raspi as dedicated document printing?

[sarf2k4]

Hi, I am wondering if raspi would be a good device for a dedicated document printing computer. I am aware that raspi need CUPS to be installed, but I wanted to replace an old pc with raspi.

The old pc running on win7 with bare minimum software to handle document printing and the hardware attached to the old pc other than monitor, mouse and keyboard are printer and scanner (both are canon brand). In windows environment, I could use a software provided for the scanner and make it as a photocopy device that will be scanned and printed directly to the printer without the needs to save the scanned document into jpg or pdf. Simply put, it is like a 3 in 1 printer for example epson L210 or canon mp150

I am currently using canoscan lide scanner model and canon ip2770 printer. So, my question is, can I do the same on raspi of having the same feature as I mentioned above?

I don't have my own raspi yet, I am asking first to get info before making a purchase

Thank you in advance for your reply

[fruitoftheloom]

Hi, I am wondering if raspi would be a good device for a dedicated document printing computer. I am aware that raspi need CUPS to be installed, but I wanted to replace an old pc with raspi.

The old pc running on win7 with bare minimum software to handle document printing and the hardware attached to the old pc other than monitor, mouse and keyboard are printer and scanner (both are canon brand). In windows environment, I could use a software provided for the scanner and make it as a photocopy device that will be scanned and printed directly to the printer without the needs to save the scanned document into jpg or pdf. Simply put, it is like a 3 in 1 printer for example epson L210 or canon mp150

I am currently using canoscan lide scanner model and canon ip2770 printer. So, my question is, can I do the same on raspi of having the same feature as I mentioned above?

I don't have my own raspi yet, I am asking first to get info before making a purchase

Thank you in advance for your reply

In theory yes using XSane and Cups software, but speed could be an issue processing scanned documents

[W. H. Heydt]

My brother-in-law (who, so far as I know doesn't post here) has been using a Pi as a print server for over a year, but I think that's output only.

[sarf2k4]

I only know a little bit of cups software, but unsure about xsane. My main purpose of using raspi is to use on the raspi directly but network also would be optional to me. Using pc costs too much for maintenance when the pc aged especially the hardware components. The motherboard failed on me last time and luckily I had a spare to keep the pc running but probably in next year or 3 years more this board also would fail along with hard disk. This is my main reason to get raspi to replace it since raspi only costs $35 or so each

As for processing speed, I will look into it once I got my hands on the raspi but what is important is it capable of direct printing from scanner>raspi>printer?

[fruitoftheloom]

I only know a little bit of cups software, but unsure about xsane. My main purpose of using raspi is to use on the raspi directly but network also would be optional to me. Using pc costs too much for maintenance when the pc aged especially the hardware components. The motherboard failed on me last time and luckily I had a spare to keep the pc running but probably in next year or 3 years more this board also would fail along with hard disk. This is my main reason to get raspi to replace it since raspi only costs $35 or so each

As for processing speed, I will look into it once I got my hands on the raspi but what is important is it capable of direct printing from scanner>raspi>printer?

Xsane is the program used for Scanning and can scan to print, the only way to find out whether the speed and usability are acceptable is to try it.

Would recommend standalone Raspbian Wheezy Operating System, you can run headless via SSH / VNC, but you will need internet access to download / install software from the software repositories.

[sarf2k4]

Xsane is the program used for Scanning and can scan to print, the only way to find out whether the speed and usability are acceptable is to try it.

Would recommend standalone Raspbian Wheezy Operating System, you can run headless via SSH / VNC, but you will need internet access to download / install software from the software repositories.

Getting raspi almost like a huge gamble for me especially for my small printing store actually. Gonna need an hdmi to vga dongle and that probably gonna cost me usd$70 for the main board+8gb noobs loaded, hdmi to vga dongle, raspi case, not to mention that I need to add in an extra cash for good quality usb hub.

Sorry for going off-topic and rants above even though this thread is started by me. I wouldn't worry too much about raspi requiring internet access because I could bring the raspi to a place with internet access to download the software, xsane and cups but unsure if the driver will be included by default or need to download on demand upon connecting a new device?

