Connecting Laserwriter II (& others) to modern network?

[Johnnya101]

My GitHub bug report has finally been closed with a commit. Not sure how this works, if you need to remove and replace lines of code yourself or if it will be released in a CUPS update or something...? Here's a link for anyone interested: https://github.com/OpenPrinting/cups-filters/commit/f93d64bfb6d2aae61ad4a676735c2194775f34c2

 

[NJRoadfan]

I don't recommend compiling cups-filters yourself as it requires a TON of dependencies. Eventually a new version will be released and pushed to your Linux distribution repository for easy updating.

 

[Johnnya101]

OpenPrinting CUPS Filters has announced version 1.28.13, which has fixed (supposedly) all LaserWriter II printers, and should work out of the box now. https://github.com/OpenPrinting/cups-filters/releases/tag/1.28.13

I have not tested this, and am unsure on how one would update the package, I would assume you would update said package through SSH or terminal on your Pi with the typical command.

 

[RolandJuno]

Has anyone succeeded in getting the ImageWriter II with LocalTalk Option card to print from CUPS?

I'm using a Raspberry Pi Zero W with an Ethernet/USB hat, tashtalk 2 hat, tashrouter, and netatalk and can see the ImageWriter II. I attempted to add it the same way I did with my LaserWriter II: I used a pap URI and selected the "Foomatic/iwhi" PPD. Attempts to print have resulted in a "filter failed" error in the CUPS admin. The only activity on the ImageWriter II is it will eject a page of paper about 5 minutes after the job was submitted.

 

[NJRoadfan]

Can you print raw text to the ImageWriter using the command line?

pap -p "MyPrinter:ImageWriter@My Zone" textfiletoprint

Also Netatalk 2.3.2 should have fixes for ImageWriter printing. You should get detailed output from the papstatus program.

 

[RolandJuno]

Can you print raw text to the ImageWriter using the command line?

pap -p "MyPrinter:ImageWriter@My Zone" textfiletoprint

Also Netatalk 2.3.2 should have fixes for ImageWriter printing. You should get detailed output from the papstatus program.

I tried it and got this response:

pap -p "Itchy & Scratchy:ImageWriter@Biosrhythm" Makefile Trying 13.252:138 ... %%[ ? ]%% Connected to Itchy & Scratchy:ImageWriter@*. Bad status response!

I'm using Netatalk 2.3.1 so that might be the issue? I also found a page describing some patches to pap to recognize the responses from the ImageWriter II (maybe that's now incorporated into the latest?)

 

[NJRoadfan]

Netatalk 2.3.2 incorporates those patches. Also color support for the ImageWriter II and LQ are "coming soon" to Ghostscript.

 

[RolandJuno]

Netatalk 2.3.2 incorporates those patches. Also color support for the ImageWriter II and LQ are "coming soon" to Ghostscript.

I compiled Netatalk 2.3.2 and I was able to add the printer to CUPS and print from my iPhone. Plain text printing also worked using the pap command. Thanks the tip!

I'm eagerly awaiting color support for these two printers!

 

[NJRoadfan]

Enjoy it while it lasts as CUPS 3.0 is going to break all that. Serial printing to an ImageWriter should still work with the ghostscript printer application, but nothing exists for pap printers yet.