Solved Xerox Workcentre 3025 (network) + CUPS + FreeBSD - HowTo

Greetings.

For two weeks I have been trying to solve this. Xerox does not provide anything for FreeBSD. There are some drivers for CUPS for some huge old reliable xerox printers.
Linux provides some drivers and a "ppd" file, but everything depends on a program called /usr/local/libexec/cups/filter/rastertospl which does not exist in FreeBSD-available CUPS pre-compiled package.
Tricking FreeBSD to work with linux-provided .ppd file + the linux-version "rastertospl" + linux emulation has been reported to work (google), but on my 12.1-STABLE/amd64, CUPS says "filter failure".

So if you want to print stuff with FreeBSD on your networked Xerox Workcentre 3025 without Linux contamination and avoiding Evil Billy's Microsoft Windows, here is a quick and dirty way to do it:
(security-related settings are not included)

- install cups according to FreeBSD handbook;
- install gutenprint + hplip, according to FreeBSD handbook;
- modify /etc/rc.conf: cupsd_enable="YES" cups_browsed_enable="YES", then start them: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/cupsd start; /usr/local/etc/rc.d/cups_browsed start;
- configure CUPS at http://localhost:631 - login with root credentials;
- Click on Administration - Edit config file.
Modify default policies to match like here (don't ask why, search google for "cups user withheld" and you will understand):

Code:
# Set the default printer/job policies...
<Policy default>
  # Job/subscription privacy...
  #JobPrivateAccess default
  #JobPrivateValues default
  SubscriptionPrivateAccess default
  SubscriptionPrivateValues default

  JobPrivateAccess all
  JobPrivateValues none

  # Job-related operations must be done by the owner or an administrator...
  <Limit Create-Job Print-Job Print-URI Validate-Job>
    Order deny,allow
  </Limit>

- Find new printer - CUPS will automatically find your Xerox Workcentre 3025;
- Set it up like this: AppSocket/HP JetDirect, address socket://<<<IP_PRINTER>>>:9100, Maker = generic, Model = Generic IPP Everywhere Printer.

Save the printer, open Libre Office and start playing.
I don't know about scanner yet. If I can get it working, I will be back.

I am just posting this here to be of great help for whoever loves *BSD as much as I do.
Tested on FreeBSD 12.1-STABLE/amd64.

Unable to test on 12.1-STABLE/sparc64 because:
- someone decided to hide the available package list at pkg.freebsd.org for all architectures (no problem, openBSD works fast);
- someone at libreoffice.org decided to remove *BSD/sparc64 support but to keep Solaris/sparc64 in the LibreOffice source code, so I can't even cross-compile it on a fast CPU with target_arch=sparc64.
 
Back
Top