How do I get the Canon S900 printer to work with Mandrake 9.

[Guest Jason Spaceman]

I have a Canon S900 photo printer and I am running Mandrake 9.0. According to www.linuxprinting.org the S900 isn't supported in linux yet. However, I did come across a driver/utility program called Turboprint at http://www.turboprint.de/english.html that supports the S900 in linux. I can't seem to get Turboprint to work though. When I go to print out a test page nothing happens. Perhaps I have the USB settings wrong? I've tried all the different port settings that Turboprint offers (from dev/lp0 to dev/usblp1) but still nothing. Perhaps I am supposed to change the "short name" from tp0 to something else? Is anyone familiar with using Turboprint?

 

Alternatively, if I can't get Turboprint to work, it might be possible to use a driver from a supported Canon printer, that is similar enough to the S900, that it might work? Perhaps the S800 driver will work with the S900 (just a guess)?

 

Can anyone help?

[Ixthusdan]

Welcome to Mandrakeusers! Have you verified that your printer is communcating yet?

[Counterspy]

Does Turboprint have a FAQ or other instructions on their site that may help you? You may be lucky enough to get another driver working but if you do make sure it doesn't have any hidden gotcha's. Check out Canon sites as well.

 

Counterspy

[Ixthusdan]

Do this:

In a browser type http://localhost:631

And tell us what cups is seeing.

[Guest Jason Spaceman]

Glad to be aboard. I had no idea this message board existed until today, :)

 

I don't think my box is able to communicate with the printer, as nothing happens when I try to print a test page in Turboprint; no test page, not even a garbage printout, the printer just stays silent.

 

I'm confused by Turboprint's port settings. there is /dev/lp0, /dev/lp1, /dev/usblp0, and /dev/usblp1. I'm pretty sure I don't need to set it to one of the /dev/lp* ports, as the Canon S900 is USB only and connected to one of my computer's USB ports. So that leaves the /dev/usblp* ports. I tried both of those and still nothing. I do notice however, on the turboprint www page it states:

 

For USB printers, your Linux distribution must support USB properly. Device names of USB printers are different with some Linux distributions. For SuSE Linux, the first USB printer will have the device name /dev/usblp0.

 

I am using Mandrake so I'm wondering if Mandrake's device names for USB printers are different than Suse's?

[liquidzoo]

I have a usb printer myself (HP, though, not Cannon) and it is connected at /dev/usb/lp0, if this is a choice in Turboprint, give it a try. I have never used it myself, but it may help. Also, try Ixthusdan's recommendation and type http://localhost:631 in your browser and let us know what cups is seeing there.

[Guest Jason Spaceman]

Here is what CUPS sees:

 

Printer

 

Default Destination: tp0

 

tp0 Canon_S900 TurboPrint

Description: Canon_S900

Location:

Printer State: idle, accepting jobs.

"Printer not connected; will retry in 30 seconds..."

Device URI: usb:/dev/usblp1

 

I notice at the top of my www browser, when I clicked on http://localhost:631 , it says

Printer on 192.168.0.1

That is the IP address of the second network card on my computer (the network cable attached to it leads to another computer in a room across the hall). Why is CUPS saying that the printer is on 192.168.0.1? I have the printer locally connected to my computer's USB port, not to the computer in the room across the hall.

[Guest Jason Spaceman]

Also, here is what I entered when I ran xtpsetup (the Turboprint setup utility)

Short Name:  tp0

Config Name:  Canon_S900

Spool Directory:  /var/spool/lpd/turbo3

Connection:  Local Printer

Device Name:  /dev/usblp1

[Ixthusdan]

OK, here is what I think is going on.

1) CUPS is trying to print out into the ethernet somewhere, in this case, across the hall.

2) The naming convention is slightly different for your port, which is why Turboprint is not working either.

So, try the port that liquidzoo is using, since he has a usb printer. And try the setup in the browser. I would advise also to remove the current printer setup, since it is not correct. Also, before you enter setup, be sure your to turn your printer on, so that the usb device is live in the system.

[Guest Jason Spaceman]

I tried /dev/usb/lp0 and /dev/usb/lp1 as the device names under Turboprint, but still nothing. However, when I use /dev/usb/lp0, and then run xtpconfig (Turboprint's configuration utility), and then click on the Toolbox tab, and click the Check Ink Quantity button, it displays the ink quantities. This did not happen when I used /dev/usb/lp1 as the device name under Turboprint. The Check Ink Quantity button was greyed out.

 

To test to see if it really was displaying my ink quantities I removed the black ink cartridge from the printer and then clicked on Check Ink Quantity, and it said that the black ink quantity was OK (even though the cartridge wasn't in the print head). But at least the Check Ink Quantity button wasn't greyed out.

 

As for CUPS trying to print out to 192.168.0.1 on my LAN, I'm not sure it is as when I tell it to print a test page the lights on the 192.168.0.1 NIC card do not flicker.