Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

billbar · 2009-02-28 03:00:41

I've used Linux for 10 years.
5 or 6 years ago it was Arch.
I've given up the installation attempt 4 or 5 times in the last 2 weeks because of cups problems, in both
32 and 64 bit.
But, dammit, this time I'm going to get some results.

First, cups called by the menu item under systems will not install a printer and hangs up on entering a
user name.
Second, cups called thru localhost:631 in Firefox will after repeated attempts accept 'root' as user name, which means
that root owns the printer. Any attempt to print finally, after several minutes, results in a page that says
"**** unable to open the initial device, quitting".
Here's the tail of the error log from trying to print a test page in cups:
bash-3.2# tail /var/log/messages.log
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: broadcasting for a lease
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: offered 192.168.0.193 from 192.168.0.1
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: acknowledged 192.168.0.193 from 192.168.0.1
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: checking 192.168.0.193 is availableon attached networks
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access HP Photosmart C4400 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Feb 27 18:28:57 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: leased 192.168.0.193 for 86400 seconds
Feb 27 18:41:30 billbar NET: Registered protocol family 10
Feb 27 18:41:30 billbar lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
bash-3.2#

This message followed an attempt to print from the notepad:\
bash-3.2# tail /var/log/messages.log
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: broadcasting for a lease
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: offered 192.168.0.193 from 192.168.0.1
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: acknowledged 192.168.0.193 from 192.168.0.1
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: checking 192.168.0.193 is availableon attached networks
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access HP Photosmart C4400 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Feb 27 18:28:57 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: leased 192.168.0.193 for 86400 seconds
Feb 27 18:41:30 billbar NET: Registered protocol family 10
Feb 27 18:41:30 billbar lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
bash-3.2#

This tail of the messages_log follows the initial turn-on of the printer:
bash-3.2# tail /var/log/messages.log
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: broadcasting for a lease
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: offered 192.168.0.193 from 192.168.0.1
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: acknowledged 192.168.0.193 from 192.168.0.1
Feb 27 18:28:51 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: checking 192.168.0.193 is availableon attached networks
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access HP Photosmart C4400 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Feb 27 18:28:52 billbar sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Feb 27 18:28:57 billbar dhcpcd[2104]: eth0: leased 192.168.0.193 for 86400 seconds
Feb 27 18:41:30 billbar NET: Registered protocol family 10
Feb 27 18:41:30 billbar lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
bash-3.2#

What other debug information can I give you.

I hope I can get some guidance here. Arch is too well laid out and the developers too smart to have to suffer the
ignomies that seem to accompany cups. I have installed, time after time, many distributions and printing problems
went away about 6-7 years ago.

Bill

Ranguvar · 2009-02-28 04:37:23

Is your user in the printer group, lp? Try making your user own the printer instead of root. Also, if you're going to make root own the printer, try using a 'sudo firefox' to do it, or even log into your DE as root.

Nezmer · 2009-02-28 14:02:11

If by any chance you own a HP printer , You should install 'net-snmp' (It's a known bug) .

It's normal to use the 'root' account in the web UI . It doesn't mean you can't print as a normal user .

billbar · 2009-02-28 16:30:50

I suppose root became owner of the printer because as user the command 'startx' brings up an xserver session. So I logged in as root issued 'kdm' and it brought up the kde session.
Something has changed that I don't recognize because in the past I had to change .xinitrc to startkde. Now I do not find this file in the user folder. Mepis, and other distros, takes care of this someplace but now where do I find this trigger?

skottish · 2009-02-28 16:38:04

KDM is a daemon, so you don't need startkde in .xinitrc. You can append kdm to the end of the daemons array to have it start automatically.

billbar · 2009-02-28 16:39:54

Nezmer,
English is my native language, but you could think otherwise from the spelling of 'ignominies' in my start of this thread. Hate spelling and grammar errors, but that's what happens when you post in the heat of the moment.
Thanks to both for the responses.

Bill

SamC · 2009-02-28 17:11:09

Billbar: Are you referring to his signature? It implies that he is not a native speaker of english, and serves as a notice/explanation for any error that he may make. (Although it looks fine to me)

billbar · 2009-02-28 17:40:42

Sorry if that post was misconstrued. The intended implication was that his post was more correct than mine in spite of my being a native English speaker.

SamC · 2009-02-28 17:42:52

Ah. Although I do speak english natively, it would seem I still have some work to do on the reading part.

billbar · 2009-02-28 18:40:24

This language business has come to the forefront for me as I am now studying Spanish. Odd how I never thought learning English was a problem.

And now to this printing business.
I installed both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Arch.
In the 32 bit system I am now printing. I suppose it was the net-snmp package that did the job, although I also made user a member of the root group. Also added kdm to the daemon group in rc.conf. Starts beautifully but I wish I get right to kde without having to enter the user password.

I have made the same changes in the 64 bit system but the kdm login will not accept my user password. I deleted kdm from the daemon group so I could log in to user and thus verify my user password. That worked.
Then logged in to root, invoked kdm and entered user password to log in to kde. Still no cigar!

Any suggestions?

Bill

Arch Linux

#1 2009-02-28 03:00:41

Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#2 2009-02-28 04:37:23

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#3 2009-02-28 14:02:11

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#4 2009-02-28 16:30:50

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#5 2009-02-28 16:38:04

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#6 2009-02-28 16:39:54

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#7 2009-02-28 17:11:09

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#8 2009-02-28 17:40:42

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#9 2009-02-28 17:42:52

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

#10 2009-02-28 18:40:24

Re: Why, oh why is cups so difficult to implement?

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