[oclug] [OT] ease of use

[Brian's Linux Box]

>> Mandrake 8.2 always detected my printer and
>> identified it for me. It set up cups. It even asked me to print a
>> test page. I can print from any application without the problems
>> mentioned above.
> [gr]   MDK 9.0 did that too for me and then proceeded printing a
> beautiful test. But for some odd reason, now it prints one page and
> then stops. Don't know why. The problem with the test page, in my
> case, is it doesn't tell me why my printer won't print any more than
> one page.
Don't know if this helps or is a red herring - but - see the note I found
below in the gimp-print manual.  If you tend to leave your system on and
move the printer around - or reboot with the printer off it sounds like it
causes CUPS problems....  Maybe a quick 'service cupsd restart'  or whatever
is worth a try...

Caution Regarding USB Printers
CUPS versions 1.1.11 and later REQUIRE the user to insure
that the desired USB printer is powered on AND physically
connected to the USB bus BEFORE starting the CUPS
software.
CUPS must see the USB printer when the software starts. The
CUPS software is typically started when the computer boots.
Note that one cannot simply plug in the USB printer and power
it on after CUPS has started. (Note that this does not apply to
parallel port printers).
If the USB printer was not connected and powered on at the
time CUPS was started, there will not be a USB printer shown
in the list of devices on the CUPS Admin Device Window (see
Figure 3-4). In this event, stop the CUPS software, properly
connect and power on the USB printer, and restart the CUPS
software.