CUPS printing - installation script - update 13SEP06

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pakt
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#161 Post by pakt »

Nice, peppyy!

Today is election day here in Sweden and I'll be gone part of the day to vote. I'll be happy to test your dotpups when I'm back home.

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peppyy
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#162 Post by peppyy »

I have only tested this with hd installs so far. I also have not tested these on the 2.0.x series so I will do that today. I wiped a couple drives and started clean and they seem to work fine in 1.0.7 and 1.0.9ce. I laughed so hard the last time I installed the perl midi amd perl missing first. When I did the cups install the phone rang and when I came back the cups printer interface was waiting for me to add a printer. 30 seconds later I printed a test page over my wireless eithernet.

Nice job on the new script! I am not sure if it launches the browser by itself but it launched a new tab in firefox automatically for me every time.

I may have a problem with the cups install pup since it might not allow you to read the very last part of your script since you have a read command at the end and I have a hit enter to exit command. at the end of the script so I might have to look into that. Everything else seems to run fine up to that point.

Edit:

Installed midi-perl and missing-perl and then cups on 2.0.2 live with no problem. I am however unable to connect to my router, can't even get to the local address to login on 2.0.2 but I have access through the gateway to the internet. It is a wired connection so I will do a bit nore investigation. Possibly a firewall issue?
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aussie
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#163 Post by aussie »

peppyy
I am using puppy 2.10 (wireless connection)

Gave your new .pups a go. All went OK with perl-midi.pup and missing-perl.pup.

Ran cups-installer.pup received the following script messages -

"Logging in as anonymous.................Logged in
Installing CUPS
Connecting to slackware.cs.utah.edu...............
Hit ENTER to exit"

However don't think anything was downloaded from slackware, the "Hit ENTER to exit" message displayed straight away after the "Connecting to slackware" message.

Anyway tried to connect to CUPS (http://localhost:631/) received the following messages -

"Failed to connect
Though the site seems valid the browser was unable to establish a connection"

Hope the above info may be of use to you, I think I followed the instructions correctly.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

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pakt
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#164 Post by pakt »

aussie, it seems that the server may have been unavailable when you ran the script. This is a dilemma when files need to be downloaded from the internet. I wish there was a reliable place to download the CUPS files from.

Either we have to add more error checking in the script in case the files don't get downloaded (or partially downloaded) and maybe add another download site or include the files in the CUPS installation package. Suggestions are welcome :)

Paul

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#165 Post by aussie »

pakt

I think there may be more to it than the server, I have tried numerous times over a period of 12 hours to download CUPS, with the same result. Surely during that time period I should have struck lucky. :(

In the cups-install directory, the wget-logs list each attempt as failing (timing-out) trying to access URL 155.98.64.80, presumably where the required cups-1.1.23-i486-1.tgz file is located.

I did download CUPS successfully a couple of weeks back, but since then no luck.
Any more thoughts or advice on the above would be welcome.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

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#166 Post by pakt »

I've finally had time to try peppyy's CUPS dotpup. There are problems when running the cups-install script from another script. For example, 'more' doesn't work - pressing 'space' didn't do anything and pressing 'return' closes the window instead of showing the next line. Also it would be good if the script started immediately when the dotpup is opened instead of having to click on the separate installation script.

I'm not sure what's causing the problem aussie is getting when trying to download the CUPS files.

I think the best solution may be to rewrite the CUPS install script and adapt it for use as a dotpup instead of having one script call another. Also include all the files that are currently downloaded by the script so we avoid server problems. The dotpup will probably be around 10MB. After installation, the dotpup can be deleted and only the necessary files will have been added to Puppy.

peppyy's use of MU's perl-midi was a good idea and it can be installed along with missing-perl by the script if it detects that perl is missing altogether.

I will start on this project to modify the CUPS script today and then, if peppyy has no objection, see if I can put together a dotpup. I'll post my progress in this thread.

Paul

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#167 Post by peppyy »

I agree that it would be better to have it open the script directly and that it would be good to include the files in the dotpup. If you could have it check for perl first and download it if needed that would make it even better. I have to admit that I could not figure out how to launch the dotpup directly but I was working on it ;)

I think I also mentioned the exit problem at the end. With one script inside another I think the priority was for the outer script. As soon as the function of the install stopped for any length of time, my script continued its count and went to the exit comand.

