Vista to Linux iP4000 printing... need help.

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EnviroTO
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:11 am

Vista to Linux iP4000 printing... need help.

Post by EnviroTO »

I am having trouble figuring out the best way to configure Turboprint, CUPS, Samba, and Windows Printer Drivers. I have the Turboprint driver installed on a Linux desktop and it works perfectly.

Samba share method:
I shared the printer through Samba and I can see in on a Vista Laptop. If I add the printer in Vista it doesn't find the drivers on the Linux desktop and I have to select the Canon iP4000 drivers from a disk. After installing the Canon driver on Vista the test page printed fine but the status of the printer is "Access denied, unable to connect". When I start the printer status monitor found under the Printer Properties "Maintenance" tab it sits at "Collecting Printer Status" for a while before stating "Printer Not Responding". In summary this method is printing fine but no status information is coming back from the printer.

CUPS method:
I added the printer in Vista using "Add Printer" -> "Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer" -> "The printer that I want isn't listed" and enter the path http://{computername}:631/printers/tp0 and use the "Generic - MS Publisher Imagesetter" driver. This method the printing works but there is no status information (but no errors either), no access to colour functions, and the colour quality of the printing is poor. Trying to use this CUPS method with the Canon drivers results in error.

When I look through older manuals for Turboprint they mention the creation of tp0raw but in the current manual there is no mention of this nor do I see a way to create this raw queue in the Turboprint Control Panel.

What is the best way to set this up? Is there a way to use Windows clients for a printer attached to a Linux desktop which allows Linux applications to use the features of the Turboprint driver, Windows clients to use the features of the Canon driver, and for Windows clients to access the status of the printer?
zedonet
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Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

status information is generally not available when sharing the printer, so you probably should use the "Samba share method".
EnviroTO
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:11 am

Post by EnviroTO »

Thanks. You probably saved me a lot of time. There is so much conflicting information on the Internet about this and unfortunately much of it is from 5 to 10 years ago and Samba and CUPS has changed significantly since then. Is there a way to place the Canon drivers for Windows into /etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/ and have the drivers delivered to the Windows clients automatically? There doesn't seem to be a way to add Windows drivers via YaST which is surprising considering the target audience for Samba shares is Windows clients.
zedonet
Site Admin
Posts: 2154
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

this is possible but rather complicated. This page contains some information:

http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/man/Sam ... #id2641165

Section "Manual Driver Installation in 15 Steps"

It is necessary to find out which drivers belong to your printer. You can view this on a Windows XP computer in "Printers and Faxes" -> "File" menu "Server Properties". On Windows 7 you have to start "printui /s /t2" from command line.

Then open tab "Drivers" button "Properties" to view the files that belong to the driver and fetch them from "C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\W32X86\3". Then proceed as described in "Manual Driver Installation in 15 Steps" (at least that's the theory).
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