LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Paul Schulz <pauls@CAEmrad.com.au>
  To  : rfmoore@senet.com.au
  Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 12:29:08 +0930

Re: Epson stylus colour 760

  Reginald> I have just installed Red Hat 6.1 and am a new user. I
  Reginald> have an Epson stylus colour 760 printer can someone help
  Reginald> with a driver, or what ever its called under linux, for
  Reginald> this printer and how would I install the same. Thanks Reg
  Reginald> Moore

Reg, you will need to do a couple of things..
(some of these are because RH6.1 has a known problem with loading
the pc printer module 'parport_pc'..) 

0. Become the all powerful super user... root
1. Learn how to use an editor under Linux.. vi or emacs
   (Type 'emacs' in a xterm.. hit the Gnome foot in the tool bar)
   (Use Control-x, Control-c to exit emacs)
2. Edit /etc/conf.modules and add the following line.. save and exit.
   (Use Control-x, s to save)

   post-install parport insmod parport_pc.o

3. Reboot - not strictly necessary, but the easiest way.
4. Run 'control-panel', and click on the printer icon.
   .. and follow the bouncing ball.

or

Install Redhat 6.2.. 
** Who has done this?** 
Does the printing work straight out of the box?

PaulS

ps. Printing under Linux/Unix is done through the postscript printer
language (which is itself a programming language).  Applications which
wish to print will produce postscript output, which is device
independent text.. starting with the characters '%!'.  This output can
then be sent directly to a postscript capable printer, or a program
can be used to render the pages in a language that the printer
understands.  

The program that does this under Linux (as distributed by Redhat) is
the GNU version of ghostscript.  (Adobe is in the habbit of releasing
their older versions of this program under the GNU license.. chances
are that if you printer is not supported under the GNU version, it
will be in their newer version, which is under a different license and
has bee free for personal use.)  The 'control-panel' instructions
above just set up some options for ghostscript which tells it what
output it should be producing.

The printing program 'lpd' (line printer daemon) manages the above
operation, queuing up the print jobs, calling 'ghostscript' as a
filter, and sending the output to the printer port 
(/dev/lp0, /dev/lp1 or /dev/lp2). The user command 'lpr' is what is
used to start print jobs.. ('lpq' will let you look at the printer
queues).  lpd is controlled by the file '/etc/printcap'.
 
Redhat has a filter script which will attempt to 'auto-magically'
detect the file type you are trying to print (using the 'file'
command), and set up a filter chain to eventually produce a file in
the native format of your printer.  This means that you're not
restricted to only printing postscript.  jpeg images can be printed 
as well.. 

(.. and this is probably already all written down in a FAQ or Howto
somewhere...)

-- 
Paul Schulz(pauls@caemrad.com.au) - 8260 8170                 SysAdmin
CAE MRad, Innovation House West, First Avenue, TECHNOLOGY PARK SA 5095
-..-.----_...._--..._---_.-----.....---___.,-..----.-,---.-.--__._....

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