[K12OSN] Very frustrating!

[Rob Owens]

On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 10:42:23AM -0500, "Terrell Prudé Jr." wrote:
> Rob Owens wrote:
> >On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 04:23:21PM +0200, Dean Mumby wrote:
> >  
> >>Rob Owens wrote:
> >>    
> >>>On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 01:22:23AM -0500, Joseph Bishay wrote:
> >>> 
> >>>      
> >>>>Hello,
> >>>>
> >>>>So I have a feeling that there's some sort of evil force trying to
> >>>>prevent me from getting this lab off the ground.
> >>>>
> >>>>My latest trouble has to do with trying to get a printer working.  I
> >>>>had it working once when I was using K12LTSP 5 (based on FC with LTSP
> >>>>4.2) but now that I've upgraded to EL5 nothing is really working.
> >>>>Here's the skinny:
> >>>>
> >>>>1) Printer is USB HP Laserjet 1000
> >>>>
> >>>>2) Printer works no problem when directly plugged into the server.
> >>>>This isn't feasible because the server is not in the computer lab
> >>>>
> >>>>3) The printer cannot be plugged into a thin client because it does
> >>>>not work with JetDirect (as per this site
> >>>>http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/fastFaqLiteDocument?lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&
> >>>>docname=bpj06101).  My printer shows up under "Exceptions and
> >>>>unsupported printers", of course.
> >>>>
> >>>>   
> >>>>        
> >>>This applies to Windows only.  This is a "host-based" printer, as HP 
> >>>calls it.  That means (under Windows), it must be attached directly to a 
> >>>computer.  It doesn't support jetdirect natively.  When it gets hooked 
> >>>to an LTSP thin client, it should work though.  I've done it with an HP 
> >>>1020.
> >>>
> >>>Double-check all your steps.  
> >>>
> >>>1)  Is the thin client listed in lts.conf, and are you specifying in 
> >>>that file that it has a usb printer attached?
> >>>
> >>>2)  Does the thin client have a static IP address?
> >>>
> >>>3)  Have you rebooted the thin client after making the above 
> >>>changes/settings?
> >>>
> >>>4)  Have you configured a jetdirect printer in cups which points to the 
> >>>IP address or hostname of the correct thin client?  Did you specify HP 
> >>>Laserjet 1000 as the printer?
> >>>
> >>>There are probably some things I'm missing here.  Everybody, feel free 
> >>>to add to my list.
> >>>
> >>>-Rob
> >>>
> >>>_______________________________________________
> >>>K12OSN mailing list
> >>>K12OSN at redhat.com
> >>>https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn
> >>>For more info see <http://www.k12os.org>
> >>> 
> >>>      
> >>The problem I think is that its not really a printer until the computer 
> >>uploads the firmware and tells it that it is a printer , this is why it 
> >>needs to be connected to a pc with the drivers.
> >>
> >>Have you tried setting it up as a tcp/ip printer from a windows machine 
> >>? it might upload the firmware that way  ???
> >>
> >>    
> >That could be.  I successfully used an HP Laserjet 1020 on a thin client, 
> >but that same printer had previously been attached to a Windows computer.
> >
> >-Rob
> >  
> 
> Since it works when hooked up directly to the K12LTSP server, why not 
> just hook up a little cheapie "JetDirect-like" print server, make a 
> print queue in the K12LTSP server, and put the printer wherever there's 
> a network drop?
> 
> Or would that not work for your situation?  Is there a specific reason 
> why it has to hang directly off of a thin client?
> 
My understanding of the host-based printers is that they won't work if hooked to a print server if you attempt to communicate to it directly from a Windows machine.  I think that magic that makes it work on a print server is the Linux driver.  So you could hook it to a print server, but you'd need to configure and share the printer from a Linux machine.

This is based on my recollection of when I had a similar problem about a year ago.  My memory might be fading, though...

-Rob