HOWTO: Install HP Printers for Beginners

[user1397]

I saw "hplip" in synaptic (ubuntu 6.06). Should it be used instead?

yes, that's the driver for all hp printers except for the officejet series.

[user1397]

So I tried these instructions since I'm brand new to linux and have a hp 7310xi printer on my network. I keep getting the following error when I try to execute the configure command




I've installed gcc 4.0 using the synaptic installer with no change in the error message. Any suggestions? Could it be looking for an earlier version of gcc?

hmmmm....maybe you don't need to ./configure, sometimes you don't have to. does it say to do that command or did you just try it?

[jamesstansell]

I saw "hplip" in synaptic (ubuntu 6.06). Should it be used instead?

yes, that's the driver for all hp printers except for the officejet series.

hplip supports OfficeJet printers:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/support...nkjet_aio.html

[jamesstansell]

So I tried these instructions since I'm brand new to linux and have a hp 7310xi printer on my network. I keep getting the following error when I try to execute the configure command

...
checking for gcc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cc... no
checking for cl... no
configure: error: no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
...

I've installed gcc 4.0 using the synaptic installer with no change in the error message. Any suggestions? Could it be looking for an earlier version of gcc?

Two thoughts for you. 1) be sure build-essential is installed; 2) verify your $PATH. Does 'type gcc' show /usr/bin/gcc? What does 'gcc --version' show?

-james.

[user1397]

hplip supports OfficeJet printers:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/support...nkjet_aio.html

hmmm interesting, thats news to me. well, thats awesome i guess!

[bknutt]

It works! That's what I like about computers! Where else can you get such a sense of accomplishment for doing something that's so simple (once you know how)

I used the procedure from sourceforge for installing hplip. The website has a very simple 5 step procedure - but each step is a link to a set of substeps. I failed to review each of those subsets and managed to skip some key parts.

I did not have the 'build-essential' installed and that was giving me the 'compiler' error message.

The only feedback I can provide for others using sourceforge would be to check each of those links embedded in each step.

Thanks for the help! It pointed me in the right direction.

[flyingbrass]

I want to install the newest version of hplip. The (outdated) Dapper package is already installed. Removing it would take out ubuntu-desktop.

The instructions at Sourceforge mention checking to see if hplip is already installed, but I didn't see anything addressing what to do if it is before installing from the tarball. Should I first uninstall the Ubuntu package?

In a similar vein, if I later update do I need to make uninstall before installing the latest and greatest?

Is the newest version of hplip working with checkinstall? Recent discussion about possibly making it compatible.

[brucevangeorge]

I have hpijs and hplip both installed, but the printer will not do anything. Not even a test page. The job just stops after a few secs.

Maybe it's:

HP Deskjet 712C
PPA printer, does not work with PCL drivers (as "hpijs", "gimp-print", "cdjXXX", "pcl3", ...)

from: http://www.linuxprinting.org./printer_list.cgi

Has anyone here got a 710 or 712 working?

[user1397]

I want to install the newest version of hplip. The (outdated) Dapper package is already installed. Removing it would take out ubuntu-desktop.

The instructions at Sourceforge mention checking to see if hplip is already installed, but I didn't see anything addressing what to do if it is before installing from the tarball. Should I first uninstall the Ubuntu package?

In a similar vein, if I later update do I need to make uninstall before installing the latest and greatest?

Is the newest version of hplip working with checkinstall? Recent discussion about possibly making it compatible.

removing the ubuntu-desktop package does nothing, as it is a meta-package, meaning its a pointer to other packages. as far as i understand, its alrite to install the newest version over the older one without having to remove the older one.

[galv]

removing the ubuntu-desktop package does nothing, as it is a meta-package, meaning its a pointer to other packages. as far as i understand, its alrite to install the newest version over the older one without having to remove the older one.

Let's hope so, I will try to do it!