Fosapup shared printers can't be found. (SOLVED)

[peppyy]

I have tried my best to search this topic on a lot of websites and tried a lot of things over the last couple days. I still haven't been able to solve the issue.

So, we got a new / newer printer and installed it on my wife's computer. We are both running the latest updates of fossapup64 9.5 and the printer is connected via USB to the computer in her office. The printer (Epson Ecotank ET-2760) works perfectly on her USB connection with the driver "EPET-2760 Series.PPD", *NickName: "Epson ET-2760 Series - epson-inkjet-printer-escpr 1.8.2-1 (Seiko Epson Corporation)" . Here is a screenshot of the cups interface from my computer connected to cups "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.:631" on her computer.

Remote1.jpg (89.62 KiB) Viewed 923 times

It appears, if I can access the cups interface via web browsers on her computer in the next room. I have been able to modify permissions, add users etc with no problems. shouldn't I be able to find the printer in cups?
Question!
On my Cups interface, I have tried to add this printer in cups with both "Find printers", and "Add printers", and with every protocol I can use, and they all fail. I have added my users by name, ip address and hostname in her admin panel. I have searched for printers on mine and have only found the Virtual Braille BRF Printer . We are on the same subnet through a local router with filters disabled. I have disabled both firewalls and nothing seems to work. I would like to figure out how to use this printer from "my" through the router office.

Any ideas?

PS. I am wireless and she is direct. Same router and subnet.

[d-pupp]

Hello @peppyy

I Don't know much about cups just a thought Have you set your wife's cups to share the printer?

cups > administration tab > Share printer's connected to this system
Also this may require a Windows type network share which means samba has to be setup

You could also try connecting by tcp
should look something like this..
http://wife's ip/printer queu name

[peppyy]

@d-pupp I have shared it as per the screenshot. The odd thing is that last week I got it to print a test page from my computer once. After I shutdown for rhe night and rebooted in the morning, cups no longer listed the printer and I had to set it up again.

The printer also has wireless built in which I enabled and I can find it on my wireless if I disconnect from my router and connect to the printer's ip address with the provided password. Even then, cups can't find it. I am wondering if there is another way to connect to it without allowing the printer to have access to the internet. I have read that when it is directly connected to the router, the company sends out firmware updates and can disable the printer.

[bigpup]

What is the power off timer setting on this printer?

Could the printer maybe timer powering off and is not powered up, when you are trying to find it.

[d-pupp]

@peppyy

I have a brother printer attached to my router by Ethernet cable
I set a ip address on the printer so that it wouldn't change as I couldn't find a option to reserve an address on this router.
I setup the printer locally on 3 pc's 1 wired and 2 wireless using the connection http://ip_address
This was the only one that I could make work. https didn't work nor ipp. Seems like my printer doesn't like encryption.
Yours if newer my be different.
Only once did my setup disappear and that was due to a update on my chrome book

With this setup I still have to make sure the printer is awake before I try to print or the local pc thinks the printer is offline

The only other thing I can think of is because your printer is connected to a pc and not the router you may need to include the port number
I think cups uses 9100 so you could try a few different ways with and without port number and or printer queue name

ps Private ip network are not routable the printer would have to call home. You might want to look around in the printer setup and see if you can find an option to turn that off. I don't see anything like that in my brother printer and it have been connected to the router for 4 years with no problems

[peppyy]

@bigpup The printer is always on. The first time I found it, it hadn't been used for a couple days. The light is still on and my wife (Host) seldom powers her computer off.
Perhaps I should try wake again?

@d-pupp The printer is USB to my wife's computer. I never had a problem connecting to our old canon that way. The newer ones call home if they can. I have been tempted to hook it directly to an Ethernet cable until I read a couple articles. If I had a different hub on a firewalled sub net I wouldn't think twice. I will try the 9100 port and see if that works.
Thanks.

[mikewalsh]

@peppyy / @d-pupp :-

I think cups uses 9100 so you could try a few different ways with and without port number and or printer queue name

Um....nope.

CUPS default port/IP addy is

Code: Select all

http://localhost:631/

It was reading Peppyy's post the other day that made me realise that, nearly 18 months on, I still hadn't set up remote printing on the Dell Latitude I purchased early last August. So......

I tried every which way I could think of. I had it working perfectly - via "sharing" in CUPS - across the LAN with ye anciente Inspiron. That never had any issues with remote printing. This Latitude, though.....aargh! It did NOT want to know.

