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diff --git a/src/Dell_V305_Printer_on_Linux.adoc b/src/Dell_V305_Printer_on_Linux.adoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16da7e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/Dell_V305_Printer_on_Linux.adoc @@ -0,0 +1,190 @@ +Dell V305 Printer on Linux +========================== +:author: Aaron Ball +:email: nullspoon@iohq.net + + +== {doctitle} + +I spent this week hanging out with my wife and grandparents-in-law and spent +some of my time performing the obligatory family tech support (no complaining +here, I love doing that most of the time). To sum up the beginning quickly +because I really don't want to write the post in great detail, my grandfather's +computer got temporarily hosed and the guy from Dell made it even worse (thanks +Deepak). He actually wiped the computer after taking very minimal backups +(thankfully just enough). Not only that, but the restore from the Dell image +actually corrupted a bunch of the core system libraries making installing and +updating Windows or Microsoft software impossible. After wasting an hour trying +to fix this, I finally decided to reinstall a fresh copy of Windows. Then it +hit me, my grandfather doesn't use his computer for much more than Word +documents, PDFs, browsing the internet, and email - all things that Linux does +very well. With that, I suggested to him that he try +http://linuxmint.com/[Linux Mint] (my favorite ready-to-go Linux desktop +distro). After he played around with the live version for a bit, he decided he +really liked it (kudos to you Linux Mint guys) so I went ahead to install it. + +I got everything working easily but one thing... his printer. + +[[the-dell-v305-printer]] +The Dell V305 Printer +-------------------- + +The Dell V305 is actually a Lexmark printer rebranded as a Dell. Specifically, +it is the Lexmark x4650. Thankfully, Lexmark makes +http://support.lexmark.com/index?page=downloadFile&actp=CONTENT&productCode=LEXMARK_X4650&id=DR20523&segment=DOWNLOAD&userlocale=EN_US+&locale=en&oslocale=en_US[a +linux driver] for this thing, but it is of course, very problematic. When I +first ran the .sh with an embedded binary, it ran fine until I got to the +install where it gave me an ambiguous "failed to install". When you click +**OK**, it closes the window with the actually error text in it. While the +"failed to install" dialog is up, you can't check the log because it won't let +you select the background window. Also, the background window isn't resizable +so you can't hope for a bigger window to compensate for no scrollback. Great +design, huh? + +I did notice on the last three or so lines though that it was trying to remove +a .deb file. With that, I set out to search for it. + + +[[the-fun-begins]] +The Fun Begins +-------------- + +If you run the +'http://support.lexmark.com/index?page=downloadFile&actp=CONTENT&productCode=LEXMARK_X4650&id=DR20523&segment=DOWNLOAD&userlocale=EN_US+&locale=en&oslocale=en_US[lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb.sh]' +file with the _--keep_ switch, the script will not remove all files extracted +to perform the install process. This will leave you with a nicely populated tmp +folder. + +If you cd into the tmp directory, you will find a file called +**installarchived_all**. This is actually an lzma archive file. What you want +to do now is extract this file using the following command + +---- +tar -xvf ./installarchived_all --lzma +---- + +This will extract several files, one of which will be called +__lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb__. You might think that this is a +time for rejoicing, but alas it is not. From this point we should be able to +run _dpkg -i ./lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb_ and it would work, but +it won't. If you do that you will receive the following friendly error: + +---- +dpkg: error processing ./lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb (--install): + parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci/control' near line 9 package 'lexmark-08z-series-driver': + blank line in value of field 'Description' +Errors were encountered while processing: + ./lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb +---- + +What? The .deb file was constructed wrong? 'Tis a shame. Here's where it gets +really fun. What we need to do now is extract the deb file, modify the contents +of a single file, and repackage the whole thing back up. + +First, let's create a working directory, copy our deb file in there, extract +it, and set up a deb package folder structure. Create our working directory and put the bad .deb file in there. + +---- +mkdir ./working +cp ./lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb ./working/ +cd working +---- + +Extract the .deb file and clean up a bit (don't forget the period at the +end of the dpkg-deb line). + +---- +dpkg-deb -R lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb . +rm ./lexmark-08z-series-driver-1.0-1.i386.deb +---- + + +[[fixing-the-problem]] +Fixing the Problem +------------------ + +The problem as you like noticed earlier is because the .deb file has a file +named _control_ that is improperly formatted. Specifically, control files +cannot have blank lines in them. To have a "blank" line in a .deb control file, +you must have a period instead. That said, here's how we fix the file. + +Open up the control file in the DEBIAN directory and put a ' .' (yes, with the +space before it) like so + +---- +Description: + Lexmark 08z Series Drivers Package + . + This package contains the Lexmark 08z Series Drivers. This is + a copyrighted package, please refer to the copyright notice + for details about using this product. +---- + +Now that that's done, We just need to repackage the .deb file and install it. +To do that, cd out to one directory above the lexmark-08z directory (the +working directory) and run **dpkg -b lexmark-08z**. This will take a few +seconds (it's 22 megs) but it should create a file called lexmark-08z.deb. Now +install this using **dpkg -i**. + +---- +dpkg -b lexmark-08z dpkg -i ./lexmark-08z.deb +---- + +_I'm too lazy to write the rest out right now so here's the shorthand_ + +Now you have to edit a ton of files in __/usr/local/lexmark/08zero/etc/__. + +Firstly, we need to edit 99-lexmark-08z.rules and take the following +line on the top so it looks like so + +---- +ATTRS{idVendor}=="413c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="5305", MODE="666" + +ACTION!="add", GOTO="lexmark_custom_rules_end" +ATTRS{idVendor}=="413c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="5305", MODE="666" +ATTRS{idVendor}=="043d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0142", MODE="666" +ATTRS{idVendor}=="043d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0150", MODE="666" +ATTRS{idVendor}=="043d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="013f", MODE="666" +ATTRS{idVendor}=="043d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0151", MODE="666" +ATTRS{idVendor}=="043d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0116", MODE="666" +LABEL="lexmark_custom_rules_end" + +---- + +Now that we've updated the 99-lexmark-08z.rules file, we need to edit a load of +the lxd*.conf files. I say we need to edit lots of them because I'm still not +sure which one or combination of them actually did the trick. I can say though +that just lxdm.conf wasn't enough. + +Now, edit the following files + +* lxdm.conf +* lxdq.conf +* lxdw.conf +* lxdu.conf +* lxdx.conf + +...and replace *all* instances of _0116_ with _5305_ and all instances of +_043D_ with _413C_ + +Once that is done, add your printer from the cups admin console +(localhost:631). Once you get to the driver part, select Lexmark 3600-4600 and +you should be set! + +**Whew** + +Finally, here are the resources I found to help me out with this +solution. + +* http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=7809488&postcount=1 +* http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1243920.html +* http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1554718.html +* http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1379902 +* http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1554718&page=1 + + +Category:Linux +Category:Debian + + +// vim: set syntax=asciidoc: |