporate policy can't be considered a failing of FreeBSD. Although I
understand the frustration.

> we would always be adding some
> variation of PostScript-capable printer: HPLJ-whatever, Xerox WorkCenter
> Multifunction devices, etc. Nothing "exotic". Even I could whip up a
> shell script to accept the queue name, printer type mnemonic and IP
> address and apply template parameters to create "printcap" entries, or
> the equivalent.

From experience doing just that: don't use a shell script, the string
operations are just too painful. Perl works great.

I honestly don't know what "Enterprise-class" means, and I've been told
that's my specialty. I can say from experience that FreeBSD works great
as a print server in large, multiple-site companies with a mix of
oddball legacy hardware and standard PC hardware.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA