Ubuntu 13.1 and printer driver

[solissydney]

Most of my time in front of my PC is spent for the benefit of the environment
Updating from Ubuntu 10.1 that downloaded the driver for my HP Laser Jet m1120 N MFP OK - to 13.1 which is unable to do same, forces me to change disk, either to Win XP or Ubuntu 10.1 in order to print. I was unable to follow any instructions from Ubuntu forum.
Will someone please help me find and install a printer driver on my 13.1 ?


Ken
Castle Hill

[solissydney]

I am prepared to bring my PC to anywhere in Sydney if someone will find and install the driver

Ken

[Barrykgerdes]

Did you have your printer on and connected when you first installed 13.10. In this case a suitable driver may have been automatically installed. Otherwise the technique that installed the driver in 10.10 should also work in 13.10

Barry

[gary]

Hi Ken,

Do you know if you installed the Hewlett-Packard's Linux Imaging and Printing software (HPLIP)?

See here for Ubuntu version 12.04 and above -
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/manual/distros/ubuntu.html

See also -
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/index.html

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
UNIX/Linux user for 37 years
Laser printer controller designer for 10 years

[rcheshire]

Does 13.1 come with printer administration. The latest Linux Mint (which is essentially ubuntu) required printer set up from the CUPS interface.

localhost:631

I noticed an option for driver download - I'm not sure if HPLIP is installed by default anymore?

[gary]

Hi Rowland,

HPLIP requires CUPS.

CUPS will almost certainly be part of the distribution Ken has.

In fact these days he probably doesn't need HPLIP at all and will just
need CUPS on its own if all he plans on doing is printing.

Since Ken mentioned that he has a HP Laser Jet m1120 N MFP and because
that model number has an 'N' in there, that means he will have the option of using
either network connect or USB.

Ken will be able to tell us whether he indeed has the N model and whether he is using
USB or Ethernet connectivity.

Ken, I would recommend you use the Ethernet interface if you are not doing so already.
That will eliminate a lot pf potential issues one could get in trying to talk to the printer via USB.

Ken will be able to tell us whether where he runs System Tools->Administration->Printing and then selects the +Add button on that dialog
whether his printer is being recognized and appearing there?

Best regards

Gary

[solissydney]

Thanks for your concerns.

10.1 on installing, without input by me says 'downloading printer driver - installing, no problem.
13.1 auto install like 10.1 says looking for proprietary driver - installing' - nothing
I hear the printer making a click through USB when testing telling me the connection is ok.
As in the past I went into the site suggested by one of you. but was unable to find the correct HP printer type, it was not listed there. Trying a couple of them and then went looking for my model it did not show up.

N model? Yes as per above. it is a Scanner and Printer combined.

Thanks for trying

Ken

[gary]

Hi Ken,

When you select the System Tools->Printers menu does it appear in the list of printers
available (see images below)?

According to the link below, if you use HPLIP, only USB is supported for the HP LaserJet m1120
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/models/laserjet/hp_laserjet_m1120_mfp.html

So when you went through this auto install for 13.1 -
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install/install/index.html
I gather you are saying it bombed-out at the device discovery?

Just by way of background, according to this web site, your model looks like what we refer to as a GDI printer -
http://reviews.cnet.com/multifunction-devices/hp-laserjet-m1120n-mfp/4507-3181_7-35259549.html

GDI stands for Graphics Device Interface. Historically, higher-end printers have enough memory,
internal processing power and the right firmware to support a printer emulation such as HP's
PCL (Printer Command Language) or PostScript. In these higher-end printers the PC will send
it a series of commands such as "print this character using this typeface" and the controller within
the printer will interpret those commands, convert it to a bitmap within its own own memory and
then rasterize the page line by line as the printer prints.

GDI printers are "dumber" in the sense that the rendering of the page is done by the host computer
and what it transmits to the printer is the actual bitmap. The printer and PC have to chit-chat whilst
this is going on with information like whether the printer is ready to print.

Historically, when memory was expensive, GDI was seen as a way to make cheaper printers.
The downside was that the processing had to be done within the PC. As PC's became faster
this then no longer became a burden but the fact remains that GDI printers typically require
more software to be working on the PC side before they can print compared to their PCL/PostScript
counterparts.

This is a long-winded way of saying that your printer is of the type more likely to make the user
have to jump through a few more hoops to get it to interface than compared to a generic network connect PCL or PostScript printer.
If your exact model does not appear, there may be another similar HP printer with a compatible GDI interface
that you can select.

Best Regards

Gary

[solissydney]

Gary

going to system settings - printers, my printer has a green tick and says : connected to local host

Ken

Actually what the message says about the printer after start-up is : looking for 'proprietary plug-in' for printer
Ken

[gary]

Hi Ken,

Very good. Sounds like you are part of the way there.

Did you see this article and run the hp-setup utility? It discusses the installation of proprietary plugins -
http://hplipopensource.com/node/309


Best regards

Gary

[solissydney]

Hi Gary.

Been there, now unable to find the terminal (command line window)Ken

[solissydney]

Spent 2 hours looking for the terminal.
Found it. Thanks

[solissydney]

Hi Gary.
Username Root???
superuser password???

Thanks for your patience Gary
All should be OK now after I figure out the password
Using 10.1 I managed to get away with just my initials as the password, not my usual one.
not so lucky with 13.1
Regards
Ken

[gary]

Hi Ken,

If you have forgotten the root password you may have given yourself
administrative rights when you created your own login.

At the percent prompt try typing
% su
when it prompts you with
Password:
just type in the password you normally use for your own account.

With luck that you have administration rights, you will then become the super
user within that command terminal window.

Best regards

Gary

[solissydney]

Good morning gary,

I did use my usual password, not accepted.
typing in hp-plugin i got the message: plugin file not found
server returned 404 or similar fault from both url and fallback, not accesible
I will return to the former and try to work out the password

Regards
Ken

[knightrider]

Ken, depending if you would allow, and Gary would allow, I'd recommend Gary remotely access your computer to help you figure out the printer issue.

You would have to organise a time with him if wishes to do it.

[solissydney]

Wonderful. Will get in touch with Gary

Regards
Ken