Can't Print to Canon PRO-100 [Solved]

SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Can't Print to Canon PRO-100 [Solved]

Post by SeriousAmateur »

I've got a new installation of TurboPrint 2.45-1_amd64.deb on freshly-installed Debian 9 with KDE desktop, running GIMP and darktable, all current versions. My printer is a Canon PRO-100 on Ethernet cable that I have been using for several months, printing from Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop, and Corel AfterShot and PaintShop Pro under Windows 10 from two computers. I installed TurboPrint Studio XL a few days ago and can't get it to print a all. The lone exception was one line of text from a test print.

I cleared out the printer cue, shut off the printer, disconnected it for several seconds, and restarted it. Then I restarted Linux and waited overnight. Then, I tried to print from GIM using <Ctrl>P, <Pro-100-TurboPrint>, <select paper type, etc.>, and the printer starts to print, but immediately the TurboPrint status window says "Backend failed".

Setup is connection bjnp://192.169.1.4:8611, driver is "Current - Canon_PIXMA_Pro100 TurboPrint", no changes to setup or options other than US Letter paper size and Canon MP-101 matte photo paper. I'm using a fixed IP address for the printer because I noticed that the router would drop the user-set name and icon for the printer when TurboPrint tried to print, meaning that the printer was re-establishing its DHCP lease, not just renewing it. I hard-wired the fixed IP address into the bjnp address, as you see, on a recommendation here to another user who was having a similar problem.

I've tried a variety of setups, deleted printers and re-installed the printer, restarting the printer and computer, etc. a number of times. There remains a grayed-out printer "PRO-100 series" that I don't see in the Printer Setup and don't know how to get rid of. It got there when I deleted a printer in the KDE Print Setup instead of the TurboPrint setup. But the problem remains through everything that I have tried: Backend failure. Suggestions are welcome.

Data prompted by another post here:
TurboPrint Studio XL 2.45-1 (06-FEB-2018)(c) ZEROnet GmbH
Version of bjnp: cups BJNP backend - version 1.2
Driver: Canon_PIXMA_Pro100
Prints from USB? Printer too far away to use USB, will dig up a cable with a repeater if necessary, but it prints the way it is from Windows
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SeriousAmateur
zedonet
Site Admin
Posts: 2154
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

everythin seems to be set up correctly. There is one thing that you could try - replace the "bjnp" backend by the version that is included with TurboPrint.

You can do this from a "Terminal" window with the following commands:

Check see which version of bjnp is installed:

/usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp -v

If it doesn't report "bjnp 1.2.1zedo" then rename the existing bjnp backend:

sudo mv /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp-origial

Then copy the TurboPrint version to the system directory:

sudo cp /usr/share/turboprint/lib/bjnp /usr/lib/cups/backend
SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by SeriousAmateur »

While waiting for a reply I uninstalled turboprint, downloaded a fresh copy, and installed the fresh version. No change. The console reported this progress on the new installation from root:
root@SSH-Server:/home/beard9g/Downloads# dpkg -i turboprint_2.45-1_amd64.deb
Selecting previously unselected package turboprint.
(Reading database ... 294107 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack turboprint_2.45-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking turboprint (2.45-1) ...
Setting up turboprint (2.45-1) ...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/tpdaemon.service → /etc/systemd/system/tpdaemon.service.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/user/default.target.wants/turboprint.user.service → /etc/systemd/user/turboprint.user.service.
Restarting TurboPrint printer port daemon
Creating PPD printer description files...
done
Updating existing TurboPrint printer entries...
done
Installing icon images
Installing turboprint menu entry
Installing icons for user beard9g
Installing icons for user nightstrike3r
Installing printer monitor applet for KDE 42
Installing printer monitor applet for KDE 5
pluginname: "com.zedonet.turboprint"
org.kde.plasma: Could not register package as service (this is not necessarily fatal): "plasma-applet-com.zedonet.turboprint.desktop"
Error: Installation of /usr/lib/turboprint/kde5applet failed: /usr/share/plasma/plasmoids/com.zedonet.turboprint already exists
Installing Gimp TurboPrint Plugin
Installing Ghostscript version for TurboPrint
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.6.1-2) ...
root@SSH-Server:/home/beard9g/Downloads# /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp -v
cups BJNP backend - version 1.2
Usage: /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp job-id user title copies options [file]
------------ END OF INSTALL AND CHECK OF VERSION -----------
I was using your method of changing bjnp but find that the contents of /usr/share/turboprint/lib is three files:
install-post
pipeutility
uninstall-pre

