[needs-packaging] rastertosag-gdi - Ricoh Aficio SP1100s is Windows-only (GDI) printer

[Maciek G]

Binary package hint: cups

Despite the printer is visible in list in System->Administration->Printing it cannot print anything (even test page). Tried blacklisting usblp, chmod 644 on /dev/usb/lp0. Please help.
I'm using Maverick

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: cups 1.4.4-6ubuntu2.3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-24.42-generic 2.6.35.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-24-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Jan 7 22:41:52 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
Lpstat: device for MFPrinter--Laser-Pro-LL2-1: usb://MFPrinter/Laser%20Pro%20LL2%201
MachineType: LENOVO 44443RG
Papersize: a4
PpdFiles: MFPrinter--Laser-Pro-LL2-1: Laser Pro LL2 PS
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-24-generic root=UUID=478da520-d342-4250-8282-6fe63c2d4e96 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=pl_PL.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: cups
dmi.bios.date: 06/22/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 81ET40WW (1.16 )
dmi.board.name: 44443RG
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr81ET40WW(1.16):bd06/22/2010:svnLENOVO:pn44443RG:pvrThinkPadL512:rvnLENOVO:rn44443RG:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 44443RG
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad L512
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

I did not find anything wrong in your error_log. All jobs seem to have completed successfully. Can it be that your printer is set up to hold jobs internally? Please check the front panel menus.

What does

'drukarka jest w trybie gotowo\u015bci.'

mean in English?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Subscribed George Liu from Ricoh as it can be a problem with the Ricoh printer.

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

What does

'drukarka jest w trybie gotowo\u015bci.'

mean in English?

It means "Printer is in ready state." Front panel says the same all the time: "Ready"
What's more under Windows I can print normally. So I assume something is wrong with cups or maybe driver from CD attached to printer works incorrectly? (just a guess).

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Can you follow the instructions in the sections "CUPS error_log" and "Capturing print job data" of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems. Thanks.

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

Please find requested files attached. PDF opens normally. Maybe I'll attach also the PPD file that was on installation CD-ROM that came with printer.

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

Anyone? I'm still unable to print anything. Please help.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

The problem seems to be completely printer-internal. Your PPD file passes through the compatibility test of CUPS and CUPS does also the correct thing when handling your print job. Perhaps the printer has a firmware bug. George, can you have a look into this?

[georgeliu (george-liu-ricoh-tech)]

First I'd like you to verify the printer received the job, then we could try to identify why it's not printing.

When you send the job to printer, usually there's a green light blinking to indicate it's receiving jobs (also you can hear the print engine is warming up). Did you notice those signs?

Go to the printer's web page.
http://printeripaddress, check "Job History" to see whether the printer received the job, and what the job status say.

Did the printer has any access control (If UserCode or any other authentication method is enabled, printer will not print anything unless you have the needed credentials.)

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

I think priter receives the job. I can hear engine warming up but then nothing happens. There is no light blinking but on the front panel there is "Ready" state. As far as I know printer doesn't have web page (it's Aficio SP1100s). As I mentioned before, on Windows I'm able to print without any problems so I guess the UserCode or other form of access control are not an issue.

[georgeliu (george-liu-ricoh-tech)]

What is the device URI for the printer from CUPS web interface on PC
http://127.0.0.1:631

Have you tried raw printing?
lp -d printername -o raw /etc/hosts

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

Device URI is:
usb://MFPrinter/Laser%20Pro%20LL2%201

After trying raw printing it was the same: the engine got warmed but nothing has been printed.

[georgeliu (george-liu-ricoh-tech)]

With raw printing, the file you print should be exactly the same as the file printer receives (provided USB protocol portion is working properly)

If not, I could only think of two possibilities:
1. Data sent to printer is corrupted
2. Printer firmware problem.

If you say printer works fine under Windows, the only way to check is capture the data printer actually received through USB protocol.

If you can do this:
1. Print from Windows, select print-to-file
2. raw printing that file to printer

What is your printer model? Does it support Postscript or PCL? (Print a configuration page from printer)

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

Bingo! You gave me hope :)
When I print to file on Windows and make raw print under Ubuntu it worked.

Printer model is: Aficio SP1100s - don't know if it supports Postscript or PCL.

