HP Printers and Unix (Ubuntu)
Unlike Canon or Epson, if an HP Printer is connected to a computer operating Ubuntu then the chances are the printer will not work. It is likely that the printer is a so-called
Windows printer and needs an appropriate driver. This needs to be loaded as firmware.
To fix the problem, go to foo2zjs.rkkda.com and download the appropriate driver. A number of HP (and Minolta) printers are supported.
I will describe my own case of an HP Laserjet 1005 printer connected via a parallel port to a Toshiba Tecra 8200 running Ubuntu 5.10. Your situation is likely to be different, but the steps will be similar.
I therefore needed the foo2zjs driver which I downloaded from foo2zjs.rkkda.com. I did not use the wget command, as suggested by the web site, but simply downloaded the tarball foo2zjs.tar.gz directly. If your printer is different then you may need a different tarball.
We now need to install the driver. The web site foo2zjs.rkkda.com gives clear instructions. The commands I used are given below, with comments denoted by the hash symbol #.
I did not need the usb hotplug since I was using only a parallel-port printer. If you are using a usb printer then by all means install the hotplug. See foo2zjs.rkkda.com for details.
I now need to send the driver to the printer, and unfortunately this has to be done each time the printer and/or computer is powered up. Again, comments are denoted by #.
The device /dev/lp0 is appropriate to my parallel-port printer arrangement. If you use a usb printer then you may have to replace the device by /dev/usb0.