There is no bjnp there. In the installation files, I find data.tar.gz that contains /usr/bin/lib/turboprint/bjnp, a 27.4 KiB binary application file. That's not near the size of the original, but I located /var/cache/apt/archives /cups-backend-bjnp_1.2-2+b1_amd64.deb and ran dpkg -i on that. Result from console is
root@SSH-Server:/home/beard9g/Downloads# dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/cups-backend-bjnp_1.2-2+b1_amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 295284 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../cups-backend-bjnp_1.2-2+b1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking cups-backend-bjnp (1.2-2+b1) over (1.2-2+b1) ...
Setting up cups-backend-bjnp (1.2-2+b1) ...
root@SSH-Server:/home/beard9g/Downloads#

Checking the version again, I get
root@SSH-Server:/home/beard9g/Downloads# /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp -v
cups BJNP backend - version 1.2
Usage: /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp job-id user title copies options [file]
root@SSH-Server:/home/beard9g/Downloads#

That is unchanged from what I was getting before, but there is a bjnp application there after running dpkg -i on what seems to be your dpkg installation file. I'll reboot and try again. The printer power LED is blinking, its "busy" signal, and the last monitor message was "192.168.1.4 busy, trying again in 30 seconds" before I killed the print job. I'll cycle the printer off, unplug it for 15 seconds, then start it, then restart Linux, and try again.
---
No change. I don't think that the bjnp file is changed, either, because both bjnp and bjnp-original are 35752 bytes.

I tried to print a test page from turboprint Control and get the top few cm of the page, including the title in large letters "PrinterTestPage" (no spaces) and part of a box around the page (the top, and the sides down to where it stopped printing). The print status says "23% complete" and "printer busy, will try again in 30 seconds."

Let me know if I should look in the system logs or the "invisible" setup files and folders.
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SeriousAmateur
SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by SeriousAmateur »

Another problem that I was having was that sometimes when rebooting, after logging in with the plasma desktop, KDE would hang with a black background and a central KDE logo, a K with a gear behind it. I could SSH into the machine from another computer on my network and run <shutdown -r now> and get the machine back up. After I noticed that turboprint has the system start both turboprint apps on logon, the next time it hung on logon, I used PuTTY from a Windows laptop to get in, then used aptitude to un-install turboprint and the hang-on-boot problem seems to have gone away.

I wonder if there was a change in Debian 9 "stretch" and later corresponding Ubuntu versions that causes problems with turboprint. I've found that Apper, which I've used for years with Fedora and Debian 8, is unstable under Debian 9 and isn't installed by default, and was almost dropped from release with "stretch" (I use "Software" instead of Apper now), so Debian 9 "stretch" has broken other software.

Let me know what to try. I'll just remove turboprint when I'm not working with it.

Getting turboprint to work with my Canon PIXMA PRO-100 is a huge thing for me. Supporting quality prints for my photography habit is a killer app for me, and I'm counting on turboprint to liberate me from Windows 10. Nobody else comes close under Linux. Please get this one fixed for us, or tell us how to deal with it so we can use turboprint.
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SeriousAmateur
zedonet
Site Admin
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Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

after TurboPrint is installed, a copy of the TurboPrint BJNP backend should be located at /usr/share/turboprint/lib/bjnp. Is this file missing on your computer?
The message "backend failed" says that sending the printer data did result in an error, so probably the bjnp network data transfer failed. If it is available, please copy to /usr/lib/cups/backend as instructed in our last posting.
Just for excluding other error sources: did you try to connect the printer via USB - does printing work that way?
SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by SeriousAmateur »

When I tried to copy bjnp as you instructed but found that /usr/share/turboprint/lib/ contained three other files but not bjnp. I found a *.deb file and ran dpkg on it instead and got a copy of bjnp in the proper directory that way. It was identical in size to the one that I renamed *-original, though, so I think that Ihad the right bjnp installed correctly.

Right now turboprint is not installed. I had un-installed turboprint and re-installed before I tried the fix on bjnp. Should I go through and manually delete files before I re-install turboprint and try again?
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SeriousAmateur
zedonet
Site Admin
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Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by zedonet »

I suggest to install TurboPrint again and try if you can print with USB connection. If that is working properly, I can email you the TurboPrint version of the "bjnp" backend.
SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by SeriousAmateur »

OK. The printer is too far form the computer for USB, which is why I use Ethernet cable. I dug out a USB repeater that I used with an Epson printer years ago that extends the range of USB 2.0 cables. I'll try that and let you know what happens. Watch this space for developments.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
I plugged in my USB 2.0 cable with repeater and tried my PRO-100 with TurboPrint. Installation:

root@<Computer Name>:/home/<user>/Documents# dpkg -i turboprint_2.42-1_amd64.deb
Selecting previously unselected package turboprint.
(Reading database ... 295275 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack turboprint_2.42-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking turboprint (2.42-1) ...
Setting up turboprint (2.42-1) ...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/tpdaemon.service → /etc/syst
Restarting TurboPrint printer port daemon
Creating PPD printer description files...
done
Updating existing TurboPrint printer entries...
done
Installing icon images
Installing turboprint menu entry
Installing icons for user <user>
Installing icons for user <another user>
Installing printer monitor applet for KDE 42
Installing Gimp TurboPrint Plugin
Installing Ghostscript version for TurboPrint
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.6.1-2) ...
root@<Computer Name>:/home/<user>/Documents#

