On Mon, Dec 30, 2024 at 18:15:31 +0000, Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:

1. Formerly (but still Bookworm), I had an HP LaserJet 5MP connected with a USB-to-parallel adapter. I saw this character special device:

crw-rw---- 1 root lp 180, 1 Dec 3 08:53 /dev/usb/lp1

I would typically print with something like "cat file > /dev/usb/lp1". Now, though, with the new laser and a straight USB connection (no wireless), I see these in /dev/usb:

crw------- 1 root root 180, 0 Dec 3 08:53 /dev/usb/hiddev0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9796 Dec 21 13:01 /dev/usb/lp1

I can't address your other questions, but this one is pretty clear.
That /dev/usb/lp1 is just an ordinary file. Whatever content you're redirecting to that location is just going to disk. Or virtual disk
in memory, if your /dev is a memory-based virtual file system. It's
no longer a character special device at all, and it has no connection
to your printer.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Dec 30, 2024, Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:

On December 7, 2024 4:21 PM, I wrote:

If you are able, please recommend a black-and-white Postscript laser printer that will work well with Debian (Bookworm). ...

With advice from the group, I bought a Brother DCP-L2640DW driverless monochrome printer/scanner. I run the fvwm window manager and can
print with lp and scan with xsane. I never installed the Brother
printer, scanner, or BR-Script3 drivers..

I've done that before, through the IIRC lprng package. Needed to edit /etc/printcap as I recall...

So I'm mostly happy, but I can't say I really understand who's doing what. Here are three questions.

1. Formerly (but still Bookworm), I had an HP LaserJet 5MP connected
with a USB-to-parallel adapter. I saw this character special device:A

crw-rw---- 1 root lp 180, 1 Dec 3 08:53 /dev/usb/lp1

I would typically print with something like "cat file > /dev/usb/lp1".
Now, though, with the new laser and a straight USB connection (no
wireless), I see these in /dev/usb:

crw------- 1 root root 180, 0 Dec 3 08:53 /dev/usb/hiddev0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9796 Dec 21 13:01 /dev/usb/lp1

Er, /dev/usb/lp1 in this instance isn't a character device.

2. I have a virtualbox Windows XP machine. With the HP printer, it
worked through CUPS and needed to find /dev/lp0. So I just made a
symbolic link from that to /dev/usb/lp1. XP had a driver for the old
HP. Now, though, the devices and the printer have changed. In XP, I
can choose from a long list of prehistoric printer drivers. Does that
even matter with a driverless printer? I also suspect the new device
stub won't work from XP. I don't really need to print from XP, but it
was sometimes convenient.

Chances are XP won't be able to print to it directly -- you'll likely
need to work around the outdated VM's lack of capabilities and "Print to
PDF" or otherwise send the document to the host machine for printing.

3. With xscan, the scan quality is good enough for most purposes. But
when I tested some fine engraving (like a dollar bill), it was less
sharp than I get with my old Epson Perfection 2400 (from 2004). In
both cases I asked for 300 dpi and set JPG quality as high as
possible. The Brother at 600 dpi didn't match the Epson at 300 dpi.
Would installing the Brother scanner driver be an improvement, or is
this just a limitation of the hardware?

Good job, posting to the world that you're trying to create counterfeit
bills. ;)

It is intentional that scanners don't do well on currency (though IME,
they tend to just go "no" instead of creating low-res output). It is
quite possible that Epson's control of it was in their (Windows?) driver software, rather than in the hardware/firmware; whereas 20 years later, Brother's put it in the printer internals.



--
|_|O|_|
|_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Us

On 12/31/24 07:44, Dan Purgert wrote:

On Dec 30, 2024, Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:

On December 7, 2024 4:21 PM, I wrote:

I would typically print with something like "cat file > /dev/usb/lp1".
Now, though, with the new laser and a straight USB connection (no
wireless), I see these in /dev/usb:

crw------- 1 root root 180, 0 Dec 3 08:53 /dev/usb/hiddev0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9796 Dec 21 13:01 /dev/usb/lp1

Er, /dev/usb/lp1 in this instance isn't a character device.

If you remove the file and disconnect / reconnect the printer, it might get recreated. Or maybe it's not intended to exist at all, in which case "got me".

2. I have a virtualbox Windows XP machine. With the HP printer, it
worked through CUPS and needed to find /dev/lp0. So I just made a
symbolic link from that to /dev/usb/lp1. XP had a driver for the old
HP. Now, though, the devices and the printer have changed. In XP, I
can choose from a long list of prehistoric printer drivers. Does that
even matter with a driverless printer? I also suspect the new device
stub won't work from XP. I don't really need to print from XP, but it
was sometimes convenient.

