[SOLVED] USB Parallel Printer Cable Setup

[thodges999]

I too have been wrestling with this problem and have found a solution elsewhere on the web which worked for me. See here

I'm using a Prolific PL2305 USB-Parallel Port connector and a LaserJet 4 printer.

If you do System, Admin, Printing and then install a new printer of your model using one of the serial ports. On completion don't print a test page but go to the properties of the newly installed printer and change the device url to parallel:/dev/usb/lp0. Your printer will hopefully now work!
Trevor

[thodges999]

I forgot to mention I'm using Karmic Koala 9.10

[__tom__]

Terrific! This also worked with my cheapie no name USB to Parallel connector with a Laserjet 4L! I was getting nowhere and it was so good to see it suddenly start printing! Thank you!

[UsedBits]

Terrific! This also worked with my cheapie no name USB to Parallel connector with a Laserjet 4L! I was getting nowhere and it was so good to see it suddenly start printing! Thank you!

What? What worked to get your no name connector to connect the parallel printer through a USB port?

I tried the uriarallel:/dev/usb/lp0, but it didn't work. Would someone walk through all of the steps to make this technique work, i.e. steps to configure a printer with this trick?

[thodges999]

What? What worked to get your no name connector to connect the parallel printer through a USB port?

I tried the uriarallel:/dev/usb/lp0, but it didn't work. Would someone walk through all of the steps to make this technique work, i.e. steps to configure a printer with this trick?

What worked for me was as follows;
1. Select System, Admin, Printing from the menu
2. Press New and when the dialogue box comes up for New Printer press forward and then select your printer (HP LJ4 in my case). I know this will not be for a USB connection but we'll fix that later.
3. Once you have selected your printer driver press Apply and when asked if you want to print a test page select No.
4. Now you have your printer driver installed you should see it in the Printer Configuration window. Right click on it and select properties.
5. Change the Device URL to parallel:/dev/usb/lp0 and press Apply.

Thats it and it worked for me and others. If this fails please post the results of running lsusb in Terminal.

[UsedBits]

I believe there is no /dev/usb/lp0 on my box. In fact, I think there is no /dev/usb at all. It is what I think is the root of many of the problems, i.e. that 9.10 has no usb/lp0 definition.

I'd like to try your technique (changing the device URI to parallel with whatever 9.10 has decided it will call my usb parallel port. Will let y'all know this evening.

[thodges999]

I believe you are correct that there is no /dev/usb/lp0 which is why you have to put it in yourself after installing the printer on one of the outputs that are available (in my case serial port #1)

I can't claim to understand how it works technically but it worked for me, hopefully it does for you as well.

[UsedBits]

I believe you are correct that there is no /dev/usb/lp0 which is why you have to put it in yourself after installing the printer on one of the outputs that are available (in my case serial port #1)

Please forgive my inablilty to ferrot out the details of your reply.

We both agree there is no /dev/usb/lp0. But when you say "put it in yourself", are you referring simply to entering it into the printer URI field? Or are you suggesting that we have to somehow create /dev/usb/lp0 on the filesystem?

Also, when you refer to "serial port #1", my confusion is because the suggested :URI contains 'parallel', and we're talking about USB in the first place. Where did the serial port come into play?

Although I've encountered unix since the mid-80s and Linux when it first appeared in the early 90s, I'm far from comfortable with working at this level of detail. In fact, my quest right now is to see if I can live at home in a MS Windows-less environment, but I've already compromised by running Quicken with wine and suspect that a virtual Windows box will need to be created.

[thodges999]

Please forgive my inablilty to ferrot out the details of your reply.

We both agree there is no /dev/usb/lp0. But when you say "put it in yourself", are you referring simply to entering it into the printer URI field? Or are you suggesting that we have to somehow create /dev/usb/lp0 on the filesystem?

Also, when you refer to "serial port #1", my confusion is because the suggested :URI contains 'parallel', and we're talking about USB in the first place. Where did the serial port come into play?

Although I've encountered unix since the mid-80s and Linux when it first appeared in the early 90s, I'm far from comfortable with working at this level of detail. In fact, my quest right now is to see if I can live at home in a MS Windows-less environment, but I've already compromised by running Quicken with wine and suspect that a virtual Windows box will need to be created.

If you follow my suggestion (four posts above) as follows;

'What worked for me was as follows;
1. Select System, Admin, Printing from the menu
2. Press New and when the dialogue box comes up for New Printer press forward and then select your printer (HP LJ4 in my case). I know this will not be for a USB connection but we'll fix that later.
3. Once you have selected your printer driver press Apply and when asked if you want to print a test page select No.
4. Now you have your printer driver installed you should see it in the Printer Configuration window. Right click on it and select properties.
5. Change the Device URL to parallel:/dev/usb/lp0 and press Apply.'

when you get to step 2 the dialogue box has a list of devices on the left hand side. What would be perfect would be to have your usb to parallel adapter listed here but it isn't. Instead select any other device (in my case serial port #1 but it doesn't matter) and continue to follow the instructions.

Then at step 5, yes you simply type in the device url as stated and thats it.

I now use Ubuntu for the majority of the time with a Windows virtual box to run some proprietary Windows programs that I can't find Linux replacements for. Ubuntu can require more technical input for some items like this USB/parallel adapter or in my case using a Brother scanner.

However I've found the Ubuntu community very helpful and knowledgeable and have solved all my problems to date, which haven't been that many. I also have to say I've had some pretty odd 'challenges' from Windows over the years so its far from perfect as you probably already know.

Good luck

[UsedBits]

ok - followed your instructions almost exactly. When creating the new printer, I chose 'parallel' instead of 'serial'. Then, when modifying the URI, all I had to do was add /usb to end up with "parallel:/dev/usb/lp0". I also made this the default printer.

Next I then attempted to print a test page. I get the same results as with all my other attempts: the print job hits the queue, but a short while later an error message appears saying the printer might not be connected.

I truly believe this is caused by there being no physical /dev/usb/lp0 device. If only I could figure out what defined device to use (as found on my system), I think we could move one step closer to solving this.

Oh, one more thing. When my system boots, part of the POST message briefly flashes that it has found 2 USB devices - a keyboard and a mouse. But no printer. I don't know if those who can successfully print see when their machine boots and displays its POST messages.