By xsane, did you mean xsane.org? The latest version released was on 16th nov 2010

[forenbenutzer]

Just a hint for the scan capabilities: http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpsane/

(allows scanning from a web interface including setting the resolution and preview)

[fruitoftheloom]

Xsane is the program used for Scanning and can scan to print, the only way to find out whether the speed and usability are acceptable is to try it.

Would recommend standalone Raspbian Wheezy Operating System, you can run headless via SSH / VNC, but you will need internet access to download / install software from the software repositories.

Getting raspi almost like a huge gamble for me especially for my small printing store actually. Gonna need an hdmi to vga dongle and that probably gonna cost me usd$70 for the main board+8gb noobs loaded, hdmi to vga dongle, raspi case, not to mention that I need to add in an extra cash for good quality usb hub.

Sorry for going off-topic and rants above even though this thread is started by me. I wouldn't worry too much about raspi requiring internet access because I could bring the raspi to a place with internet access to download the software, xsane and cups but unsure if the driver will be included by default or need to download on demand upon connecting a new device?

By xsane, did you mean xsane.org? The latest version released was on 16th nov 2010

If you put the RPi on an internet enabled network you will not need to buy anything else, you can run it from another computer, ie headless

The RPi B+ has 4 USB ports and it should be able to cope with a USb powered scanner if that is what you have ?

You appear to be making life difficult, all you need to spend is $50.00 for a RPi and a SD Card, if it not suitable sell it

Unike Windows Software where one size fits all, Linux Software is often compiled by the Distribution, so the dates of release are irrelevent. ....

[sarf2k4]

Xsane is the program used for Scanning and can scan to print, the only way to find out whether the speed and usability are acceptable is to try it.

Would recommend standalone Raspbian Wheezy Operating System, you can run headless via SSH / VNC, but you will need internet access to download / install software from the software repositories.

Getting raspi almost like a huge gamble for me especially for my small printing store actually. Gonna need an hdmi to vga dongle and that probably gonna cost me usd$70 for the main board+8gb noobs loaded, hdmi to vga dongle, raspi case, not to mention that I need to add in an extra cash for good quality usb hub.

Sorry for going off-topic and rants above even though this thread is started by me. I wouldn't worry too much about raspi requiring internet access because I could bring the raspi to a place with internet access to download the software, xsane and cups but unsure if the driver will be included by default or need to download on demand upon connecting a new device?

By xsane, did you mean xsane.org? The latest version released was on 16th nov 2010

If you put the RPi on an internet enabled network you will not need to buy anything else, you can run it from another computer, ie headless

The RPi B+ has 4 USB ports and it should be able to cope with a USb powered scanner if that is what you have ?

You appear to be making life difficult, all you need to spend is $50.00 for a RPi and a SD Card, if it not suitable sell it

Unike Windows Software where one size fits all, Linux Software is often compiled by the Distribution, so the dates of release are irrelevent. ....

Haha.... yeah, I could sell it off but I also planned to use it as my own personal webserver and if I can't I just keep it for something else. 4 usb is enough actually but no more ports to plug in another usb storage for printing locally. My store doesn't have internet or computer network for local, printing from another computer would just mean I better off with that computer to print and scan on that document directly . one of my aim is to reduce physical space usage and reduce pc downtime maintenance.

The hardware that are connected to my current full size pc are keyboard, mouse, scanner and printer, each take one usb slot and scanner can be powered from usb slot depending on the slot if provided enough power output, it will run with one port, if not enough another port must be plugged in.

Off-topic a little bit, I used NS2 on ubuntu several months back apparently NS2.32-2.34 can be installed in ubuntu 10.04 with an older gcc/g++ compiler. Newer compiler and newer ubuntu (12.04+) won't work with NS2 though.

I am still newbie on linux system

But thank you for your info, seems like most people would recommend a printer server compared to local print host

[mikerr]

Assuming CUPS supports your printer, and sane supports your scanner, steps would be along the lines of

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install cups
sudo usermod -a -G lpadmin pi

and configure it from http:/127.0.0.1:631 on the pi itself

Note CUPS also installs sane by default.

