On Fri, 2002-04-12 at 19:05, Theo v. Werkhoven wrote:
has SuSE never heard of VLANs?).
SuSE probably doesn't like to echo the latest buzz. Networking doesn't get more special if one uses MS speak
Ok, then, whatever the 'real' term is for not-very-big LANs that are segmented into even smaller sections, for ease of administration and to keep trouble (away from the rest the company's traffic. Currently, there are three major segments in the building (and a couple of special-purpose stray ones). This sort of thing has been done for years, with many companies segmenting their LANs by floor, by function, etc. So, it happens that all the company's printers are not on the segment where I live. No problem... I'll just enter the IP info for the bridge(s) and the other segment(s) in the SuSE printer config and .... whoops!... there's no place to tell YaST2 that it can/should scan a little further to find printers and servers. That's all I meant.
So, what do I put in a URI?
That depends entirely on the language the printer understands, and its location.
Here's what I know about one printer: it's a Canon ImageRunner 550, and it lives at 172.16.11.20
That's not a lot..
[..]
So, I copied the Cannon PPD (EFMC6A20.PPD) to /etc/cups/ppd and restarted YaST2. I was hoping that this would cause another printer instance to appear in the list that YaST2 presents for editing/adding. Didn't work. There must be another file or flag somewhere. [..] Can somebody tell me what I'm really supposed to be doing here?
Try /usr/share/cups/model/Canon/
Ah. I looked closer. I had copied the canon ppd to every directory that seemed to have ppd files in it, but /usr/share/cups/model/Canon has all its files gzipped.
I mean, I can probably eliminate the example URIs that seem to relate to HP JetDirect, because I know I don't have HP printers, but what about the others?
JetDirect isn't excluded to HP alone. Try nmap 172.16.11.20 to see if port 9100 is listening. Port 515 for LPD, port 631 for IPP, port 137,138,139 for SMB. If it /is/ using the SMB ports you might have a problem. (Don't do this when others are using the printer, not all (embedded) TCP/IP stacks react well to nmap scans..)
Can't do that today. The printer has been down since Friday... by strange co-incidence, since shortly after I sent it those pages of garbage... but don't tell my co-workers.
I would be happy to get basic, generic PS printing happening, to begin. Later, I can worry about duplexing. I don't even need printing to be as carefree as Windows. I just need to stop rebooting into windows every time I have something to print. Yuck!
With a well written .ppd file you get the same functionality as under Windows, Mac or whatever.
What do other people do when their printer does not appear in the existing "supported" list, in YaST2?
Do some Googleing?
Er... that's how I found that there didn't seem to be any downloadable stuff from Canon, and read several people's statements as to how poor was Canon's support for free operating systems, etc. That's not something upon which I could act, because I'm constrained to use the company's printers. Following what I could from the CUPS site, and others is how I got into trouble in the first place. When various suggestions, FAQs and recipes didn't seem to apply (most seem to assume, as did YaST2 interface, that the list of supported printers would not need updating -- otherwise, there would have been a Windoze-like dialog to "Insert your PPD disk now (this is Linux, so please mount the device first) and choose the PPD file to be installed". Instead, I'm just forced to pick something from the list of wrong choices. I can go back, but I can't go forward, and the interface doesn't offer me a way to go sideways and point to a new PPD, nor even does it just TELL ME that that's what I need to do. It would be so simple. Meanwhile, the CD that the IT guy found for me may not actually be for that printer. We've had many models over the years, and the CD doesn't name an actual printer model. Hope I don't break anything expensive.
If there's a document somewhere that explains all this, just tell me the title.
It's all there in de CUPS Administration docs IIRC.
[..]
Every time I turn around, I'm encountering yet another ordinary thing that Red Hat seems to do easily, out-of-the-box, while SuSE makes me struggle or makes me fail permanently. Is it something I said? :-)
You have my virtual shoulder to cry on. Use a towel please.
Boohoo. Sob. Snivel... :-) As I said elsewhere, I'm one of the people in my company who is acting as guinnea-pig to decide if we can, as a company, move from Windows to Linux on our desktops. We made it a point to not choose a hobbyist or enthusiast with a lot of knowledge. We wanted to see how things would go for an ordinary user who just needs to get his everyday work done. But then, we cheated a bit, because I have SuSE installed at home. The only other volunteer in the company was a programmer who already works in Linux, and he, like the two IT people, was using Red Hat. It was decided that the programmer was not a fair test, because the people who need to embrace the change-out would be Sales, Admin, Finance, Marketing, etc. Now, here's something you'll never believe... but, really, it's true... at least half the people in this company don't know what a printer profile definition is. And, those people are SuSE's target audience if the goal is to get Linux onto the corporate desktop. Even worse, as far as the company is concerned, they shouldn't need to take time from their overworked schedules to learn. My attachment is some blend of masochism and sentiment, I guess. Now, let's see what breaks today. /kevin