[K12OSN] Very frustrating!

Joseph Bishay joseph.bishay at gmail.com
Fri Jan 30 20:35:17 UTC 2009


Hello,

I'd like to thank everyone for their replies.  I've sort of merged the
threads into one so that way I can address the different parts without
sending off so many emails.


On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 1:48 AM, Sudev Barar <sbarar at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2009/1/30 Joseph Bishay <joseph.bishay at gmail.com>:
>> 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.
>
> If it is working on server then only reason for it not to work on the
> client is that the client does not have USB2 ports. Is that correct?
> Then may be you need atleast one thin client that has SUB2 ports.
> (This was how we got scanner working at a thin client).

The thin client does has a working USB port -- when I plug the printer
into the USB drive and boot the client, the bootup screen shows that
it has recognized the usb device and prints out some messages about a
usb driver being loaded (it scrolls too fast for me to see but it's
definitely something that is not showing up on other clients without a
usb device plugged into it).

> Off chance do check the windows share or samba settings. Win98 use
> plain text password whereas later releases used encrypted ...something
> like that. Could that be a problem?

The printer and directory shares from the Win 98 machine do not have
any passwords on them.  I can browse, open files, etc from the LTSP
server without needing any username/password.



On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 9:16 AM, Rob Owens <rowens at ptd.net> wrote:
>> 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.

This is good news that you were able to do it with an HP 1020 as it
also is a host-based printer.  However the HP 1020 doesn't show on on
that HP page of exceptions so I wonder if that's why it was able to
work.


> 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?

[mac address of thin client with printer]
Yes I have the following in lts.conf
PRINTER_0_TYPE	= U
PRINTER_0_DEVICE = /dev/usb/lp0
MODULE_01 = usblp

> 2)  Does the thin client have a static IP address?

No - I am using the mac address in lts.conf to specify it, and it does
seem that the DHCP server is always giving that machine 192.168.2.250
as the IP.

> 3)  Have you rebooted the thin client after making the above changes/settings?

Yes.

> 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?

Yes I did this two ways -- once by taking the working local printer
and redirecting it to the thin client.  The other times by creating a
new jetdirect printer in cups (and also via the admin panel printer
control program) and creating it from scratch, specifying the HP 1000
and the correct driver.


On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Rob Owens <rowens at ptd.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 10:42:23AM -0500, "Terrell Prudé Jr." wrote:
>> Rob Owens wrote:
>> 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.

I am trying to hang it off a thin client for 2 reasons -- 1) to get an
extra computer in the room for students to use and 2) to move the
server out of the room as the kids damage it.

I thought by hooking it up to a windows computer would resolve this
host issue, as it did before, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Ideally though it would be off a client.


2009/1/30 "Terrell Prudé Jr." <microman at cmosnetworks.com>:
>
> Sure, that's the idea.  You could configure/share that printer from a Linux
> machine and have your Windows clients, if any, hit the Linux print queue,
> via either Samba or through CUPS's "LPR compatibility mode."  Either one
> will work from pretty much any Windows machine.

Isn't that going to make the printer, attached to a Linux machine,
availabe to a windows machine? I've sort of got the reverse problem.

> But unless I'm misreading the original question, it didn't seem to be about
> Windows machines, but rather getting the printer to work in a separate
> physical location from the K12LTSP server.  I think that's why Joseph wanted
> to hang the printer off of a thin client.  A little print server would work
> perfectly for this scenario.

That is correct.  I can look into that little print device that
connects to the printer but the issue there is time.  It will take a
while to ship and install it and I'm running against the clock (I'm
still dealing with the 'if this was a windows lab it would already be
up! sort of thinking!)

Joseph




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