On 09/08/06 03:58, John wrote:

On a server running SuSE10.0 with CUPS 1.1.23, I am confused by Yast's printer configuration.

I have two printers currently configured, HP990C and HP1120C, both added via Yast. During the process I told Yast the make and model of each printer and the display confirmed this information before I accepted the configuration. However, when I go back to the printer configuration, it tells me that both printers are unknown. Is this normal?

My printers.conf file shows as:

# Printer configuration file for CUPS v1.1.23 # Written by cupsd on Wed Aug 9 10:04:16 2006 <Printer hp1120> Info A3 Colour DeviceURI lpd://192.168.74.205/P2 State Idle Accepting Yes JobSheets none none QuotaPeriod 0 PageLimit 0 KLimit 0 </Printer> <DefaultPrinter hp990> Info A4 Colour Double sided DeviceURI lpd://192.168.74.201/P1 State Idle Accepting Yes JobSheets none none QuotaPeriod 0 PageLimit 0 KLimit 0 </Printer>

and the port test recognises each lpd port.

When I try to print a test page, I get a single line of text, then a line feed and the next line carries on off the page without returning to the left edge. I hope that this is not normal but am not sure if this is related to the unknown printer or is a separate issue.

Would I be better off not using Yast, and, if so, what do I need to add to printers.conf (or other files) to ensure correct operation of both printers? (including a filter setting for the hp1120 to use A3 paper by default)

None of this is normal behaviour, though I did encounter the faulty test page problem in 9.0 (and perhaps also 9.3, which I am running now). Everything worked OK once the printer was properly configured (including page size, which by default is A4 in Yast, but which I had set to USLetter on the printer intself). I am at a loss to explain why the printer configuration disappears when you return to the configuration page in Yast. To set the page size in Yast, when you reach the "edit configuration" page, click the edit button, then find "Page Size" in the upper panel. Click on that, and select the appropriate size in the lower panel. Given the problems you are having, you might have more success managing your printers directly in CUPS. Use 'lppasswd' to set an administrator in CUPS. Two caveats: the password must be at least 8 characters, and I believe must contain a combination of letters and numbers; secondly, if you are setting an ordinary user as a CUPS administrator, IIRC that user must be a member of one of the system groups 'sys', 'system', or 'root', depending on the operating system. Now log in as that user at http://localhost:631/admin to add/manage printers.