Canon Pixma IP4850 can't print CDs in Ubuntu

[martinw]

I have just bought a Canon IP4850 specifically to print CDs and am running the 30-day trial of Turboprint with a definite view to purchase provided I can get it to work for me.

My machine runs Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit. I have installed the Turboprint application and configured the printer. I can print test pages to paper, run the printhead alignment utility, do everything with the exception of printing onto a CD. I can pick the CD tray as the "paper source", but when I submit a print from a graphic application which has the printer choice and properties set to the CD tray it just hangs. The job appears in the Turboprint monitor but that is all.

I tried installing Canon's own CD printing utility into Wine, which installed ok. When I try to run this it tells me there is no CD-enabled printer available.

Please can anyone offer some advice that can get this working?

Thanks,

Martin W.

[martinw]

Before posting the above I spent four hours trying every configuration option I could find, I rebooted the PC and the printer several times, including taking the plugs out to make sure they were really down, but no luck.

Last night I went back for a second go: I decided I would connect a windows laptop to the printer and use the official Canon software to make sure there wasn't actually a fault on the printer. Before doing this however I thought I would give it one last try from the Ubuntu PC.

I started the PC and the printer, opened a graphic application, loaded a suitable image file and set it to print to the CD tray. The thing printed out straight away. I am completely mystified. I made no changes to anything at all, but now it works.