Driver for Canon PIXMA MP250

[blue horse]

I have been looking for a small distro with Kernel+Desktop+AppManager+Wireless.

I found Tinycore almost exactly what I need except for the following two issues:
1. I can not find driver for my printer Canon PIXMA MP250.
2. I'd like have a system wide Chinese (Simplified) Input Method.

For the first issue, I do have linux driver from Canon, but unable to install them.
For the second issue, I understand there is a ctifx extension that partially works for display Chinese.

Could someone please help me with the printer driver issue first, for example, how to build from source and install?     

Thank you!

p.s. I installed CorePlus-4.2 out the box, nothing more, nothing less!

[Juanito]

Could someone please help me with the printer driver issue first, for example, how to build from source and install?

See: http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:creating_extensions

[blue horse]

Thanks, Juanito!

Let's rewind a bit.

Instead of building from source, I do have 2 pre-built drivers in form of "...-deb.tar.gz" and "...-rpm.tar.gz", I assume -deb.tar.gz is meant for Debian systems, and not sure what -rpm.tar.gz is for.  Any chance I could use these pre-built and how?
 

[Juanito]

The best (if possible) would be to find a ppd file that works from the linux printers database.

Failing this either of the deb/rpm packages might work - it depends on whether they contain simple ppd files or whether they have applications that interact with the printer and require dependencies that may/may not exist in the tinycore base/extensions.

[blue horse]

I unpacked the .deb file which contains lots of files and I have no clue what is for what.

The instructions inside indicate that the driver can be installed on Ubuntu or Fedora by running sudo ./install.sh.  I tried, the computer says "no such file".

Then I went on to pursue CUPS solution.

Inside both DEB and RPM packages, there are a PPD file, a backend folder and a filter folder, I copied all files from backend and filter folders to respective folders at /usr/local/lib/cups.

Now I go to http://localhost/631, start CUPS web interface, CUPS found my printer correctly, and installed without error, when I print test page, I had an error message saying "pstocanonij failed", where pstocanonij is the filter file for my driver.

I am sure I am on the right track, I think I am short of coping some file to right location.

Anyone who is experienced with CUPS, please help!

The questions boiled down to:
1. are PPD+backend+filter sufficient?
2. is /usr/local/lib/cups the right place to put them?

[Kingdomcome]

I am working on setting up a PIXMA 280  right now and can give you a little advice on this.   the pstocanonij filter needs the ghostscript package (gs.tcz) and you need to symlink the gs binary to /usr/bin eg:  ln -s /usr/local/bin/gs /usr/bin/
hope this helps

Kingdomcome

[Juanito]

the pstocanonij filter needs the ghostscript package (gs.tcz)

gs is in ghostscript.tcz

[blue horse]

Hi, Kingdomcome,

Thanks for the advice.

I post below exact steps I had, it would be nice and helpful if you post yours so I can compare to find out where and what I missed.
 
1. download mp250_printer_dirver_3.40.tar from Canon web site.
2. unzip mp250_printer_dirver_3.40.tar to obtain folder cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb
3. inside /cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb/packages/common/7zE888F.tmp/usr/lib/cups/backend/, there are two files: cnijnet and cnijusb, I copied both to /usr/local/lib/cups/backend/
4. inside /cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb/packages/common/7zE888F.tmp/usr/lib/cups/filter/, there is one file: pstocanonij, I copied it to /usr/local/lib/cups/filter/.
5. download and install ghostscript.tcz
6. run sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/gs/ /usr/bin/
7. open Opera, go to http://localhost/631, login as root
8. add printer, print test page
9. "/usr/local/lib/cups/filter/pstocanonij failed"

[Juanito]

I don't know whether the files cnijnet, cnijusb and pstocanonij are compiled or scripts, but it might be worth doing this:

Code: [Select]

$ ldd /usr/local/lib/cups/backend/cnijnet
$ ldd /usr/local/lib/cups/backend/cnijusb
$ ldd /usr/local/lib/cups/filter/pstocanonij..to check if there are any missing deps - if so, you will see a library name and "not found"

Failing that, if they are scripts, you could use a text editor to check the first line of files to see if they require bash, perl or similar.

[curaga]

Do they lack exec permissions by any chance?

[blue horse]

finally got the printer to work!
my discovery applies to general printer issue, for those who are interested, here comes what I did:

1. install cups extension
2. install cups-dev extension
3. download gutenprint-5.2.8-pre1.tar.bz2 from http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-print/files/gutenprint-5.2/5.2.8-pre1/
4. open terminal as root, and type (the following steps are for creating an extension)

        export CFLAGS="-march=i486 -mtune=i686 -Os -pipe"
        export CXXFLAGS="-march=i486 -mtune=i686 -Os -pipe"
        export LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"
        tar xjvf gutenprint-5.2.8-pre1.tar.bz2
        cd gutenprint-5.2.8-pre1
        ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
        make -j3
        make DESTDIR=/tmp/package install
        cd /tmp
        mksquashfs package gutenprint-5.2.8.tcz

5. browse to /tmp/package/, you will see a file gutenprint-5.2.8.tcz, this is the extension for all gutenprint-5.2.8 priinter drivers, including MP250.
6. copy gutenprint-5.2.8.tcz to /mnt/sda3/tce/optional/ (sda3 is me root, yours could be different).
7. load gutenprint-5.2.8.tcz and make it OnBoot.
8. open Opera and goto http://localhost:631 to start CUPS user interface.
9. click on Add Printer
10. CUPS will ask you for password
11. when asked for password, open a term.inal and type: sudo passwd
12. type 123 as password and confirm again
13. switch back to Opera and login CUPS as root
14. if everything goes right, you should see your printer listed, select your printer, click continue.
15. select the model of your printer, click continue
16. click "set options"
17. now you should be able to see the printer under "Printers"
18 click your printer name and select "print test page" under "Maintenance"
19 enjoy the sound of printing, because I sure did.

[Juanito]

well done - and thanks for posting how you did it

[curaga]

Was the gutenprint.tcz too old?

[blue horse]

the gutenprint (5.2.4) in Tinycore repo does not have support for CANON at all.

i built preliminary release 5.2.8 which probably doubles the number of makes of 5.2.4.

5.2.4 was released on 07-30-2009.