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[chesley91]

Hi,

I'm desperatly trying to use the print server part of my DNS-320L with my Samsung CLP320 laser printer.
The printer is connected to the USB port of the NAS, the driver is installed on the PC. It only prints after having unplugged/plugged the USB cable from the printer. Otherwise, the documents remains in the printing queue.
Same thing after having upgraded the firmware from version 1.0 to 1.01b3.
HW version is A2.

Your help would be much appreciated !
Thanks

[ivan]

Did you install the printer on your PC as a NETWORK printer?  If not then the PC doesn't know where to send the print jobs except when the printer announces itself when you plugged it in.

[hoppo1]

I use an epson printer no issues but often find that i cant control something my daughter sends to the print queue even though she'll use the same login id which a reset often cures. Our printer often runs out of ink or has a jam etc so jobs get stuck she'll moan I'll try and right click the jobs but cant get them to print unless i either use her laptop or reset the 320.

Do you see the printer mounted in settings under System Status - USB Information. Make sure its mounted there as well.

[chesley91]

Ivan,
I strictly followed the installation as described in "Section 5 Knowledge base" pages 257 to 259 of the manual.
- USB connection of the printer
- typed \\IP@ in an explorer window
- double-click on "Lp" icon
- installed the driver
I don't know if you consider this as a "Network printer". Is there another way to install it ?

hoppo1
In fact, the printer is not seen in the settings unless I disconnect/reconnect the USB cable

Thank you for your helps

[ivan]

chesley, I am assuming that you are using windows on your PC.

If that is the case then you need to use the add printer wizard from Printers and Faxes and select network printer and follow the prompts.

As far as windows is concerned it is printer lp on 'some IP and/or name' but it will need the printer drivers installed for that printer.  Once you have done that it will show up as a printer in Printers and Faxes and should show 'Ready' even if the actual printer is not switched on.  At least that is how I setup one of our printers in win XP (in a VM) on my computer as a test for your problem - the fact that is in a VM should not make any difference.

[chesley91]

Ivan,
Right, I'm using Windows 7 on my PC.

I did what you explained but that didn't change anything.

As I said to hoppo1, the printer is not seen in the settings unless I disconnect/reconnect the USB cable. Therefore, I don't believe that the issue is linked with the definition of the printer in Windows.

The fact that the DNS-320L is unable to see my printer connected to the USB is clearly a bug

[ivan]

I borrowed a friends win 7 notebook to try and see if I could reproduce your problem.  Unfortunately I couldn't.

I was able to setup a network printer (HP CL3500) and print to it without problems.  The only difference is that ours are DNS-320 and yours is a DNS-320L and that may be why I can't reproduce your problem, sorry.

[chesley91]

OK Ivan, thank you for your help anyway !

I will do some more tests with another printer, maybe this is due to the Samsung CLP320 printer itself.

By searching the web, I've read in some forums that the CLP320 is a "GDI printer". Even if I don't understand what that means exactly, could this have a link with my issue ?

[ivan]

A 'GDI' printer is one that relies on the processing power of the computer it is connected to to enable it to work.  They are essentially 'win printers' just as there are 'win modems' - that is, equipment that needs to be directly connected to a windows computer.

[chesley91]

So, no chance that it could ever work with a print server, DNS-320L or another one ?

I've considered buying a TP-Link TL-PS310U print server but the CLP320 is not on the compatibility list ...

[ivan]

As far as I know the only way to run a GDI printer is from a windows computer. 

We have a client that has a win printer that is used for printing sales data in A3 format.  It was cost effective for them to have us setup a headless win box to act a print server rather than getting a 'proper' A3 printer.

The thing to look for when getting a printer is if it can be used with Linux and OSX.  If it can, then you can usually use it with a print server.  The GDI printers are cheap because they rely on the computer to do most, if not all, of the raster calculations rather than having the computing power built in to the printer itself.

[baltzatu]

Let's not give up yet

I don't know if Debian Squeeze can be installed on your NAS; if it is so, in theory you should be able to install, share and use the printer via CUPS or Samba. If you're not familiar with Linux, it's not going to be easy, though.

Try installing Fonz Fun Plug on your NAS. The guideline can be found here. There's no need to follow the instruction below "Change root password", since FFP is just a mean to achieve your main goal (installing Debian, that is).

If it worked and you can connect to your NAS via telnet, run the command uname -a and paste the results here. The Debian version you'll be using depends on the Linux kernel version (2.6 = Squeeze, 3.x = Wheezy).

CUPS info: here.
Linux drivers for CLP320: here.

Good luck

[chesley91]

Thank you baltzatu !

I already installed ffp on my DNS-320L because I needed a better DLNA server than the native one. With ffp, I now run succesfully Twonky server.
So, I'm able to run the command you gave. I'll leave the results here as soon as possible.
I'm unfortunately not familiar with Linux but I'm able to pass the appropriate commands if you tell me what to do !

[baltzatu]

You're welcome, but we're still miles away from getting anywhere

I need the results to see what kind of chroot you need (Squeeze or Wheezy).

Regarding the DLNA server, I don't know about Twonky, but you can use ReadyMedia (former miniDLNA). I use it for almost two years and I'm very happy with it. At that moment, it was the only one that knew how to fetch subtitles on my LG TV, so I kept it. It doesn't have a web administration interface, but the configuration file is easy to understand and modify. Oh, and it's free