................Tue 9.Apr'13 at 12:03:36 +0200 Erwin Geerdink................
> On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:08:16 -0400
> Predrag Punosevac <punoseva...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Antoine Jacoutot wrote:
> > >On Mon, Apr 08, 2013 at 09:10:18PM +0200, Erwin Geerdink wrote:
> > >> Hi,
> > >>
> > >> Recently I obtained a Canon Pixma MP230 printer/scanner which I
> > >> can't get to work on my OpenBSD box. OpenBSD recognizes the device
> > >> (w/
> > >kernel
> > >> ulpt device disabled), however:
> > >>
> > >> - There is no cups/foomatic driver for this specific model. I tried
> > >> the MP220 and MP240 ppd drivers but they don't work (the device
> > >> indicator light blinks twice, which means 'no paper in tray', which
> > >> is obviously not the case)
> > >>
> > >> - Canon provides IJ printer drivers for Linux (source). Simply
> > >> using the included ppd file results in an error: "File
> > >> "/usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/pstocanonij" not available: No such
> > >> file or directory"
> > >> Clearly, the linux drivers need to be built but this also results
> > >> in errors. Unfortunately, I do not have the programming/porting
> > >> skills to solve this problem.
> > >>
> > >> Does anyone know how to get this device work?
> > >
> > >Canon is one of the worst brand when it comes to opensource.
> > >pstocanonij might just be a wrapper which you can get from a linux
> > >rpm and tweak to \
> > >make it work (I had luck doing that using some linux driver for
> > >unsupported Brother \
> > >printers) -- or it might just be a linux-only binary blob in which
> > >case, there's not \
> > >much hope.
> > >
> > >When it comes to printing/scanning, I would get the hell away from
> > >Canon and Brother \
> > >-- there are the worst by far. They support Linux the same way NVidia
> > >does for its \
> > >graphic chips...
> >
> > You just got the answer from the man who is responsible for the fact
> > that OpenBSD has up-to-date port of sane-backends, foomatic-filters,
> > hplip, and pretty much any opensource printer driver under the Sun.
> > Together with people like Matthias Kilian who is maintainer of the
> > Ghostscript and slue of other useful desktop related ports, former
> > developer Jacob Meuser who has disappeared from this mailing list few
> > years ago (Jake I hope you are OK where ever you are now. We remember
> > when you ported Ghostscript to OpenBSD) they managed to enable OpenBSD
> > to work with pretty much any common desktop related hardware.
> >
> > However, I do believe that we as users owe them to educate ourself
> > about the thins as PostScript, Printer Command Language(PCL), LPD
> > protocol, IPP protocol and similar things.
> >
> > You will do a great favor to yourself if you get a decent printer
> > which speaks PostScript or at least (PCL5) or some of network
> > protocols. The same goes for a scanner that can scan directly to a
> > USB or SD card and requires no drivers or just a really good Epson
> > scanner.
> >
> > As of Canon Pixma series it is probably not worthy time it took me to
> > write this e-mail. I can't speak of Canon but as of Brother I can say
> > that their better laser printers (HL-5450DN and above) are excellent
> > and can be just plugged and used on the OpenBSD (they speak
> > PostScript, PCL5 or some of network protocols). However, I am
> > avoiding them as they have relative higher price per page than Xerox
> > or DeLL(rebranded Lexmark) printers which I use. They also use more
> > electricity.
> >
> > I do not know your location but in the U.S. you can buy a decent used
> > DeLL/Lexmark printer with less than 2000 pages on the drum for less
> > than $50.
> >
> > Best,
> > Predrag
> >
>
> Thank you very much for your responses. Indeed, this printer
> wouldn't be my pick either (got it for free) but it's all I have for
> now.
>
> SANE's latest version should support the scanner using the sane-pixma
> backend, according to their website. I will try this when Openbsd 5.3 is
> released. As for the printer, I probably stick to dual-booting if no
> workaround exists.
>
> Erwin
I use a Canon Pixma iP4700 - I had major problems getting it to work in
the last couple of years with BSD OS's but, it does now work with my
OpenBSD -current installation and the aforementioned ports. I actually
have it plugged into my Apple Mac and just print from OpenBSD via the
Apple Mac - cups picks it up ok.
Like you, mine was free and it was all I had to work with sadly but I
certainly will avoid Canon printers in the future, as Predrag suggests.
--
James Griffin: jmz at kontrol.kode5.net
jmzgriffin at gmail.com
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