Magicolor MC2300w install in Slacko 53 [SOLVED]

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of printers
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greengeek
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Magicolor MC2300w install in Slacko 53 [SOLVED]

#1 Post by greengeek »

I think I have correctly installed my printer via Cups, and print jobs do proceed through to the “completed jobs
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rcrsn51
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#2 Post by rcrsn51 »

I extracted the file and one of the items was a folder containing a PPD for this printer. When I plug the usb cable into the printer I can see via dmesg that it is detected. I ran cups (1.4.6) and in the administration tab I tried to install a new printer. Cups appeared to detect the printer correctly and asked me for a PPD, so I browsed to the extracted PPD.
It is a Puppy myth that you can install a printer just from its PPD file. If this were true, why would the author put all that extra stuff in his driver package? :wink:

A PPD is just a text configuration file. I have attached a PET containing everything in the Minolta m2300w RPM. Install it, delete your current printer from CUPS and add the printer again. The CUPS Make/Model lists should now show your printer.

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#3 Post by greengeek »

.
*** PERFECT ***

Thank you for your invaluable help once again! What a joy to be able to print in colour from Puppy.

(I dare not tell you how many times I have copied that PPD file to /usr/share/cups/model in a million different Puppies without success before now...)

Supplementary questions:

1) When I followed your instructions to load the Brother 7820 it required a deb package, yet this Magicolor required an rpm package. I am totally confused about how I should identify a suitable source for an installer package for any future printer I need to connect. Should I stick only to printers I have seen successfully connected in the Puppy forums?

2) I'm keen to make a donation to the developer of the M2300w package. As far as I can tell that is Rick Richardson at
http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/
Do you think the payment link on that page is the appropriate place given the particular rpm package you used to make the pet?

Thanks!

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rcrsn51
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#4 Post by rcrsn51 »

greengeek wrote:.
*** PERFECT ***

Excellent.
(I dare not tell you how many times I have copied that PPD file to /usr/share/cups/model in a million different Puppies without success before now...)
Unfortunately, BK's help screen for CUPS suggests that a PPD file is sufficient to get a printer working. But that's only true in a very few cases.
When I followed your instructions to load the Brother 7820 it required a deb package, yet this Magicolor required an rpm package. I am totally confused about how I should identify a suitable source for an installer package for any future printer I need to connect.
This depends of the package. In the case of your Magicolor RPM, you could have just copied the extracted contents into your filesystem and it would have worked fine. That's exactly what's in my PET.

With Brother printers, you need to use my "debbi" script. That's because the Debian install packages also have a post-install script that is essential to making the printer work. If you just click on the DEB's, they are extracted into your filesystem, but the post-install script is not run.

The same is true for Canon printers. Just clicking on the DEB's from the Canon download site is not sufficient because some additional manipulation is required. That's another Puppy myth - that you can install any Debian package just by clicking on it.
Should I stick only to printers I have seen successfully connected in the Puppy forums?
Yes.
I'm keen to make a donation to the developer of the M2300w package. As far as I can tell that is Rick Richardson at http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/ Do you think the payment link on that page is the appropriate place given the particular rpm package you used to make the pet?
Rick is not the author of the m2300w driver. But he would certainly appreciate a donation. I have done so myself via PayPal. My foo2xxx package is built from his drivers.

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#5 Post by greengeek »

Does anyone have a copy of the minolta_2300w-0.51.pet please? I seem to have lost the original.
cheers!

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rcrsn51
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#6 Post by rcrsn51 »

This driver is too large to be attached to the forum anymore, so I have posted it here. Click the small grey DOWNLOAD button on the LEFT.

The link will eventually go dead from lack of use. Try not to lose the file again. :wink:

My foo2xxx package also has an M2300 driver. Did you ever test it?

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#7 Post by greengeek »

rcrsn51 wrote:The link will eventually go dead from lack of use. Try not to lose the file again. :wink:
Many thanks! File duly stored / duplicated and it's location noted :-) I have a nasty suspicion that my previous copy was internal to a savefile that went belly up. (I seldom use savefiles any more and I now have the file backed up online too)
My foo2xxx package also has an M2300 driver. Did you ever test it?
I'm pretty sure i did not test it as my understanding of driver selection is very poor. Is it likely that the foo2xxx package is built into Slacko 5.6 or would I need to load a pet? Also - is it likely that package would handle the 2300w "windows only" model or is it likely to be for the 2300DL (pcl) or 2350 (PS) versions? (I had all three versions working at one point but I'm not sure which of them is in working condition at the moment - been a while since I used them. I refurbished the 2300w so i will start with that one)
.

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#8 Post by rcrsn51 »

The foo2xxx driver is posted at the bottom of How to Install your Printer in Puppy. But it claims to support the 2300-DL.

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#9 Post by greengeek »

Thanks. I will try and test that this weekend.

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#10 Post by greengeek »

I haven't tested the 2300dl yet (still need to strip the printer and fix it's clutches) but I have been trying to get the 2300W sorted on my Slacko 5.6 setup. I have encountered a print quality difference between documents printed from Slacko 5.3 and Slacko 5.6 - using the same driver pet in both cases. I have started a new thread here to investigate this and would appreciate any insights.

Using your pet to print from Slacko 5.3 is perfect, but from Slacko 5.6 I get really dark (almost "smudgy") printouts.

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#11 Post by rcrsn51 »

My best bet is that it's the version of Ghostscript. Run "gs -v". Slacko 53 has an old version of GS that works with this old driver. The new version of GS in Slacko 56 has lost compatibility.

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#12 Post by greengeek »

rcrsn51 wrote:My best bet is that it's the version of Ghostscript.
Excellent! You have steered me in the right direction. Following your tip I have found a way to do a partial ("dirty") downgrade of the ghostscript in Slacko 5.6 and my colour documents are now perfect once more.
Thread solved here
Many thanks!

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#13 Post by rcrsn51 »

That's good news.

I recall reading something in the foo2zjs site about how recent Ghostscripts had affected their drivers too.

In the CUPS setup, are there any options that control the colour quality?

A quick source to get a GS downgrade would be http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/pet_pa ... .4-w5c.pet

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#14 Post by greengeek »

rcrsn51 wrote:In the CUPS setup, are there any options that control the colour quality?
Very little - it only offers the user the ability to switch between the following options:

Code: Select all

Automatic (B/W and color)
Draft (economy)
Draft grayscale (economy)
Photo
Grayscale
As far as I can tell from various websites there are ways to modify "print strings" to include changes to paper size, type, gamma, colour balance, resolution, duplexing etc and I guess the methodology for this may have changed between GS versions - or at least the default settings may have changed. It is something I need to get to grips with in the long term. I would like to have more control over my printing.
A quick source to get a GS downgrade would be http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/pet_pa ... .4-w5c.pet
Thanks. I will download a copy. Better to have an integrated package than my bitsa.

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#15 Post by greengeek »

Actually - it turns out I was wrong about Cups options. I didn't realise that there were other default options I could access as follows:

Code: Select all

General
Debug
Printout Mode
Banners
Policies
These appear as headings in the "Set printer options" section of the installation procedure.

I had only been looking at the "General" tab as that is what displays as a default during the install. The images below show some of the Printout Mode options. I need to have a tinker with these and see if I can get acceptable results with the current GS 9.05
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