samba - Apr 1999 - How to set up spooling for a HP JetDirect interface?

I've set up Samba and LPRng for HP printers with 
JetDirect cards. It works for one user at a 
time. But if the printer is off-line or busy, the
samba client does not get an error message, but 
the job gets lost. :( I would like the print 
jobs to be spooled on Linux even when there is an
active print job or when the printer is off-line.
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with lpd.

The relevant lines from smb.conf:

[global]
   load printers = no
   printing = lprng

[HP4Plus]
   public = yes
   browsable = yes
   writable = no
   create mode = 0700
   printable = yes
   path = /mnt/sda5/samba/print
   print command = /usr/local/bin/lpr -P@x.x.x.x 
-r -h %s;rm %s
   lpq command   = /usr/local/bin/lpq -P@x.x.x.x
   lprm command  = /usr/local/bin/lprm -
P@x.x.x.x %j
   printer driver = HP LaserJet 4 Plus

I've tried to set up /etc/printcap and printing 
with lpr, but it worked the same way, whatever I 
did.

The latest version is:

hp4plus
    :rw:sh:mx#0:sd=/var/spool/lpd/hp4plus
    :rm=hp4plus
    :send_failure_action=retry
    :send_try#0
    :send_rw_timout#0
    :retry_econrefused=true
    :connect_timeout#0


The system is based on Linux RedHat 5.2 and 
samba-1.9.18p10-5.

I don't need to print from the Linux shell, only 
thru Samba.

Tulipant-Gergely@dbrt.hu wrote:
> 
> I've set up Samba and LPRng for HP printers with
> JetDirect cards. It works for one user at a
> time. But if the printer is off-line or busy, the
> samba client does not get an error message, but
> the job gets lost. :( I would like the print
> jobs to be spooled on Linux even when there is an
> active print job or when the printer is off-line.
> Unfortunately I'm not familiar with lpd.
> 
The question is that JetDirect don't know about spooling. I have here a
LaserJet 4MPlus with a JD interface, and I had the same problem, until I
stuck a print server in front of it. If you want spooling, you'll have
to do it (well, Linux will do it for you ;-). You just have to set up a
print queue with Lpd on the samba host, and make samba print through it
instead of doing it directly to the JetDirect.

In my LJ4 manual, it says that the firmware in the jetdirect is not
multithreaded, and so it can't handle two tasks simultaneously, i.e., if
it's printing, then it can't handle the network, and viceversa.

My setup is a low-end 486 with LInux as a printer server, and the LJ4
connected to it through the parallel port. And it spools.

-- 
Jorge Gonzalez  <jorgegv@icai.upco.es>       -o)
ICAI - Universidad Pontificia Comillas       /\\
Administrador de Sistemas                   _\_v

Tulipant-Gergely@dbrt.hu:
> 
> I've set up Samba and LPRng for HP printers with 
> JetDirect cards. It works for one user at a 
> time. But if the printer is off-line or busy, the
> samba client does not get an error message, but 
> the job gets lost. :( I would like the print 
> jobs to be spooled on Linux even when there is an
> active print job or when the printer is off-line.
> Unfortunately I'm not familiar with lpd.
Well. When remote printer server does not response,
lpd spools message. I have not hear that jobs
are lost althoug we have several  HP printers with
JetDirect cards.

As far lpd is considered 
	remote printer server=HP printerwith JetDirect card

Of course very command lpr, lpq, lprm tries to take
connection to printer -- so it takese some time
to get output from lpq (before it notices that
'remote printer server' does nor respond and then
print only local lpd queue.)

/ Kari Hurtta

The problem with the HP JetDirect or JetExpress stuff is that it can't
really spool.
I also had the problem you discribe and solved it the following way:

1)	Use only ONE UNIX-Box to connect to the HP-MIO
2)	Make the UNIX connect process wait for the last to complete.
	in LINUX you make a printcap entry like this:

hp2|lp2|HP LaserJet on HP JetExpress 500X:\
        :sd=/usr/spool/lp2:\
        :rm=hpjex2:\
        :rp=RAW2:\
        :mx#0:\
        :sf:sh:

	in AIX it's more tricky.

The reason why your old SUN works with this is that it's 515 spooler waits
for each job to be completed. This seems to have changed a few years ago, so
that 515 assume an UNIX-like spooler on the other hand that can handle and queue
up multiple parallel requests.

Burkhard Weeber
C. Haushahn Automationssysteme GmbH & Co. KG
P/O Box 300668
D-70446 Stuttgart
Email: B.Weeber@haushahn-as.de

-----Original Message-----
From: samba@samba.org [mailto:samba@samba.org]On Behalf Of Ole Holm
Nielsen
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 1999 8:59 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: How to set up spooling for a HP JetDirect interface?


Regarding SAMBA printing problems to HP JetDirect:

We use HP printers with the JetDirect network card and 
they work very well.  However, the print spooler on Linux
(RPM lpr-0.35-0.5.2) as well as the one on AIX 4.2.1 have a
problem when the JetDirect card doesn't respond while it
is processing a job:  The AIX print queue hangs, whereas
we find that jobs are lost in the Linux spooler.  Try to
send two large print jobs from Linux to a remote JetDirect,
and you will probably find that the second job vanishes.

As a workaround, we send Linux print to a remote UNIX 
spooler that doesn't loose jobs.  On AIX we restart the
queue from crontab by this undocumented command (from
IBM support):  /usr/bin/qadm -U [queuename]
One UNIX spooler that doesn't have a problem with 
JetDirect's non-responsiveness is the one in an old
SunOS 4.1.3 machine.  I trust that HP-UX will work, too.
> Tulipant-Gergely@dbrt.hu:
> > I've set up Samba and LPRng for HP printers with
> > JetDirect cards. It works for one user at a
> > time. But if the printer is off-line or busy, the
> > samba client does not get an error message, but
> > the job gets lost. :( I would like the print
> > jobs to be spooled on Linux even when there is an
> > active print job or when the printer is off-line.
> > Unfortunately I'm not familiar with lpd.
> 
> Well. When remote printer server does not response,
> lpd spools message. I have not hear that jobs
> are lost althoug we have several  HP printers with
> JetDirect cards.
Ole Holm Nielsen
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark,
Building 307, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark