Public bug reported:
I am trying to get a DYMO LaberlWriter 450 that works fine under Windows
to work under the latest Ubuntu 16.04.2 Server LTS release. I followed
these instructions to install the CUPS drivers:
http://www.taklischris.info/other/use-your-dymo-printer-on-ubuntu
I found similar instructions elsewhere for other DYMO models.
Everything appeared to build and install just fine. However, CUPS still
reported the printer as:
usb://Unknown/Printer?serial=14050313031275
I tried manually mapping the printer to the CUPS drivers and it appeared
to set up and even showed up in a Samba share. However, Windows refused
to connect to the device. I also tried rebooting the whole box and
changing USB ports. I strongly suspect that this problem is happening
because of something a little more low-level than CUPS drivers not
working. Given that the LabelWriter series and drivers apparently
worked fine in previous Ubuntu releases, something else has changed.
So I started following the printer debugging guide as far as I could get
through:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems
Here's the USB port switching from /var/log/syslog:
Apr 4 01:13:31 awesome kernel: [ 1011.207169] usb 1-5.5: USB disconnect,
device number 5
Apr 4 01:13:31 awesome kernel: [ 1011.207584] usblp0: removed
Apr 4 01:13:31 awesome systemd[1]: printer.target: Unit not needed anymore.
Stopping.
Apr 4 01:13:31 awesome systemd[1]: Stopped target Printer.
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome kernel: [ 1022.426578] usb 1-5.4: new full-speed USB
device number 6 using ehci-pci
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome kernel: [ 1022.536807] usb 1-5.4: New USB device found,
idVendor=0922, idProduct=0020
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome kernel: [ 1022.536823] usb 1-5.4: New USB device
strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome kernel: [ 1022.536831] usb 1-5.4: Product: DYMO
LabelWriter 450
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome kernel: [ 1022.536839] usb 1-5.4: Manufacturer: DYMO
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome kernel: [ 1022.536847] usb 1-5.4: SerialNumber:
14050313031275
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome kernel: [ 1022.544815] usblp 1-5.4:1.0: usblp0: USB
Bidirectional printer dev 6 if 0 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x0922 pid 0x0020
Apr 4 01:13:43 awesome systemd[1]: Reached target Printer.
# lsmod | grep usb
usblp 20480 0
usb_storage69632 2 uas
# ls -l /dev/usb/lp* /dev/bus/usb/*/*
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189,0 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/001/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189,1 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/001/002
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189,2 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/001/003
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189,3 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/001/004
crw-rw-r-- 1 root lp 189,5 Apr 4 01:14 /dev/bus/usb/001/006
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 128 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/002/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 256 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/003/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 384 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/004/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 512 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/005/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 640 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/006/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 768 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/007/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 896 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/008/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 1024 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/009/001
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 1025 Apr 4 00:56 /dev/bus/usb/009/002
crw-rw 1 root lp 180,0 Apr 4 01:14 /dev/usb/lp0
# lsusb | grep LabelWriter
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0922:0020 Dymo-CoStar Corp. LabelWriter 450
# usb_printerid /dev/usb/lp0
Error: Input/output error: GET_DEVICE_ID on '/dev/usb/lp0'
# lpinfo -v
network ipps
network beh
network https
network http
network ipp14
network socket
network lpd
network ipp
direct usb://Unknown/Printer?serial=14050313031275
Everything above seems fine until usb_printerid. But usb_printerid
seems to be related to foo2zjs, which I downloaded and installed earlier
in a similar fashion to connect the box to my older HP LaserJet. The
LaserJet works fine via the Samba share on Windows and was even detected
by lpinfo without the drivers being installed. (I turned the LaserJet
off once I got it set up, which is why it doesn't show up in the above
lists.) At any rate, lpinfo knows that there is a printer but, even
though the OS knows various pieces of information about that printer,
lpinfo can't figure out what that printer is, which likely means some
interface changed between Ubuntu/Linux releases.
This particular box (not the printer) has been in service since Ubuntu
12.04.1 LTS. The cups package was installed within the last week under
16.04.2 LTS.
I contacted DYMO and they said that one of their L2 techs tried using
the DYMO Linux drivers with the same release of Ubuntu I'm using and
also couldn't get things working. My guess is that the person who wrote
their CUPS drivers no longer works there so the L2 tech likely gave up.
The issue could be something not even CUPS related. It's hard to tell
as I'm new to the CUPS/printer ecosystem on Linux but I'm
