[solved] Can't install printers

vajra · 2014-08-01 17:59:23

Hi! I've never been able to install any printer successfully on crunchbang. Apparently they install but they don't work.

I found this topic http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=21902
as I get that error when I look at the properties of the printers.

However, the version of python-cups I have installed is the latest on the repos so I suppose that means Debian hasn't updated anything.

How can I find a version of python-cups that will be safe to install?
I don't really like installing packages that are not in the repos so I'd appreciate some guidance as to how to fix this.

My system is
uname -a
Linux 3.2.0-4-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 3.2.41-2 i686 GNU/Linux
asus eee 901
HP D1460

Cups visible on localhost:631

Last edited by vajra (2014-08-01 23:04:52)

damo · 2014-08-01 18:10:18

Have you installed the cb printer package (cb-meta-printer-support)? You can apt-get it, or run the cb-welcome script again.

There are also the HP utilities (hplip-gui) available

Last edited by damo (2014-08-01 18:13:27)

vajra · 2014-08-01 18:21:38

damo wrote:

Have you installed the cb printer package (cb-meta-printer-support)? You can apt-get it, or run the cb-welcome script again.
There are also the HP utilities (hplip-gui) available

Yes all that is installed. As I said apparently the printer installs automatically when plugged in, but it doesn't work & then when you click on the properties of the printer you get the error specified in the post i linked to so it looks like a bad CUPS package from Debian. So I'm asking for a bit of help in installing a clean version of CUPS

Or more correctly... python-cups

Last edited by vajra (2014-08-01 18:35:59)

damo · 2014-08-01 19:24:11

python-cups version 1.9.63 is available from the wheezy-backports repo

vajra · 2014-08-01 19:55:14

damo wrote:

python-cups version 1.9.63 is available from the wheezy-backports repo

ok. I have 1.9.48-1.1 so presumably that will improve things. so what do I need to do to install it & make sure I don't break anything else? I'm not quite sure what backports imply.

damo · 2014-08-01 20:05:09

From backports.debian.org

You are running Debian stable, because you prefer the Debian stable tree. It runs great, there is just one problem: the software is a little bit outdated compared to other distributions. This is where backports come in.
Backports are packages taken from the next Debian release (called "testing"), adjusted and recompiled for usage on Debian stable. Because the package is also present in the next Debian release, you can easily upgrade your stable+backports system once the next Debian release comes out. (In a few cases, usually for security updates, backports are also created from the Debian unstable distribution.)
Backports cannot be tested as extensively as Debian stable, and backports are provided on an as-is basis, with risk of incompatibilities with other components in Debian stable. Use with care!
It is therefore recommended to only select single backported packages that fit your needs, and not use all available backports.

Debian wiki HowTo

Briefly - add the backports repo to your sources.list, update, then install the package you want

sudo apt-get install -t wheezy-backports python-cups

vajra · 2014-08-01 20:59:30

Great that fixed it! Should I remove the backports repo from my sources.list now?

One more question? Is there a GUI to control print jobs? I can see them with localhost:631 but it doesn't let me erase some of them.

damo · 2014-08-01 21:06:17

vajra wrote:

Great that fixed it! Should I remove the backports repo from my sources.list now?
One more question? Is there a GUI to control print jobs? I can see them with localhost:631 but it doesn't let me erase some of them.

I would just comment out that line - it will always be there for a future upgrade if you want (or you can check out apt pinning)

There are also the HP utilities (hplip-gui) available

Have you investigated what I mentioned earlier? (Have a look in synaptic)

The HP Linux Printing and Imaging System provides full support for
printing on most HP SFP (single function peripheral) inkjets and many
LaserJets, and for scanning, sending faxes and for photo-card access on
most HP MFP (multi-function peripheral) printers.

sudo apt-get install hplip-gui

vajra · 2014-08-01 21:29:44

There are also the HP utilities (hplip-gui) available

Cool. I hadn't noticed that was a GUI I thought you were just referring to hplip which I already had.

All my printing probs solved! Many thanks!

vajra · 2014-08-01 22:30:22

Oh no! These changes are breaking everything.

I've uninstalled the Gui & am going to reboot again

I'm getting this message from CUPS - Can't copy stdin to temporary file - no printer again
and Dropbox won't start.

damo · 2014-08-01 22:45:36

vajra wrote:

Oh no! These changes are breaking everything.
I've uninstalled the Gui & am going to reboot again
I'm getting this message from CUPS - Can't copy stdin to temporary file - no printer again
and Dropbox won't start.

Check how much disk space/ram you have available. Sounds like the temp file generated may too big for your system

vajra · 2014-08-01 22:54:56

Yes that's it. I got...

df -h
Filesystem                                              Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
rootfs                                                  3.7G  3.6G     0 100% /
udev                                                     10M     0   10M   0% /dev
tmpfs                                                   100M  664K  100M   1% /run
/dev/disk/by-uuid/f6eba724-701e-4ca7-986f-c7001f63dc7d  3.7G  3.6G     0 100% /
tmpfs                                                   5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs                                                   200M  336K  200M   1% /run/shm
/dev/sdb1                                                15G  9.1G  5.1G  65% /home
tmpfs                                                   200M   48K  200M   1% /tmp

Uninstalled the Gui & run apt-get clean which has given me 6M free. Now dropbox runs & I can print.

damo · 2014-08-01 23:02:38

Yay smile

vajra · 2014-08-01 23:06:01

Thanks... going to have to find some more space for my system sad

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#1 2014-08-01 17:59:23

[solved] Can't install printers

#2 2014-08-01 18:10:18

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#3 2014-08-01 18:21:38

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#4 2014-08-01 19:24:11

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#5 2014-08-01 19:55:14

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#6 2014-08-01 20:05:09

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#7 2014-08-01 20:59:30

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#8 2014-08-01 21:06:17

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#9 2014-08-01 21:29:44

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#10 2014-08-01 22:30:22

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#11 2014-08-01 22:45:36

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#12 2014-08-01 22:54:56

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#13 2014-08-01 23:02:38

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

#14 2014-08-01 23:06:01

Re: [solved] Can't install printers

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