The laptop - the client - is used in the front room, as was the old Inspiron. The desktop rig - the server - is always in my bedroom. Both firewalls were disabled. The desktop rig connects to the router via hard-wired Ethernet, the laptop connects via a NetGear "period" ExpressCard wireless adapter (which I've used for well over a decade, and has always been absolutely 100% reliable).

I tried every protocol I could think of. I was about to give it up as a bad job, when I suddenly remembered a wee utility I'd helped Bill (rcrsn51) develop for Puppy a few years ago (or should I say, a newer version).......the p910nd Print Server. I got involved with this because I was trying out Tahrpup64 for the first time - my first 64-bit Puppy! - and rapidly realised that installing drivers/setting-up a printer was NOT working like it had under 32-bitzers.

---

The p910nd print server essentially side-steps CUPs almost entirely. It consists of a couple of scripts, a wee binary and a small, functional GUI. Recommendation is to set it to auto-start at boot; this way, it's always ready for use.

You install it on both your client - the 'puter you want to print from - AND the server (which runs the printer). You set your printer up on the client as though it were the 'local' printer, connected directly to it. You install your printer drivers, then use the CUPS web interface to "set it up".....because doing things this way, the client 'formats' the print-job, as opposed to the server. However, all you're doing is to send the print-job to a "socket", created by p910nd, which is behind port 9100.

Note:- Here, you're not using the 'http' or 'ip' protocols. Instead, you're using the 'socket' protocol, via the 'AppSocket/JetDirect' setting.

At the other end, p910nd is "listening", via an auto-started daemon, again on port 9100. If, as & when it detects an incoming print-job, it ignores CUPS completely.....and sends the print-job direct to the printer. (Which is why it needs to be 'formatted' before you send it across the network, because it doesn't go through CUPS at all at the server end).

---

You can read the thread I posted the other day about p910nd, here:-

viewtopic.php?t=10068

(I've always used Epsons. Despite that they're simple, and very reliable - they'll chug away for years with minimal attention! - they can be a bit finicky where sharing or remote connection across a network is concerned. Ok, I admit; I'm using 12-yr old drivers, that date from around the time I bought this SX218 (not long after its release). But they still work, on any Pup I've ever thrown them at.....even though installing/setting-up works differently on 64-bit Puppies compared to 32-bit Pups).

I also recommend Bill's 'Eppi' installer script for Epson printers. This runs the post-install script in the .deb package PROPERLY, 'cos it sets-up a shed-load of other stuff after the driver is installed. Just clicking on the .deb won't install things correctly.

You can find my recent thread about 'Eppi' here:-

viewtopic.php?t=9998

I think this should work for you, too. Up to you, of course. Any questions, feel free.....

Mike.

[bigpup]

@bigpup The printer is always on. The first time I found it, it hadn't been used for a couple days. The light is still on and my wife (Host) seldom powers her computer off.
Perhaps I should try wake again?

@d-pupp The printer is USB to my wife's computer. I never had a problem connecting to our old canon that way. The newer ones call home if they can. I have been tempted to hook it directly to an Ethernet cable until I read a couple articles. If I had a different hub on a firewalled sub net I wouldn't think twice. I will try the 9100 port and see if that works.
Thanks.

What about the sleep timer settings?

From the Epson Ecotank ET-2760 manual on troubleshooting.

Network Software Cannot Find Product on a Network (probably not what Puppy is using, but some of this could be useful)
If EpsonNet Setup cannot find your product on a network, try these solutions:
• Make sure your product is turned on and connected to your network. Verify the connection using your
product control panel.
• Check if your network name (SSID) contains non-ASCII characters. Your product cannot display non-
ASCII characters.
• Print a network connection report and check the codes and messages on the report to help determine
the cause of the problem.
• Make sure your product is not connected to a guest network.
• If necessary, reinstall your product software and try running EpsonNet Setup again:

1. Reset your product's network settings to their factory defaults.

Note: If you are using a 5 GHz wireless router, set the router to operate in dual band (2.4 GHz and
5 GHz) mode. If your router uses a single network name (SSID) for both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band,
give each band its own network name (SSID) instead, such as Home Network 2.4 GHz and Home
Network 5 GHz. See your router documentation or contact your internet service provider for
instructions.
• Check to see if your wireless router or access point has an enabled Privacy Separator function that is
preventing detection of your device over the network. See your router or access point documentation
for instructions on disabling the Privacy Separator function.