This is why we test things right :D
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pakt
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#168 Post by pakt »

peppyy wrote: This is why we test things right :D
Yep, otherwise Puppy wouldn't be where it is - a great little distro 8)

I have re-worked the CUPS script to work as a program complete with dialog windows. Just click on the install file and the rest is automatic.

I plan on uploading an early version for testing later today. I need to see where we can host it. It will be about 13MB in size. Once it works satisfactorily, we can try to make a dotpup out of it.

Right now I am off to the post office in town to pick up a 3G datacard and a 3G router that will give me not 'broadband' but 'broader-band' to replace my present dial-up. I will be connecting my network to the nearby 3G mobile mast that was erected some months ago. This will give me about 8x faster internet access. I can't get anything else so this will have to do. :P

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#169 Post by aussie »

pakt

Your eagerly anticipated new automatic CUPS Install script/program, will be a giant step forward for puppykind, and devoteecups, looking forward to testing it. :D
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

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pakt
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#170 Post by pakt »

Thanks for the enthusiasm, aussie :)

My apologies for not uploading the CUPS install test package sooner but I ran into some problems.

After some early success in getting my 'broader-band' connection working using 3G, my 3G datacard stopped working :( so it is back to dial-up until I can get a replacement card. The complete package I was going to upload is 13MB, but that just takes too long using dialup so I have removed the CUPS files. If you want to test the early CUPS installation program, download the CUPS files (as shown below) into the cups-install/ directory before clicking on 'cups-install'.

How to test:

1. Copy cups-install.tar.gz to /root

2. Unpack: tar -xzf cups-install.tar.gz

3. cd cups-install/

4. Download these files into cups-install/

wget -c ftp://ftp.linux.cz/pub/linux/slackware/ ... i486-1.tgz
wget -c ftp://ftp.linux.cz/pub/linux/slackware/ ... i486-1.tgz
wget -c ftp://ftp.linux.cz/pub/linux/slackware/ ... i486-1.tgz
wget -c ftp://ftp.linux.cz/pub/linux/slackware/ ... i486-1.tgz

5. Click on cups-install to run the CUPS installation program

Feedback welcome on how the program works in Puppy 1.xx & Puppy 2.xx

When we get the program to run reliably it should be fairly easy to make the program (and the CUPS files) into a dotpup.

Happy testing ;)
Paul

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#171 Post by peppyy »

Nice script! I downloaded the files and put them all together in /usr/local/cups-install and it worked perfectly from there. Forgot I had a couple printers installed but it only took a minute to put them back. I attemtped several times to create a dotpup that ran the script automatically but the best I could get is an open folder with your script waiting for a click. It is a really big dotpup. almost 14mb so perhaps the last thing it should do is remove the temporary files from usr/local/cups-install. Or perhaps it should install from temp?

I put the dotpup up here temporarily

Link removed to avoid confusion.

It is a pretty fast server but no direct linking available without a premium account
Last edited by peppyy on Sun 24 Sep 2006, 23:15, edited 1 time in total.
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#172 Post by MU »


Torymon
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#173 Post by Torymon »

Thanks Mark!
Right nice of you!
Peppyy, pakt, does your script look for existing .ppd files and install them?
I know that Paul started with it looking for existing's and installing but does the
new script cover that as well?...
I'm willing to test but I don't want to lose my (very rare!!!) .ppd file that took
me over 5 or 6 hours to find the "generator" for! :lol:
I presume that I could put my "custom" ppd file in the 'cups-install' directory
and the script "will find it and install it automatically". ... Yes?
Hell, I'll make several dozen copies and check this out and see what happens!
I've downloaded the .pup from Mark's site and do the install with my .ppd
moved into the cups-install and see.
Let ya'll know later!
Woof!
Tory

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#174 Post by peppyy »

When in doubt, backup, backup, backup and it might not hurt to backup :D

I have a custom .ppd on my libranet machine, or did until I updated the apps with synaptic I think it is called and it uninstalled it because it was not part of the original package. (Called it broken). I was never able to make it work again from scratch and I could not find the howto again, (over a year later). Went back to the old driver that comes with cups and just changed the default settings.