The utility to print a test page went verrry slowly and eventually completed, emptying the print queue, but the printer never reacted. I'm not sure that the computer ever saw the printer. When it set up the default printer queue, it "saw: the old fixed IP address, even though the network cable was not plugged into the printer. I deleted that printer and added another, with the "PRO-100 turboprint" driver for the PRO-100, "serial port #1" because I did not see an identifiable USB printer detected. But, I see "serial port #1" on the printer setup when the printer is back on the network, so it's probably for a Centronix printer port that I don't believe that I have on that computer. So I probably did it wrong, and did not connect to the printer. Sorry, I've never used USB with a printer on Linux and didn't know what to look for.

I put back the network cable and unplugged the USB, deleted and re-installed the printer with TCP/IP interface, and got the same result, a small portion of the test page, "backend failed" and a "Printer busy, trying again in 30 seconds" message. The printer seemed to be in mid-page state, big white LED blinking, and would not respond to anything short of a 30-second push of the power button.

I'm printing to it just fine from two Windows 10 computers on the same network, one wired and one on WiFi.

The printer network cable is on a TCP/IP switch, if that makes any difference. The Linux computer is also on that same network switch, I believe.\

I realize that since I probably set up the USB-connected printer wrong, this post may have zero information for you. I'll try again and add another result to this post. Again, watch this space for further developments.

MORE DEVELOPMENTS
I found that I needed to turn the printer off for a few seconds, then turn it back on, after switching the connection to USB. Then, the Linux printer installation sees the printer as a local printer. It installs OK and it outputs a PrinterTestPage OK.

So, your suggestion did find a way around the problem, but I need to get the printer back on the wired network.

My system is:
Debian 9 "Stretch"
KDE 5.8.6
KDE Frameworks 5.28.0
Qt 5.7.1
Kernel 4.9.0-6-amd64
OS type 64-bit
Processor AMD FX-9370 (8 cores, 1 thread each, 4 GHz)
RAM 32 GB
Video card GEFORCE 780
Video driver noveau Gallium 0.4 on NVE7
OpenGL 3.0 Mesa 13.0.6

EDIT - I had to take the printer off the USB to the Linux machine and put it back on the Ethernet to print some photos from my Windows machine. I have about a terabyte of photos on that machine. Let me know when you have a back end solution. If you like, email me and I will send you back URL and SSH logon credentials so you can access it with FileZilla and PuTTY if you would like to use it for testing.
Last edited by SeriousAmateur on Mon Jun 11, 2018 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SeriousAmateur
SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by SeriousAmateur »

I re-installed the Turboprint driver to work with the network connection and found that I am over the 30 day evaluation time limit. I bought a license with updates for a year.

The printer driver still hangs when printing a TurboPrint test page. The most informative message is from the spooler: "Failed to establish TCP connection to printer 192.168.1.4:8611". TurboPrint Printer Monitor message reports "...busy, will retry in 30 seconds". Printer status light is blinking, a "busy" status notice. The only way I can get the printer to respond is to turn it off, then back on.

Page eject shows a small portion of the test page, less than a cm, printed.

EDIT
Tried a print from GIMP, got message "Backend failed."
I don't see a way to look at the firewall settings. The printer works fine from Windows 10 from any application.
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SeriousAmateur
zedonet
Site Admin
Posts: 2154
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Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by zedonet »

I have just sent you the bjnp backend in the TurboPrint version by email.
SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by SeriousAmateur »

SUCCESS!!!

Installation was as you instructed:
  • sudo cp bjnp /usr/lib/cups/backend
  • /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp -v [to verify that version 1.2.1zedo is installed]
  • Then remove and setup the printer again in TurboPrint Control and try to print again.
Version is: cups BJNP backend - version 1.2.1zedo

Test page first line is TurboPrint version, 2.42-1-1 (01-FEB-2017)
followed by configuration, printer, and printer setup configuration. Below that are two graphics blocks, one with thirteen adjacent horizonatal color bars, each with ten square patches about 4mm on a side of different brightnesses, darkest on the left. To the right of the color test is a starburst pattern of lines within a circle, all lines passing through the center, five degrees apart.

Nice test pattern. It shows whether nozzles are OK or clogged (and will tell you which ones!), and shows the resolution. The starburst gives proof to resolution for a given setting, and also shows nozzle alignment. All with not very much ink used.

