Connecting a USB printer to BBB

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1

Hello again,

I managed to get my BBB to work as a standalone system with a monitor, keyboard and a mouse (the default Angstrom). But when I connect a USB cable from a printer (an HP deskjet) it doesn’t appear in any “Print” dialog.

I know nothing of Linux, but I managed to see that when I connect the cable, there’s an “lp0” added to /dev/usb, so the system does recognize something. How can I make the printer work?

Thanks in advance,
Ido

2

Usually every printer comes with drivers. Did you install the drivers on the BBB so you can print?

3

Hi Juan,

Like I said, I have no experience with Linux, so… no :slight_smile:

I see there are Linux drivers for HP printers called HPLIP, but the download page (http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/install_wizard/index.html) doesn’t have Angstrom in the Select Distribution list… does it mean I won’t be able to print?

Thanks again

4

You may be able to get away with the drivers for a different distribution on Angstrom. You also have the option of loading a different Linux OS on your BBB if you really need the printing.

The instructions on how to load a different OS can be found at this link.

On that HP downloads page you would select Ubuntu as your distribution and 12.04 as the version if you decide to use that one.

5

Hi Tommy, thanks for the advice!

I was worried about installing a different distribution, having enough troubles with the first… but eventually it went pretty smoothly. I even heard a rumor that this Ubuntu already supports HP printers - I’m going to test it tomorrow.

Cheers,

Ido

6

The saga continues… I downloaded the HPLIP installer for HP printers and ran it per the instructions. It started downloading and installing all sorts of dependencies, worked for over an hour, then declared I don’t have enough room on the device.

7

Oh, one more thing - the SD shows 0.5MB full out of 0.98MB… so I guess there are hidden linux partitions in there or something.

8

So which OS did you end up installing? Depending on which OS you installed you may have more or less space free on the file system partition. Because the file system partition is ext4, Windows computers don’t recognize it as storage when you plug them in. Chances are you can follow the instructions on this page :http://circuitco.com/support/index.php?title=Expanding_File_System_Partition_On_A_microSD

Assuming you have installed one of the OS’s it mentions on the top of that page. After expanding the file system you should have more usable space. If you try installing the drivers again they may pick up where they left off.

9

Spot on, again!

Thanks to you, I now have an up-and-running desktop with the BBB. It has Ubuntu precise, LXDE, HP printer support (it required installing CUPS and then the HPLIP), local language keyboard layout and a couple of programs for my kids :slight_smile:

I ended up switching to an 8GB Micro SD card, and I expanded the file system per your advice. So far so good.

Until the next time :slight_smile:

  • Ido
10

hello ido gendel

r u enable printer with beaglebone succesfully…?

if u eneble then help to how to do this …wich printer is easily u support withh bbb?
I use linux ubuntu 13.10 on bbb.

thanks
Chintan k.

11

Hi Chintan,

I’m using Ubuntu 12.04 with LXDE, a very minimal setup. was able to install CUPS and HPLIP and get them to work with an HP deskjet printer, but since I’m not experienced with Linux I don’t really know how it actually works :slight_smile:

Good luck,

Ido