Chances are XP won't be able to print to it directly -- you'll likely
need to work around the outdated VM's lack of capabilities and "Print to
PDF" or otherwise send the document to the host machine for printing.

Maybe someone has a collection of removed Windows printer drivers.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 12/31/24 12:32, Dan Purgert wrote:

On Dec 31, 2024, [email protected] wrote:

On 12/31/24 07:44, Dan Purgert wrote:

On Dec 30, 2024, Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:

2. I have a virtualbox Windows XP machine. With the HP printer, it
worked through CUPS and needed to find /dev/lp0. So I just made a
symbolic link from that to /dev/usb/lp1. XP had a driver for the old
HP. Now, though, the devices and the printer have changed. In XP, I
can choose from a long list of prehistoric printer drivers. Does that >>>> even matter with a driverless printer? I also suspect the new device
stub won't work from XP. I don't really need to print from XP, but it >>>> was sometimes convenient.

Chances are XP won't be able to print to it directly -- you'll likely
need to work around the outdated VM's lack of capabilities and "Print to >>> PDF" or otherwise send the document to the host machine for printing.

Maybe someone has a collection of removed Windows printer drivers.

I don't think I'm reading your comment right. The DCP-L2640DW was
released in 2022 or 2023. Why would there be a "removed" printer driver
from WinXP in this case?

Ah, my bad. I thought it was a really old printer. I guess Steven will
need the W* equivalent of backports then
.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Dec 31, 2024, [email protected] wrote:

On 12/31/24 07:44, Dan Purgert wrote:

On Dec 30, 2024, Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:

2. I have a virtualbox Windows XP machine. With the HP printer, it
worked through CUPS and needed to find /dev/lp0. So I just made a
symbolic link from that to /dev/usb/lp1. XP had a driver for the old
HP. Now, though, the devices and the printer have changed. In XP, I
can choose from a long list of prehistoric printer drivers. Does that
even matter with a driverless printer? I also suspect the new device
stub won't work from XP. I don't really need to print from XP, but it
was sometimes convenient.

Chances are XP won't be able to print to it directly -- you'll likely
need to work around the outdated VM's lack of capabilities and "Print to PDF" or otherwise send the document to the host machine for printing.

Maybe someone has a collection of removed Windows printer drivers.

I don't think I'm reading your comment right. The DCP-L2640DW was
released in 2022 or 2023. Why would there be a "removed" printer driver
from WinXP in this case?


--
|_|O|_|
|_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert
|O|O|O| PGP: DDAB 23FB 19FA 7D85 1CC1 E067 6D65 70E5 4CE7 2860

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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Us

On Mon, Dec 30, 2024 at 06:15:31PM +0000, Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:

On December 7, 2024 4:21 PM, I wrote:

If you are able, please recommend a black-and-white Postscript laser printer that will work well with Debian (Bookworm). ...

With advice from the group, I bought a Brother DCP-L2640DW driverless monochrome printer/scanner. I run the fvwm window manager and can print with lp and scan with xsane. I never installed the Brother printer, scanner, or BR-Script3 drivers.

So I'm mostly happy, but I can't say I really understand who's doing what. Here are three questions.

[...]

3. With xscan, the scan quality is good enough for most purposes. But when I tested some fine engraving (like a dollar bill), it was less sharp than I get with my old Epson Perfection 2400 (from 2004). In both cases I asked for 300 dpi and set JPG

quality as high as possible. The Brother at 600 dpi didn't match the Epson at 300 dpi. Would installing the Brother scanner driver be an improvement, or is this just a limitation of the hardware?


I hope you tried with something other than paper money. Usually all paper currency have some pattern (like an irregular five of a dice) embedded.
Most imaging software won't allow to process these images (in high quality)

-H


--
Henning Follmann | [email protected]

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Monday 30 December 2024 01:15:31 pm Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:

3. With xscan, the scan quality is good enough for most purposes. �But when I tested some fine engraving (like a dollar bill), it was less sharp than I get with my old Epson Perfection 2400 (from 2004). �In both cases I asked for 300 dpi and set JPG

quality as high as possible. �The Brother at 600 dpi didn't match the Epson at 300 dpi. �Would installing the Brother scanner driver be an improvement, or is this just a limitation of the hardware?


Jpeg is a lossy format, try something else, like tiff maybe?

--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, �a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. �--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James M Dakin

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)