Thank you for your support. I have no idea what about my setup causes the TCP loss; I was looking at the firewall or something in the printer setup. No problem now, though.

I took the time to load up a file in GIMP and print that, and GIMP prints just fine, too. An email came in with a photo in it. I loaded that one in GIMP, adjusted it, and printed it too.

I've taken the time to browse through the options in your printer driver. The options and methods of adjusting for printer, paper profile, camera, and other critical and fine color adjustments are excellent. A professional studio with densitometers calibrating color from the subject to the print can easily use your driver. I think that perhaps Canon would do well to license your printer driver and paper profiles for Linux.

Thank you for your exemplary support. Your printer driver completes my photography capability under Linux and makes me very nearly fully independent from Windows. I need to see a GIMP setting that adjusts brightness/contrast locally within a print for photos that have different lighting in different parts of the image, as in Photoshop's "Shadows/Highlights" and Corel PaintShop Pro's "Smart Photo Fix" and "One Step Photo Fix". I could write that myself, with GIMP's plug-in API, if I find enough time for that as a project.
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SeriousAmateur
itfixt
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 9:02 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by itfixt »

I had this problem some time ago and never solved it, so use USB... but that's a nuisance as it means that my machine has to be running for any of the other PCs in the place to print... so I'd love to be able to get it working on the network. Any chance you could send me that version of BJNP, too? :)

Also: TPDaemon doesn't run at startup (Linux, Ubuntu 14.10.4): Can I just add a call to the "service start" command to startup tasks? (Would you prefer me to start a new thread for this?)

Lastly: Is there a way to print full bleed on A4?

The printing to my Canon PRO-10s, BTW, is superb - thanks!
zedonet
Site Admin
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Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

yes, I will send you the TurboPrint version of the BJNP backend by email.
---
About TPDaemon:

Please make sure that it is enabled in TurboPrint Config:
Dialog "Settings" -> check "TurboPrint Monitor - start daemon when booting".

To start TPDaemon manually, you can use the following commands from a terminal window:

sudo service tpdaemon start

or

sudo tprintdaemon

(the login password will be requested).
----
Printing A4 full bleed:

To print A4 full bleed, please select the page size "A4 borderless". You can use GIMP and the GIMP-TurboPrint plugin ("File" -> "TurboPrint...") which makes scaling & positioning easy with the "Borderless image size" button.
SeriousAmateur
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:44 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by SeriousAmateur »

I got a bigger HD and installed a fresh Debian 9 "Stretch" on it. In the process of re-installing things, I downloaded a fresh copy of turboprint_2.45-1_amd64.deb and installed that with dpkg. This installation took my existing *.tpkey file OK. I then installed my Canon PIXMA PRO-100 in TurboPrint and tweaked the setup to reflect the paper in the printer. Then, moving on to the back end, I checked the version with /usr/lib/cups/backend/bjnp v
and found that it installed version 1.2.1zedo already. I tried a test print and it is great, the printer setup in text followed by the same color and head alignment test that I described here before.

Apparently, with a fresh download of the TurboPrint installation files, the current version of bjnp is in there and the Debian/Ubuntu installer puts it in the right place.

Maybe you could change the title of the thread to "Now I CAN print to Canon PRO-100"?
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SeriousAmateur
itfixt
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 9:02 pm

Re: Can't Print to Canon PRO-100

Post by itfixt »

zedonet wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:12 pm yes, I will send you the TurboPrint version of the BJNP backend by email.
Thanks Florian. Just got back from a trip to the UK - will try that tomorrow morning.
zedonet wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:12 pm About TPDaemon:

Please make sure that it is enabled in TurboPrint Config:
Dialog "Settings" -> check "TurboPrint Monitor - start daemon when booting".
I checked that - I even tried turning it off and on again. what I have found is that there is a file for it in /etc/systemd... but my system seems to run on Upstart - I think half an upgrade happened when I had problems with video card drivers :/ I know that very shortly I'll have to do a clean installation of a more up-to-date Linux... but not in the next week or two.

I'm guessing that if I look in the DEB file, I'll find a file to run tpdaemon as an upstart service and I can just put in the appropriate rcx.d folder?
zedonet wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:12 pm To start TPDaemon manually, you can use the following commands from a terminal window:

sudo service tpdaemon start

or

sudo tprintdaemon

(the login password will be requested).
I've been using the first of these successfully since the problem started... which is why I couldn't understand why it wasn't started at boot time.
zedonet wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:12 pm ----
Printing A4 full bleed:

To print A4 full bleed, please select the page size "A4 borderless". You can use GIMP and the GIMP-TurboPrint plugin ("File" -> "TurboPrint...") which makes scaling & positioning easy with the "Borderless image size" button.
So obvious once you know about it :} Now I feel stupid :)

Thanks for the help Florian - much appreciated.
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