Changes between Version 9 and Version 10 of CupsFaq


Ignore:
Timestamp:
Oct 27, 2011, 8:21:01 AM (13 years ago)
Author:
Alex Taylor
Comment:

Added items 3.3 and 3.4, plus a few other adjustments

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  • CupsFaq

    v9 v10  
    3333<li><a href="#3_1">3.1.  How do I diagnose printing problems?</a>
    3434<li><a href="#3_2">3.2.  Why does nothing happen when I try to open the driver/job properties in my desktop printer object?</a>
     35<li><a href="#3_3">3.3.  CUPS reports "\cups\lib\cups\filter\pstoraster failed", what does this mean?</a>
     36<li><a href="#3_4">3.4.  Why do pages come out all black, or shrunk to postage-stamp size?</a>
    3537</ul></p>
    3638
     
    5254<li>eCups port driver (various authors; based on LPR32 by Serge Sterck)
    5355<li>eCups PostScript driver (various authors; based on modified IBM PSCRIPT.DRV)
    54 <li>foomatic-rip filter (ported by Alex Taylor and Paul Smedley)
     56<li>foomatic-rip filter (ported by Paul Smedley)
    5557</ul>
    5658
     
    615617<dt><u>CUPS</u>
    616618<dd>Make sure you stop the CUPS Daemon (cupsd.exe) if it is running.
    617 <p>Generally, you can just unzip the new <tt>cups-*.zip</tt> over your previous
    618 installation.  You should back up the existing <tt>\cups</tt> directory tree
    619 first, though.
     619<p>Generally, you can just unzip the new <tt>cups-*.zip</tt> (or install the
     620latest <tt>cups-*.wpi</tt> using WarpIN) over your previous installation.  You
     621should back up the existing <tt>\cups</tt> directory tree first, though.
    620622
    621623<p>If you'd rather install cleanly (while preserving your setup), do the following:
    622624<ol>
    623625  <li>Rename your current <tt>\cups</tt> directory tree.
    624   <li> Unzip the new <tt>cups-*.zip</tt> &mdash; a new <tt>\cups</tt> tree will be created.
     626  <li>Unzip the new <tt>cups-*.zip</tt> (or install <tt>cups-*.wpi</tt> using
     627       WarpIN) &mdash; a new <tt>\cups</tt> tree will be created.
    625628  <li>Copy the following files over from your previous (renamed) <tt>\cups</tt> directory tree:
    626629      <ul>
     
    748751<p>Reading the error log (with or without debug information enabled) can be
    749752a bit intimidating to the uninitiated.  It's not all that hard to work out
    750 with a bit of practise, however.
     753with a bit of practice, however.
    751754
    752755<p><br><a name="3_2"></a>
     
    764767<dd>The desktop keeps information about installed printer drivers in the desktop "user INI" file (OS2.INI), under the application name <tt>PM_DEVICE_DRIVERS</tt>.  If the entry for the ECUPS.DRV (or any other) print driver gets lost somehow, all ECUPS printers will become unusable.  This has been observed to happen sometimes when using the PRNDRV utility from the Keller Group to delete printers, queues, or devices.
    765768<p>The fix in this case is to open an INI editor (such as the built-in "registry editor" REGEDIT2.EXE) and make sure that the application <tt>PM_DEVICE_DRIVERS</tt> contains the key <tt>ECUPS</tt> (no extension), whose value is the fully-qualified filename of ECUPS.PDR.  This should become effective immediately.  (If the problem occurs with a different driver, such as PSCRIPT or ECUPS-HP, substitute the appropriate driver name in both the key name and the value.)
     769</dl>
     770
     771<p><br><a name="3_3"></a>
     772<h3>3.3.  CUPS reports "\cups\lib\cups\filter\pstoraster failed", what does this mean?</h3>
     773<p>Unfortunately this error can be caused by a number of things.  However, it usually means that CUPS encountered an error when trying to run Ghostscript.
     774<p>The most common cause of this error message is that the script <tt>\cups\lib\cups\filter\pstoraster</tt> does not specify the correct path to your Ghostscript installation.  Edit the <tt>pstoraster</tt> script and locate the <tt>prefix=</tt> definition (usually the first non-comment line in the file).  Make sure that the correct path to Ghostscript, relative to the CUPS directory, is specified after the "=" (using forward slashes instead of backslashes).
     775<p>Also note that Ghostscript <em>must</em> be installed on the same drive as CUPS.
     776
     777<p><br><a name="3_4"></a>
     778<h3>3.4.  Why do pages come out all black, or shrunk to postage-stamp size?</h3>
     779<p>This seems to occur most often with recent (version 9.0 and later) builds of Ghostscript.  The cause is under investigation; in the meantime, try using Ghostscript version 8.71 (or earlier) and see if that works.
     780<p>All-black or corrupted printouts have also been reported to occur sometimes when printing the second and subsequent jobs since the printer was turned on, even though the first job printed perfectly.  This problem may have been resolved with recent releases of CUPS.  If it still occurs after upgrading to the latest CUPS, try turning the printer off and on, then try printing the job again.
    766781}}}