There is also a Printing a Network Status Sheet procedure in the manual.

If you do not have one here it is on line:
https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd5/cpd57083.pdf

Note:
If you are using a 5GHz WIFI signal to connect.
It can be affected by many more things than the 2.4GHz signal.
Try to use 2.4GHz WIFI signal if you are using 5GHz.

[peppyy]

@mikewalsh and @bigpup

I haven't done so much reading in a while

I will tackle this as soon as the storm arrives and I am forced inside for a couple days. 1-1/2" rain followed by 10" wet heavy snow so wood and tractor prep come first.

Thanks I will report back.

[peppyy]

@mikewalsh
I installed the pet for p910nd Print Server on both computers

On the cups setup on the remote machine I chose appjetsocket/HP jetdirect. then continue.
On connection it says socket
I have tried socket://puppypcxxx:9100 (My wifes computer name /hostname) I have tried localhost:9100 I have tried xxx.xxx.x.xxx:9100 (her ip address)
Installed the correct driver, (same one that works on her machine)
Nothing seems to work.

Peasyport shows port 9100 is open on both computers. did I miss something?

Gotta give my old eyes a break before I get back to it.

[d-pupp]

@peppyy

https://www.cups.org/doc/network.html

The link above explains how cups uses ports
It depends on what protocol you use.
Here is a quick description

AppSocket printing normally happens over port 9100 and uses the socket backend.
socket://ip-address

IPP supports encryption and other security features over port 631 and uses the http (Windows), ipp, and ipps backends.
http://ip-address-or-hostname:port-number/printers/name/.printer
ipp://ip-address/ipp/print
ipp://ip-address-or-hostname/printers/name
ipps://ip-address/ipp/print
ipps://ip-address:443/ipp/print
ipps://ip-address-or-hostname/printers/name

LPD printing normally happens over port 515 and uses the lpd backend
lpd://ip-address/queue

Edit
from what I can tell "name" is the printer queue name
and the " /printers/name" are the network server shared printers
everything else is direct to the printer

[d-pupp]

@peppyy
Looking into this farther is seems you have to set sharing twice
1 for the server
either local only or everywhere
2 for the printer you want to share

https://www.cups.org/doc/sharing.html

[peppyy]

@d-pupp
I will look into if the epson ecotank will accept requests from port 9100. It appears that it will not accept a request from this port from a remote computer, I already have found that there is a problem on port 631 via cups.
I have tried the "ipp everyware driver too. No luck.

Looking into this farther is seems you have to set sharing twice
1 for the server
either local only or everywhere
2 for the printer you want to share

Are you saying I have to create a second printer on the server in order for it to be found, and then reset the "defualt" printer on the "Server" so that the server can print locally?
That seems counter intuitive since the printer is already shared?
This is on the same IP sub-net, on our local router. I can even log into her cups print server on my computer.
I would sooner think that the printer, Epson et-2760, refuses to accept requests from socket printing on port 9100 and 631 which are open on both computers?

On the server, My wife's computer I have tried the commands, cupsctl --share-printers, cupsctl --share-printers --remote-any, to no avail.

[mikewalsh]

@peppyy :-

Umm.....right. O-kay.

One very common "misconception" here:-

I will look into if the epson ecotank will accept requests from port 9100. It appears that it will not accept a request from this port from a remote computer, I already have found that there is a problem on port 631 via cups.

It's not the printer itself that decides whether or not to accept port requests. All your printer does is to accept a formatted print-job sent to it from the the CUPS print-spooler (the bit that 'queues', formats - via the driver PPD file - and sends print-jobs off to the correct destination). It's CUPS that decides whether to accept a port request or not.....

Anyways. Well, you're on the right track with what you've tried so far, but from the sounds of things you may have got a wee bit ahead of yourself, or maybe missed a step out, somewhere along the line. It's nowt to be ashamed of; it took ME a few tries at setting up p910nd before I had it behaving itself.

I find with all this sort of stuff that it pays to be very, VERY methodical about things. Take it one step at a time, and make sure that step is fully-functional - and doing what you expect it to do - before moving onto the next one.

---

The first step is to get the sharing mechanism installed, set-up and functioning correctly. At this point, you're not interested in the printer at all; you're putting background mechanisms in place that allow what you want to happen, TO happen.

