Solved A printing issue...SOLVED

Today, I set up one of my "new" FreeBSD boxes for printing direct to my networked Epson XP-830 according to the method shown in the Handbook in Part 9.

Once I fixed my fat-finger errors, the print jobs are sent to the printer almost instantly....BUT...the printer sits there and "looks at me" for many seconds before it finally spits out the completed job.

So, why is this? Do I need to add another control command somewhere?

Secondly, although according to the Handbook one should use the DNS name for the printer, which in this case is EPSON813840, nothing would work until I changed that entry to the DNS IP address for the printer, when it began to work.

Is this OK or do I need to do something else to make this system work?

My next job is to configure and activate CUPS. I tried this earlier, it didn't work, so I dropped back to the simpler method, which does work...sorta. When I tried to do the CUPS method, I could never find what I considered to be the correct PPD file for my printer, and there were other errors which showed up. But I'll wait until I have this method working perfectly before I go on to that.

Ken Gordon
 
Once I fixed my fat-finger errors, the print jobs are sent to the printer almost instantly....BUT...the printer sits there and "looks at me" for many seconds before it finally spits out the completed job.

So, why is this? Do I need to add another control command somewhere?

If the job is really sent to the printer instantly, then the issue is that the printer takes some time to process the job for whatever reason which is not anything to do with FreeBSD. In my experience, jobs are not instantly transferred to the printer, but then I use a wireless dongle plugged into my HP B&W laser's ethernet port and can watch the job via LEDs trickle in (depending on the size).

Secondly, although according to the Handbook one should use the DNS name for the printer, which in this case is EPSON813840, nothing would work until I changed that entry to the DNS IP address for the printer, when it began to work.

Is this OK or do I need to do something else to make this system work?

Sure, it's fine. As to the DNS issue, is your printer in your local DNS or /etc/hosts file? Can you ping EPSON813840? I suspect not.
 
From the information provided, the path your print job takes is
printjob.ps -> preprocess filter -> over network -> printer.

According to these specs.
https://epson.com/For-Home/Printers...Small-in-One-All-in-One-Printer/p/C11CE78201#

Standard Connectivity:
  • Hi-Speed USB 2.0
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n4
  • Wi-Fi Direct®4
  • Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps)
Standard Connectivity:
trev mentioned your internet.
USB and Ethernet are the fastest. If your router is b/g, 10/100/1000 ethernet will be 2x to 20x faster.

Also a factor is the resolution and color depth. It is more difficult to specify the default resolution when using lpr (handbook) printing. It is usually done in your filter. If you did not specify and are using 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi with a color depth of 24, the print jobs will be very large.
I have an old howto that illustrates passing resolution, color, etc in lpr. Note that the syntax depends on the the contents of the epson ppd. Copying my examples may not work. If you used foomatic-rip, the howto shows how to pull the default options and setup additional print queues.
Thread 50607
 
Thanks, you guys.

I have edited the /etc/hosts file to include my local IP range, but have not added my Epson's name yet. When I ping EPSON813840, it returns some IP addresses which appear to be somewhere in Outer Mongolia. I'll have to work on that...

In the meantime, it will work and I can print.

Now, I am working with CUPS and finding the pointers to files to be way off.

Later,

Ken Gordon
 
Today, I set up one of my "new" FreeBSD boxes for printing direct to my networked Epson XP-830 according to the method shown in the Handbook in Part 9.

You mean 9.4. Direct Printing?

What did you do to configure the printer?

Configure a static IP Address to your printer and add it to /etc/hosts

Apparently you activated the LPR / LPD system, you cannot have CPUS and LPR / LPD active at the same time

Also, both systems have the binary lpr; /usr/bin/lpr (LPR / LPD) and /usr/local/bin/lpr (CUPS) that can generate conflict
 
Yes.

What did you do to configure the printer?
I did nothing to the printer. Just left it as it was.

Configure a static IP Address to your printer and add it to /etc/hosts
I did that.

Apparently you activated the LPR / LPD system, you cannot have CUPS and LPR / LPD active at the same time.
Ah! Yes. I read that, then forgot it. Thanks for the reminder.

Also, both systems have the binary lpr; /usr/bin/lpr (LPR / LPD) and /usr/local/bin/lpr (CUPS) that can generate conflict

OK. Again, thanks

Ken Gordon
 
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