[H-GEN] LTSP & ECP Printing

[pat at mutton.dyndns.org]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and     ]
[ Unix-related topics. Posts from non-subscribed addresses will vanish. ]

Chaps & Chapettes,

Situation, I've set up ltsp clients as print servers for my office
using lp_server.  This works great, however it is *slow*.
(120kbyte/sec for colour photo printouts...).  I'm using the latest
3.0.x version available.

The printer in question is a HP Laserjet 4550 with full bidirectional
cable et al.

I noticed that for ltsp kernels CONFIG_PARPORT_1284 isn't set meaning
that the parallel port only acts in PCSPP mode.  I thought it would 
be a simple matter of switching this over and having ECP printer
throughput.  This doesn't work, as lp_server no longer prints.

I edited and re-enabled the PRINTER_0_WRITE_ONLY = Y option in
/etc/lts.conf for my clients (and hacked up /bin/start_printer to
reenable the functionality), and the problem went away.  However I am
back to slow printing.

Is this a known problem, is there a workaround apart from making a
cups package or an lpd package?  The reason I ask is that google isn't
being my friend on finding any information about this problem apart
from a couple of posts (which are light on details) to
ltsp-discuss at lists.sourceforge.net.

I'm not a code monkey, so I can't tell if lp_server is intended for
bidirectional work.  Actually I'm a bit lost on where to head now and
am thinking of setting up a etherbooting cups print server instead.

If you are interested, lp_server source is available at:

	http://public.www.planetmirror.com.au/ in
	/pub/lprng/UNIXTOOLS/lp_server/lp_server-1.1.6.tgz
	
Or more conveniently:
	
	http://tinyurl.com/efnn

--
Regards,
Patrick Nichols.


--
* This is list (humbug) general handled by majordomo at lists.humbug.org.au .
* Postings to this list are only accepted from subscribed addresses of
* lists 'general' or 'general-post'.  See http://www.humbug.org.au/