Install p910nd at both ends; both on the client (the machine you want to print FROM) and the server (the machine that actually runs the printer). Once installed, bring up the GUI and use it to turn the server ON. Repeat this on both machines. (You can set it all to start at boot, but you can leave this step until after you've got it functional).

Now; next step is to ensure both firewalls are disabled while you're checking things out and setting everything up. You can add an exception for port 9100 in the firewall later, if desired; for now, it's simpler just to turn 'em off.

Okay. On the client machine, run Peasyport to check that port 9100 is in fact open on the server. It should be, but it never hurts to check. Assuming it is, you can now proceed to play around with the printer itself.....

---

I have to assume here that the machine that's going to be the print server - your wife's 'puter, yes? - has the printer all set-up and functional as a 'local' printer. That being the case, the next thing you need to do is to turn printer sharing OFF. Yes; I know it sounds counter-productive, but since in this case p910nd is controlling the share mechanism via port 9100, having the CUPS share mechanism enabled is actually getting in the way, is confusing the issue and isn't needed anyway.....because you're not sharing via port 631 as you would normally.

Now; it's time to "install" the remote printer at the client end. Before you go any further, if there's any other printers 'installed' apart from the local one that you're using, delete 'em. Very important we begin with as clean a sheet as we can.

Okay. Use "Add Printer"; "Find new printers" won't do anything because there's nothing for it to find (you've turned printer sharing OFF, remember?) Check the "AppSocket/JetDirect" option, then hit "Continue".

So; ya need the IP addy of the print server. In my particular case - using my current Pup as an example; this is Tahrpup64, with a static IP at present of 192.168.1.60 - this will be entered on the next page as

Code: Select all

socket://192.168.1.60:9100

You'll enter your own IP addy in a similar fashion. Hit "Continue".

On the next page, give it a name, description, and location, etc. (Leave that 'Sharing' check-box ALONE. We don't want it!) Hit "Continue".

Add your driver. This needs to be the same architecture as the client; it's perfectly possible to send stuff to a 32-bit OR 64-bit print server, and to do so from either a 32-bit OR 64-bit client. Just make sure to use the right drivers for the client's architecture; when I originally obtained my Epson drivers through openprinting.org, many years ago, I made sure to get both arches. I didn't run a 64-bit Pup at the time, but I knew I probably would, sooner or later.

Moment of truth time. Test it out. It's no good trying to use "Maintenance -> Print test page", because CUPS immediately tries to send this via the standard port 631 interface....which of course fails, because you're now not set-up to do it the 'default' way. So; just try to print off a short text document, via Leafpad or Geany, or similar. Doesn't need to be fancy; all you need to do is prove that what you send is printed-off at t'other end.

What happens?

Mike.

[peppyy]

Well this is interesting.

I have to assume here that the machine that's going to be the print server - your wife's 'puter, yes? - has the printer all set-up and functional as a 'local' printer. That being the case, the next thing you need to do is to turn printer sharing OFF.

Yes it is in her office, we both run fossa64 from the same install disk. I have checked that the port 9100 is open on both machines. Her machine prints perfectly via USB.
I can access her cups admin from my computer via ipadress:631. Can I shut off sharing on her computer from my machine or should I physically go to hers and use localhost?

if there's any other printers 'installed' apart from the local one that you're using, delete 'em. Very important we begin with as clean a sheet as we can.

I am guessing that the pdf printer is fine to keep?
For the Epson i think this may be my big mistake. I have been using (modify printer) rather than deleting it.

I have a cupa joe before I proceed.

[peppyy]

Done and working. I logged into her cups admin ipaddress:631 and turned off sharing. logged into localhost:631 on mine, deleted the printer. went to add printer used socket:myipaddress:9100 and added description and driver did not check shared. When the page refreshed I went to file, print in the browser. chose the printer and hit print.
By the time I could get to her office on the other side of the wall it had printed.
By the way, the printer had been idle for 5 days at this point.

I will now set the p10nd server to start at boot on both machines and set up static ip on her computer,"the server". Not sure if I can setup static on my machine because it is wireless but it shouldn't make any difference since I am a client?
Thank you@mikewalsh for another clear and concise tutorial. I will mark this as solved.

[mikewalsh]

@peppyy :-

Ah, brilliant. Nice one! I thought it should work, but there's always that small bit of uncertainty in anything like this, of course.

You're installing the print drivers at the client end for one simple reason; because when the server receives the print-job, it shunts it directly to the printer. It's CUPS itself that takes care of the formatting, etc, so since CUPS is bypassed completely at the server end, it needs to be "ready to print", in a format that the printer will understand. Hence, why you set the client up with the drivers, etc.....because the client takes care of all that before it gets sent off to the server.

