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Transfer printer drivers from older Linux install

Ask for help with issues regarding the Installations of the Debian O/S.
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c3po
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Re: Transfer printer drivers from older Linux install

#21 Post by c3po »

I finally got the printer/scanner to work after several more hours of effort. I tried many things but the solution (so far) finally popped out. I installed many packages and tried many things along the way so I don't know if the following information will work on a freshly installed Debian or not. I'm entering the following notes for my own future reference as well as to hopefully help some other poor soul like me that has no idea how the printing system works.

A fresh Debian install provides few HP device drivers. Installing the "foomatic" package provides many more drivers. I was able to get my printer working this way, but the built-in scanner was still dead.

Installing HPLIP didn't help, at least not directly. HPLIP doesn't do much without proper drivers are installed. Obtaining and installing the drivers is a huge problem, at least for an uninformed user like me. There's no explanation and few clues how to do this specifically.

HPLIP assists in driver installation. First it tries to find drivers somewhere on the internet. It doesn't say where or what it's looking for. In my case this failed with a file checksum error message displayed.

HPLIP also allows you to manually enter a driver file, but it doesn't say where to get the file or what file is required. Luckily, I stumbled into an alternative way to do this using and HP command that is entered in a terminal window. The command is "hp-plugin -i". The "-i" means "interactive". In a few steps, it prompts the user to enter information. One of the prompts asks for a driver plugin file. The prompt actually names the specific file required. This is like striking gold. Good things start to happen when you know what to look for.

Google found the specified plugin file at this location:
https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imag ... ng/plugins

The above address lists a bunch of plugin files, including the one specified by the "hp-plugin -i" prompt. Downloading this file and making it available to "hp-plugin" is the step that appeared to solve the problem. I was then able to print and scan. CUPS (system-config-printer) shows that a "proprietary" driver is installed instead of the foomatic driver.

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fabien
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Re: Transfer printer drivers from older Linux install

#22 Post by fabien »

c3po wrote: 2022-09-25 01:18HPLIP assists in driver installation. First it tries to find drivers somewhere on the internet. It doesn't say where or what it's looking for. In my case this failed with a file checksum error message displayed.
I remember that I had to install dirmngr at this step for it to work.

Code: Select all

apt policy dirmngr
dirmngr:
  Installed: 2.2.27-2+deb11u2
  Candidate: 2.2.27-2+deb11u2
  Version table:
 *** 2.2.27-2+deb11u2 500
        500 https://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main amd64 Packages
        500 https://deb.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

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Re: Transfer printer drivers from older Linux install

#23 Post by brian_p »

FreewheelinFrank wrote: 2022-09-22 16:56
[...]

The term "modern" used by Debian doesn't seem to be very useful to be honest. My printer (bought a few years ago) isn't driverless, yet there are older printers which are, as you point out.
The term "modern" is intended to be contrasted with the terms "legacy" or "classic". The latter class of printer requires a vendor driver (free or non-free); hence, 10,000 legacy/classic printers - 10,000 drivers. Surely a maintenance nightmare for a user, especially one moving between different locations? Also, a factor to bear in mind is that by the end of 2023 (probably) CUPS will cease to support legacy/classic printers.

A modern printer is an IPP printer and, for those that can be networked, will almost certainly support AirPrint. AirPrint requires the client device to be capable of producing Apple raster as a PDL (Page Description Language). CUPS can do this via its rastertopwg filter. Hence, 10,000 modern printers - 1 driver.

AirPrint is a good criterion to look for. AirPrint means IPP is available; IPP means rastertopwg can be used. A user never has to look for and install any driver. Therefore, from her point of view, the ssytem is driverless.

Any recent (post-2012, say) network-capable printer that does not do AirPrin is, IMHO, defective. What is the make and model of the one you have?
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FreewheelinFrank
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Re: Transfer printer drivers from older Linux install

#24 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

brian_p wrote: 2022-09-28 12:59 Any recent (post-2012, say) network-capable printer that does not do AirPrin is, IMHO, defective. What is the make and model of the one you have?
Brother HL-1212W.

It's still on sale in the UK.

As Brother have a Windows XP driver for this printer, I suspect it dates back to that period (ie the noughties) and they have kept it going for the budget market.

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Re: Transfer printer drivers from older Linux install

#25 Post by brian_p »

c3po wrote: 2022-09-23 05:37
BTW, I read something interesting about CUPS. It's owned by Apple and used and on several Apple OS's.
To be precise: CUPS is not owned by Apple but does own the trademark on the name CUPS. Also, Apple holds the copyright on some of the code, which is distributed under a free license.

However, Apple have ceased to have any input into the development of CUPS and that has been taken over by OpenPrinting. The version of CUPS used with Debian comes from OpenPrinting. Basically, Apple CUPS is dead from Debian's point of view.
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c3po
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Re: Transfer printer drivers from older Linux install

#26 Post by c3po »

Current version of MX Linux does all this correctly. CUPS detects the HP printer, downloads the HP driver, and completes the configuration.

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