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[Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

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praka123
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[Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#1 Post by praka123 »

I have bought a wireless printer HP 2778 AIO and configured it using Gnome settings and system-config-printer. With "driverless, cups-filters 1.28.16" as the driver instead of hplip. Printer is working well, but ink levels are not showing in system-config-printer>properties tab. For context, it shows ink level with driverless, cups-filters 1.28.16 setup in Ubuntu 22.10 which also I'm dual booting with. How to get ink level to show up in the properties ?

This is how it shows:
Image

system-config-printer > properties
Image

Ubuntu 22.10 system-config-printer properties
Image
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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#2 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

I ran settings>printers>printer details and clicked "Search for Drivers" and it did. After that, the ink levels are showing.
I have a Debian testing (bookworm) also installed on this PC. But, ink levels are not showing. I configured it as it is on Ubuntu 22.10. It even uses the same cups-filter-1.28.16. Any idea if any packages are missing.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1437940 ... relessly-h

As you (and I assume it's you, unless there are two people from the same part of India with the same printer dual booting Ubuntu and Debian, which I concede is a possibility) seem to have installed hplip in Ubuntu, it's possible that when you searched for drivers, printer settings found something in hplip to enable communication of ink level information.

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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#3 Post by praka123 »

FreewheelinFrank wrote: 2022-11-18 18:41
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1437940 ... relessly-h

As you (and I assume it's you, unless there are two people from the same part of India with the same printer dual booting Ubuntu and Debian, which I concede is a possibility) seem to have installed hplip in Ubuntu, it's possible that when you searched for drivers, printer settings found something in hplip to enable communication of ink level information.
Yes, it is me on that forum. HPLIP is already installed on my Debian install also. I did try search automatically for driver. Unfortunately, it did not seems to work on Debian. Also, on the other forum, someone replied that:
I worked hard to explain how you can avoid using hplip specific drivers. I suspect that you felt this was sub-optimal, because it did not use the driver specifically written for the printer. It's my mistake. I should have better explained that it is the opposite. It's better to use the driverless technology. I am sorry about that. – 
Dominic108
Nov 14 at 4:47
You should go back to Settings->Printers then cllick on Additional Printer Settings ... and select the ipp device uri in the section Network Printers. You will get all the features, scan, ink level, etc., because it's all standardized. In the future, Ubuntu will not support drivers specific to a printer model.
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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#4 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

I'm not recommending the use of hplip when a printer can use a driverless connection. I just thought it might explain why ink levels were reported in one install and not another if it contains printer specific instructions.

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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#5 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

It certainly seems that driverless printing supports communication of ink levels without the need for drivers or printer specific instructions, so it's a bit of a mystery why it works in Ubuntu and not Debian.
The printer prints the job and thanks to IPP the status can be observed, toner levels and any errors can get reported to the client.
https://openprinting.github.io/driverless/02-workflow/
The Internet Printing Protocol ("IPP") is a secure application level protocol used for network printing. IPP defines high-level Printer, Job, and Document objects, allowing Clients to ask a Printer about capabilities and defaults (supported media sizes, two-sided printing, etc.), the state of the Printer (paper out/jam, low ink/toner, etc.) and any Print Jobs and their Documents.
https://www.pwg.org/ipp/ippguide.html

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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#6 Post by praka123 »

system-config-printer in Ubuntu is more recent - 1.5.18-0 . Debian bookworm is 1.15.16. Will need to check the source to enable something?
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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#7 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

Support for displaying ink and toner levels using IPP was added years ago, so I don't think that will make a difference. (You could check release notes to see if something has been added.)

http://cyberelk.net/tim/2009/01/14/repo ... nk-levels/

It seems to depend on the printer reporting ink levels using SNMP.

You could compare IPP and SNMP packages installed in Ubuntu and Debian to see if Debian is missing anything, especially SNMP packages.

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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#8 Post by praka123 »

cups-ipp-utils version is 2.4.2 in both the distros.
snmp version is 5.9.3, both got the same.

Apparently, there is a command "ink" that may show the ink level percentages. I will try that.
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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#9 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

There are many packages related to SNMP - libraries, scripts, plugins, protocols etc. Check those too. I searched for SNMP in Synaptic.

Do you have

Code: Select all

printer-driver-hpcups
?

I have it on my computer and ink levels are reported for my HP printer, although it's not driverless.

The Ink package only works with USB connected printers. As the driverless USB connection is new in Bullseye, it may not even work with that.

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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#10 Post by dilberts_left_nut »

Moved to Testing/Sid section
AdrianTM wrote:There's no hacker in my grandma...

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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#11 Post by praka123 »

FreewheelinFrank wrote: 2022-11-25 06:15 There are many packages related to SNMP - libraries, scripts, plugins, protocols etc. Check those too. I searched for SNMP in Synaptic.

Do you have

Code: Select all

printer-driver-hpcups
?

I have it on my computer and ink levels are reported for my HP printer, although it's not driverless.

The Ink package only works with USB connected printers. As the driverless USB connection is new in Bullseye, it may not even work with that.
Yes. It was already installed.

Code: Select all

:~$ apt policy printer-driver-hpcups
printer-driver-hpcups:
  Installed: 3.22.6+dfsg0-1
  Candidate: 3.22.6+dfsg0-1
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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#12 Post by praka123 »

I tried configuring using hplip toolkit. It installs and detects printer, adds it. But, even in HPLIP toolkit, the ink levels are not showing under Debian testing. Note that, it works fine in another Linux OS.
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Re: [Software] HP printer ink level not showing in system-config-printer properties

#13 Post by praka123 »

praka123 wrote: 2022-12-06 17:37 I tried configuring using hplip toolkit. It installs and detects printer, adds it. But, even in HPLIP toolkit, the ink levels are not showing under Debian testing. Note that, it works fine in another Linux OS.
HP Toolkit works now. It seems like loading ink level in HP toolbox takes some time for the first run?. So, "driverless" option cannot show ink levels in Debian testing yet. Note that, in Ubuntu 22.10 driverless option just works with ink levels also showing. No complaints, at least hplip is showing ink levels.
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