Apsfilter Setup

[Stephen Schroder]

Thanks, Tim.  You saved my life...for now.  After executing lpq and lprm 
three times, followed by /etc/init.d/lpd stop, I was able to print the 
test page.  Down the road I'm going to install samba, also.  I hope that 
goes more smoothly.  Thanks again.

Steve

Tim Freeman wrote:

>>The last time I installed Debian, setting up apsfilter was a piece of 
>>cake.  This time when I try to print a test page I get page after page 
>>of what looks like the characteristics or printcap of multiple fonts, 
>>followed by line after line of letters and numbers that mean nothing to 
>>me.  Even after executing apt-get remove apsfilter the above described 
>>printing continues until I take the printer off line.  CUPS is not 
>>installed on my system, and I don't want to use it.  It is possible that 
>>when I installed Debian this time I inadvertently/mistakenly indicated 
>>my printer is a PostScript printer, which it is not.  How do I clear the 
>>print cache and revisit the printer setup to make sure it is not listed 
>>as a PostScript printer?  Thank you in advance for your help.
>>    
>>
>
>Hey, on Monday I fought and won this battle, or a similar one, when I
>was giving up on CUPS and going back to lpr.  My tale of woe with CUPS
>is bug 214670.  Don't use CUPS.
>
>Error #1: I printed a test job, postscript started spewing out, I
>stopped the printer, I fiddled with apsfilterconfig, and told it to
>print a test page.  Oops, the printer is stopped.  Start the printer.
>The next thing that came out was the doomed test job, not the
>apsfilter test page.  Very confusing.  Powercycle both the printer and
>the computer, and the garbage starts spewing out again!
>
>Solution #1: Use lpq to list the garbage in the printer queue and then
>use lprm to remove it before running apsfilterconfig.  It might also
>be important to do "/etc/init.d/lpd stop" before running
>apsfilterconfig.  I'm not sure.
>
>Error #2: Apparently I had dragged in a new version of gs when I was
>attempting to use CUPS, and I was trying to configure it with the old
>apsfilter, and they didn't work together.
>
>Solution #2: I went with the testing versions of apsfilter and gs.
>These are apsfilter 7.2.5-2 and gs 7.07-1.
>
>Error #3: apsfilterconfig now won't touch /etc/printcap unless you
>explicitly tell it to.  I think it did before, but I don't remember
>clearly.
>
>Solution #3: Say "I" for "Install" at the right point during
>apsfilterconfig, I think.  To verify that you got it right, look at
>/etc/printcap.  There should be lines like this at the end
>
>   # APS1_BEGIN:printer1
>   blah blah blah
>   # APS1_END - don't delete this
>
>I also had to comment out the default entry for "lp" before apsfilter
>would make a new one, since it doesn't like to overwrite entries for
>existing printers.
>
>Error #4: At one point during my stumbling around trying to get
>apsfilter to pass a test, I ran out of paper and then got stuck for a
>while because everything hanged.  My printer wants to be touched after
>it runs out of paper so it knows it can continue printing, and I
>didn't do that
>
>Solution #4: For my printer, I should press the start button to tell
>it to try printing on the newly inserted paper.
>
>Error #5: hpijs in stable hangs, according to
>http://hpoj.sourceforge.net and my observations.  This is only
>relevant if you have an HP printer.
>
>Solution #5: Grab hpijs from testing, version 1.4.1-1.  I eventually
>went with gs's native HP printer support instead because it produced
>prettier dithering.  gs does a good job for me if I tell it I have a
>cdj550.
>
>I also was able to get lpr and samba to work so I can print from my
>Windows machines, but it would be off-topic to say how unless someone
>expresses interest.
>
>  
>