It sounds complex, but it's actually pretty simple & logical when you stop and think it through..!

With regard to the static address.....it makes no difference whether you're using wired OR wireless. With Ethernet, the connection is there straight-away; with wireless, you need to establish the connection first.....but the final step for both processes is assigning the IP address, regardless of connection type. I have a wireless connection on the Latitude lappie in the front room, but it's still running static IPs. I do this anyway, because I also use Bill's Python-based SimpleHTTPServer for file-sharing between the Latitude and the big HP desktop rig (which is where all my data is stored). This, again, works through the browser, because although most folks don't realise it, any browser can file-browse through the 'local' file-system. They have been able to for a very long time.

Glad to hear you're sorted. Excellent!

Mike.

[peppyy]

@mikewalsh
I know my router starts dhcp at xxx.xxx.xxx.100 so anything before that should be reserved, like my bee cam is at .64 . I should be able to use anything else up to .100 for our computers, although I will need to change in the print setup to her permanent ip.

Back in the win95 days I used to have access to and from the computers on the network. I really enjoyed it when the kids would ask me if I had something they wanted and I would just put it in a folder on their computer. When my wife and I are collaborating on a website or labels for our product, I spend a lot of time walking back and forth with a pen drive. Hadn't thought about local file sharing for a long time.

I also used to do a lot of remote work on client's computer. I was happy when I found there was a way to access a win machine with Puppy. Don't remember what I used in the 4x versions but it connected to remote desktop just fine with the right authentication. I may look into each of us having a shared folder since her usb ports are getting questionable.
Of course it does keep me moving at the moment and there is something to be said for that
Thanks again for the help.

[mikewalsh]

Back in the win95 days I used to have access to and from the computers on the network. I really enjoyed it when the kids would ask me if I had something they wanted and I would just put it in a folder on their computer. When my wife and I are collaborating on a website or labels for our product, I spend a lot of time walking back and forth with a pen drive. Hadn't thought about local file sharing for a long time.

Of course it does keep me moving at the moment and there is something to be said for that

Heh. Ah, the good old "sneakernet", eh?

Yeah; been there, done that a LOT in the old days. I used to use Bill's Samba-TNG - the lightweight version of Samba - when I first joined the community. It's a PITA to set-up, though, and is rather "fussy" into the bargain. Mind you, I DID have something of a head-start, as it were, since an acquaintance on the Ubuntu Forums during my first few months with Linux talked me through all the various tweaks needed to set-up full Samba between two machines where one was Windows (I did hang on to an install of XP for 3 or 4 months, but that didn't last long!)

Sharing between machines thru the web-browser is, frankly, a darned sight easier as far as I'm concerned. And SimpleHTTPServer is an absolute breeze to use...

We have all the easy-to-use tools needed for pretty much anything, here in Puppyland......thanks to this marvellous community of ours. Is it any wonder I don't even look at anything else any longer?

Mike.

[peppyy]

thanks to this marvellous community of ours. Is it any wonder I don't even look at anything else any longer?

@mikewalsh I have to agree even though I am not quite as sharp as I once was. It was a time when I used to look at code and figure out how to make it work for me. But I digress, probably faster than I care too

BTW, we had a power outage today due to the weather. I went to print before I had a chance to see that our IP addresses had changed. I went to our fairly new router "Dlink" (which I bought at a tag sale for 5 bucks), and everything was Greek to me. I couldn't use any static addresses other than the option to "Reserve" an address. Nothing was available between, .1 and .99 and it said I was on the wrong subnet. had to use "reserve" to get an addy we could both use,(the assigned ones). The admin panel really makes me miss the old DDWRT interface.

Probably I shouldn't keep this thread open by continuing to post so that the (SOLVED) works for someone else.

[peppyy]

UPDATE @mikewalsh Remember I said I had no wan when using a static ip address. Turns out it may be due ti this specific router. According to this link https://www.hyllander.org/content/d-lin ... -route-lan the d-link dir-655 has an issue with the firmware that only allows local connections on static ip addresses. I am hoping to sort it out since it also appears that "reserved" ip addresses do not stick after a power cycle or release / renew cycle. This allows every other device that uses our wifi to grab whatever address is available.

It would be nice to be able to print again without having to edit my cups connection every time.