[georgeliu (george-liu-ricoh-tech)]

Hmm, a bad problem.

This is a Windows only (GDI) printer. Which means it does not support Postscript, nor does it support PCL(PCL-XL)

I know you probably are furious, but this is done to save cost, (For every printer that supports Postscript, Ricoh needs to pay Adobe a quite expensive loyalty fee)

One alternative is to connect the printer to Windows box, and use Windows machine as a printer server. Windows can share it out, and on Linux box use samba share to access the printer.
Do a google search on "samba printer share", it would give you detailed instructions.

Google search also found that another user has created a Linux GDI driver for the printer.
http://forums.linux-foundation.org/read.php?30,13489
I have no idea whether that works. Try with your own risk.

[Kayvan Sylvan (kayvan)]

I have the same issue of Ricoh Aficio SPC222SF which prints postscript and PCL too.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

George, thank you for the link to the driver and for updating me that Ricoh also ships printers which do not understand standard languages. I have answered to the forum thread now.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Maciek, can you please test the driver by downloading the two files from the forum thread which George has linked to in comment #20 and install them with the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo cp rastertosag-gdi /usr/lib/cups/filter/
sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib/cups/filter/rastertosag-gdi
sudo cp rsp1000s.ppd /usr/share/ppd/custom/
sudo chmod 644 /usr/share/ppd/custom/rsp1000s.ppd

Then, if your printer is connected to the USB, remove your print queue and afterwards unplug and re-plug the printer and wait some seconds, until your computer tells you that the printer is set up. If the printer is connected to the network, remove your print queue and set up a new print queue with system-config-printer. Try to print. Does it work?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Kayvan Sylvan, yours is probably a completely different bug. Please open a new bug rpoert and subscribe georgeliu to it.

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

It works. Apart from commands mentioned above I had to remove and add printer again with rsp1000s.ppd file intead of one on CD that has been shipped with printer. Thank you all guys for your help.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Maciek, great. To create PPD files which reliably set up your printer automatically, I need some extra information about the printer, the device ID. To get it, run the following commands in a terminal window and post the output here:

If the printer is on USB:

sudo /usr/lib/cups/backend/usb

If the printer is connected through the network:

sudo /usr/lib/cups/backend/dnssd
sudo /usr/lib/cups/backend/snmp

georgeliu, do you know which Ricoh printers are compatible (work with the same driver) to the non-PS/PCL versions of the Ricoh Aficio SP1000/1100s and can you supply the names and device IDs of these printers, also for the counterparts of other Ricoh brands (like Infotec, NRG, ...).

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

direct usb://MFPrinter/Laser%20Pro%20LL2%201 "MFPrinter Laser Pro LL2 1" "MFPrinter Laser Pro LL2 1" "MFG:MFPrinter;MDL: Laser Pro LL2 1;CMD:AUTOMATIC,PJL,GDI_RL;DES:MFPrinter Laser Pro LL2 1;CLS:PRINTER;VER:v2.07g ;NS:L510245LA020328;" ""

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Thank you very much. I have forwarded to the upstream author.

[palz (paalzza)]

Hi, Maciek, could you please test the new version (with some bugs removed).

http://forums.linux-foundation.org/read.php?30,13489

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

I have created an upstream home for the driver now:

http://www.openprinting.org/driver/rastertosag-gdi/
http://www.openprinting.org/download/printing/rastertosag-gdi/

[Eduard Gotwig (gotwig)]

the bug is still present in Ubuntu 11.04 (64 bit). After the fix it worked with my printer ( Philips ® MFPrinter Laser Pro LL2 1) Its a shame, that Philips ® advertises for Linux® support, that is not present in the new linux kernels! Not even deb´s are out for the driver from Philips®.

[Maciek G (maciek-gaszynski)]

Printer is working perfectly now with this fix. Has anyone managed to force scanner to work?

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Package uploaded to Ubuntu. Waiting for approval in the NEW queue.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Name of the submitted package is rastertosag-gdi.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

For testing and playing around I attach the source of the submitted Ubuntu package of rastertosag-gdi.

[Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter)]

Package is now available in the archives:

rastertosag-gdi (0.1-0ubuntu1) oneiric; urgency=low

  * Initial release (LP: #700141).