Thanks for the Mirror Mark.

Pakt, this 3G network sounds interesting. I wish they had something like that for my dad to get connected to. He suffers the intermitent dialup blues where he lives and is lucky to connect at all. I had to get him an external modem to get online since the line quality is so bad. At times his fax dosn't work correctly even. I am working on getting him a longer range wireless card so he can find some connections with his puptop in town.

Good luck with the network.
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pakt
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#175 Post by pakt »

@Mark: Yes, thanks for the mirror :)
peppyy wrote:It is a really big dotpup. almost 14mb so perhaps the last thing it should do is remove the temporary files from usr/local/cups-install. Or perhaps it should install from temp?
It doesn't really need to be executed from /root. It will actually run from any directory - the script keeps track of where it is. The problem is if a .ppd file needs to be added to the installation directory by the user - the instructions need to tell the user where to put the file.

Here's a solution - have the installation program run from /tmp and tell the user to put the .ppd file in /root where it will be found by the program. That way the .ppd file will be saved while the installation program will be deleted after a reboot.

If this sounds reasonable, I will modify the script and upload it to this thread.
Torymon wrote:Peppyy, pakt, does your script look for existing .ppd files and install them?
I know that Paul started with it looking for existing's and installing but does the new script cover that as well?...
Yep, the program will even test the .ppd file's validity, ie, if it is acceptable for use by CUPS. If it is, a green window pops up with a 'validation successful' message - if not a red window pops up with a 'validation fail' message telling the user to replace the .ppd file with a valid one. 8)

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#176 Post by Torymon »

pakt,
that's cool!
If a user knew to put the ppd in /root...
As you said, the /tmp could get rid of the superflous install files but still retain
the "priceless" ppd file AND check/confirm it's suitability/validity...
(how do they say in those MasterCard commercials???... oh yeh?)
Priceless!
Sounds good guys! Ain't had the chance to test yet but planning on it!
Thumbs up to the team!! :D
WoofWoof!
Tory

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aussie
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#177 Post by aussie »

Well done pakt, peppyy, and MU for the mirror, the cups-install dotpup works like a charm, have now got to get myself a compatible printer and Puppy will be able to bark in print. :D
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

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CUPS - perfectly awesome - 2.10 HD / Dell 3100 cn

#178 Post by jaxpilot »

Just want to say thanks a million for this script! As a newbie I have struggled with Puppy for 9 months - gave up 3 months ago. came back again this morning and wow! Downloaded 2.10, pupget for perl, ran your scripts after adding perl missing and copying my dell 3100 .ppd file and in 5 minutes had full color duplex laser printing up and running. The script was flawless for me.

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Thanks,
Paul

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Re: CUPS - perfectly awesome - 2.10 HD / Dell 3100 cn

#179 Post by peppyy »

jaxpilot wrote:Just want to say thanks a million for this script! As a newbie I have struggled with Puppy for 9 months - gave up 3 months ago. came back again this morning and wow! Downloaded 2.10, pupget for perl, ran your scripts after adding perl missing and copying my dell 3100 .ppd file and in 5 minutes had full color duplex laser printing up and running. The script was flawless for me.

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Thanks,
Paul
Thanks!
That's what we like to hear. Another happy pup. I am glad it worked for you but the praise belongs to pakt with all the hard work. I just have the fast connection and MU's dotpup wizzard which I need to read a bit more about. The new dotpup includes everything you should need in one package. I still have another test run or two to do but it is looking really good at the moment.

(Trotts off to clean up a couple hard drives)
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#180 Post by pakt »

OK, I have modified the script to only look for a .ppd file in /root. The CUPS install package should be unpacked in /tmp and run from there. That way it is automatically deleted on rebooting.

I discovered a potential bug - if more than one .ppd file exists in /root the script would fail. I have fixed that bug. Now if more than one .ppd file is found, a message pops up reporting the error and suggesting that all except one file be removed.

Attached is the new cups-install script. Just copy it over the old one.

Paul
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cupsinstall-script-22sep06.tar.gz
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