Printer Help Debian

[CoffeeMan]

Hey, I need help setting my Epson Stylus Color 800 printer to work in Debian. If anyone knows what utils. to use to install a printer, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

[Rinias]

Hey-

Well, it depends on what printing server you want to use, but I think it's a pretty safe bet to just use CUPS. When you've got it installed, there might also be a driver for the Epson (wel- I'm almost positive there is), which you should install also (if apt-get didn't take the liberty of installing it on its own).

Also- how is it connected to the computer? USB or parallel? You'll need to make sure that you have support for whichever option you need in the kernel and that the system is recognizing your printer.

After everything's installed you can either use your printer setup tool or open your browser and go to the page:

http://localhost:631

to set it up!

The page there is for a CUPS server, and cupsd needs to be running. Try to click on the link- maybe you've installed it already and it just needs to be configured. Good luck! :D

[loopback48]

Please allow me to jump in. I too need some assistance in setting up my printer. I've reciently install Debian Testing (Etch) and need to set up my HP DeskJet color printer.

Rinias, I ran a few commands and here is my results:

atx:/home/loopback# whereis cups
cups: /etc/cups
atx:/home/loopback# cd /etc/cups
atx:/etc/cups# ls


I also did a search:

atx:/home/loopback# apt-cache search cups
apcupsd - APC UPS Power Management
apcupsd-cgi - Cgi for APC UPS Power Management
apcupsd-doc - Documentation for apcupsd
bluez-cups - Bluetooth printer driver for CUPS
cups-pdf - PDF printer for CUPS
cupsys - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - server
cupsys-bsd - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - BSD commands
cupsys-client - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - client programs (SysV)
cupsys-driver-gimpprint - printer drivers for CUPS
cupsys-driver-gutenprint - printer drivers for CUPS
cupsys-pt - Tool for viewing/managing print jobs under CUPS
escputil - maintenance utility for Epson Stylus printers
foomatic-db - linuxprinting.org printer support - database
foomatic-db-engine - linuxprinting.org printer support - programs
foomatic-db-gutenprint - linuxprinting.org printer support - database for Gutenprint printer drivers
foomatic-db-hpijs - linuxprinting.org printer support - database for HPIJS driver
foomatic-filters - linuxprinting.org printer support - filters
foomatic-filters-ppds - linuxprinting.org printer support - prebuilt PPD files
foomatic-gui - GNOME interface for configuring the Foomatic printer filter system
gimp-print - print plugin for the GIMP
gnome-cups-manager - CUPS printer admin tool for GNOME
gs-common - Common files for different Ghostscript releases
gs-esp - The Ghostscript PostScript interpreter - ESP version
gtklp - printing tool for GNOME
gutenprint-locales - locale data files for Gutenprint
hpijs - HP Linux Printing and Imaging - gs IJS driver (hpijs)
hplip - HP Linux Printing and Imaging System (HPLIP)
hpoj - HP OfficeJet Linux driver (hpoj)
ijsgimpprint - printer drivers for CUPS
ijsgutenprint - inkjet server - Ghostscript driver for Gutenprint
kdeprint - print system for KDE
libcupsimage2 - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - image libs
libcupsimage2-dev - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - image development files
libcupsys2 - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - libs
libcupsys2-dev - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - development files
libcupsys2-gnutls10 - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - dummy libs for transition
libgnomecups1.0-1 - GNOME library for CUPS interaction
libgnomecups1.0-dev - GNOME library for CUPS interaction (headers)
libgnomecupsui1.0-1c2a - UI extensions to libgnomecups
libgnomecupsui1.0-dev - UI extensions to libgnomecups (headers)
libgutenprint-dev - development files for the Gutenprint printer driver library
libgutenprint-doc - documentation for the Gutenprint printer driver library
libgutenprint2 - runtime for the Gutenprint printer driver library
libgutenprintui1-1 - runtime for the Gutenprint printer driver user interface library
libgutenprintui1-dev - development files for the Gutenprint printer driver user interface library
libgutenprintui2-1 - runtime for the Gutenprint printer driver user interface library
libgutenprintui2-dev - development files for the Gutenprint printer driver user interface library
libwine-print - Windows API Implementation (Printing Module)
openoffice.org - OpenOffice.org Office suite version 2.0
printconf - automatically configures USB and parallel printers with CUPS
python-foomatic - Python interface to the Foomatic printer database
vde - virtual distributed ethernet
xpp - X Printing Panel


But I'm still uncertain on how to proceed. I don't know if I have everything I need to provision my system for a printer. Looking at the search results, it looks like "gnome-cups-manager - CUPS printer admin tool for GNOME" just might be what I'm look for.

One other thing, you stated using the printer setup tool. Couldn't find anything like that on my system. Maybe I not looking in the right place. But I've searched high and low.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

P.S. Just installed Gnome-Cups-manager. I found it under Desktop > Administration > Printing. When I ran it it get this error message: The CUPS server could not be contacted.

So where do I go from here?

[teeitup]

dpkg -l |grep cups

This should tell you what you have installed.

apt-get update
apt-get install cupsys
apt-get install foomatic-filters-ppds

That should get you started. Use the URL provided at the beginning of the thread for configuration.

CUPS has excellent documentaion on their website.

Good Luck,

[loopback48]

apt-get install cupsys. Didn't go any further. I was surprised when the install kicked off. I thought I had what I needed. Guess not. With that I was able to use the Gnome-print-manager GUI I had installed previously. I am able to print a test page and print a doc from OOo. Can't print a web page from my browser. But at least I can print. I'll keep pluging away. This is a start.

Thanks,
Loopback48

P.S. The link provided on the second reply requires a signon/password. Couldn't use it. But thanks for the link anyway.

[Calipso]

The link provided on the second reply requires a signon/password. Couldn't use it. But thanks for the link anyway.

The username is "root" and the password is your root password. ;)
Since you are about to make changes to your computers setup, your root login info is required :)