Printing in SCO Open Server 5.06

[dleboeuf]

Hi, I'm having a problem with adding new remote printers in Open Server. When I add a printer using the hp printer manager I can put in all the boot/p info and peripheral name, spool name, ip address and select the test option and it will print test pages using the peripheral name or the ip address but that's it.

When I add it to the spool it will not print. The file goes into the queue and sits there. If you check the printer in the printer manager it is disabled. I can delete the job from the queue and reenable it and it will do the same thing over again. The light on the printer will blink a few times and that's it.

I have tried three different jet direct devices and two different printers. I have tried everything from running mkdev rlp with the r option to remove remote printing and reinstalling it. Have tried different models etc. All existing printers will still work but I can't add new ones. Anybody ever have this type of problem?

 

[apeasecpc]

Can you ping "hp51" from your sco box?

What are the permissions of the "/usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces/hp51" interface file? You should make sure they are the same as the working LP99 interface file.

I have never worked with hp printers before, but based on the "hpnpf" man page, I am not so sure you should even have a /etc/printcap entry for the hp51 printer. I do know that duplicate or unneeded printcaps will prevent a printer from functioning, so it might be a good idea to try deleting the printcap entries for the hp51 printer.

You should also try sending a file to the printer manually to see any error messages:

cat <any test file> | /usr/lib/hpnp/hpnpf -x hp51

 

[dleboeuf]

I can ping both the hp5l and the 192.168.0.137 with no lost packets. So the host entry is working properly.

/usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces
-rwxrwxr-x 1 lp lp 3070 Mar 22 2000 LP99
-rwxrwxr-x 1 lp lp 3070 Dec 10 14:48 hp5l

Entries are exactly the same.

Same results with or without /etc/printcap entry

Command line print works perfectly, this also works with option 5 in the hp setup utility. I can send the file to either the hp5l entry or the ip 192.168.0.137 it works both ways.

Any other ideas?

 

[apeasecpc]

That is very unusual that it works from the command line but not the print spooler. It still sounds like a permissions problem, possibly with that printer's spool directories. Here is something else to try:

Note: Be sure to save a backup copy of the interface file before you do this because you will want to undo these modifications after you are finished testing.

Change the following lines in your interface file:

LOG=/tmp/$PERIPH.$$
LPLOG=/tmp/hpnpf.$$
trap "rm -f $LOG $LPLOG; trap 15;kill -15 0;exit 0" 15
rm -f $LOG
if $REALMODEL "$@" | $HPNPF -x $PERIPH 2> $LOG > /dev/null
rm -f $LOG $LPLOG
rm -f $LPLOG

to:

LOG=/tmp/hp51
LPLOG=/tmp/hp51.hpnpf
#trap "rm -f $LOG $LPLOG; trap 15;kill -15 0;exit 0" 15
#rm -f $LOG
if $REALMODEL "$@" | $HPNPF -x $PERIPH 2> $LOG > /tmp/hp51.null
#rm -f $LOG $LPLOG
#rm -f $LPLOG

This won't correct the problem, but it will prevent the log files from being deleted and will make them easier to find.

Print a test with lp and then view the contents of the following files for error messages:

/tmp/hp51
/tmp/hp51.hpnpf
/tmp/hp51.null

Make sure you manually delete the above files prior to any additional tests. Make sure you restore the hp51 interface file after you are done testing.

You should also compare the permissions of various files and directories between your working and non-working printers, for example:

/var/spool/lpd/LP99 vs /var/spool/lpd/hp51
/var/spool/lp/admins/lp/printers/LP99 vs /var/spool/lp/admins/lp/printers/hp51

 

[dleboeuf]

I made the changed to the /usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces/hp5l file but it
had no effect on the log files. It did not create files in
the /tmp directory. I checked the file three times and it
is exactly like you typed it. I checked the print job
spooler and the job is still in the spool. So nothing
changed when changing the interface file. Did a find on
the hp5l files also just to make sure it didn't stick them
somewhere else on the system, not there.

These are the other entries you suggested checking permissions on.
/usr/spool/lpd

drwxrwxr-x 2 root daemon 512 Dec 6 12:57 LP99
drwxrwxr-x 2 root daemon 512 Dec 9 15:32 hp5l

/usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/printers

drwxrwx--- 2 lp lp 512 Mar 22 2000 LP99
drwxrwx--- 2 lp lp 512 Dec 11 10:51 hp5l

 

[dleboeuf]

*hp5l-158999 hp5l dennis 4213 Dec 16 18:44 ||
hp5l-159000 hp5l dennis 4213 Dec 16 18:45 ||
hp5l-159001 hp5l dennis 4213 Dec 16 18:45 ||
hp5l-159002 hp5l dennis 4213 Dec 16 18:45

This is a copy of the print spooler, notice there is no status on these jobs. There are also no errors on these jobs.

 

[dleboeuf]

I have fixed the problem. Thanks for all your input and
help. I was browsing through the online manual and found a
reference to a script file called laserjethpnf. I used
this and everything started working properly. I guess we
just got lucky on the other printers we installed because
they have always worked using just hp as the script.