Copying would be:

Code: Select all

scanimage --format=tiff | lpr

[fruitoftheloom]

But thank you for your info, seems like most people would recommend a printer server compared to local print host

I have found that using a all-in-one Wireless ePrinter solves all the issues as the features of the printer are accessed via a web page interface, so as long as I have a wireless router I can access on any computer on my network. Therefore the printer does all the work !

[sarf2k4]

Assuming CUPS supports your printer, and sane supports your scanner, steps would be along the lines of

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install cups
sudo usermod -a -G lpadmin pi

and configure it from http:/127.0.0.1:631 on the pi itself

Note CUPS also installs sane by default.

Copying would be:

Code: Select all

scanimage --format=tiff | lpr

So um... the localhost address is to configure cups on the pi itself via web browser right?

What about this code

Code: Select all

scanimage --format=tiff | lpr

What it does actually? Is it to save the image in tiff format into local storage and print them manually?

But thank you for your info, seems like most people would recommend a printer server compared to local print host

I have found that using a all-in-one Wireless ePrinter solves all the issues as the features of the printer are accessed via a web page interface, so as long as I have a wireless router I can access on any computer on my network. Therefore the printer does all the work !

What printer is that?

[fruitoftheloom]

What printer is that?

I personally always use HP but all manufacturers offer ePrinters,

At present I am using a HP Envy 4500 http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Produ ... HC&sel=PRN

The reason for choosing that printer was that the setup can be undertaken from the printers in built menu, so did not need to plug it in to any computer and install un-needed software, the setup is a little fiddly but it is only a one time operation.

Please note that all-in-one Printers have a scan to print facility built in so no computer required, unless I want to manipulate what has been scanned then I scan and save to computer using the IceWeasel browser.

ePrinters also work with Android and iOS as well as Google Cloud Print.

[gdt]

I can report success using the Raspberry Pi as a print server for a Samsung ML-1710 monochrome laser printer which connected via USB. I used that arrangement from late 2011 to just a few weeks ago (the printer finally died).

That printer no longer had useful drivers from Samsung. CUPS works fine. Windows clients could print to the printer via the RPI's CUPS server by treating it as a generic PostScript printer.

A page usually took about 10s to start to be sent to the printer, although this could be several minutes for the worst case of graphics-intensive print jobs. That's very much a product of that Samsung printer needing the page to be fully rasterised. On the plus side, the quality of that rasterisation by CUPS is streets ahead of that done by the manufacturer's own printer driver (for Windows Xp).

I had some trouble configuring the printer, the secret is to install the package foomatic-db-compressed-ppds. Then Foomatic doesn't attempt to compile all the printer PPDs when searching for a printer driver, which leads to the CUPS web user interface timing out.

I used a Class 10 SD card and keep a good eye on syslog for card I/O errors.

The CUPS system can be trivially made to advertise its printers as an Apple-compatible "AirPrint" printer. That made me quite tickled -- a very old printer with better support for new protocols than the printer's manufacturer itself offered in its newer models in its printer range at that time.

The same RPi runs the home's Internet access (allowing some smarts such as restricting capacity for some applications of a school-day evening). I have previously used that RPi to attach a scanner using the saned scanner server. It was pretty painless. LibreOffice has a sane client built in.

In short, I would recommend it as a solution. Particularly attractive is the low running cost compared with a old PC. I did the sums: replacing a typical PC with a RPi has a payback period of about a year.

Note that you can readily configure the RPi headlessly, it's pretty easy if you have access to your DHCP server's allocation records. If not, mount the card on your laptop and delete /etc/modprobe.d/ipv6.conf. Then when the RPi boots it will get a IPv6 link local address (which you know, as you know the machine's MAC address) and you can SSH in.

I would recommend buying a USB/RS-232(3.3v) dongle with your RPi. That gives you console access to the RPi when it is running as a print server should something go severely wrong. That saves unpacking it out of it's position with the printer. But 99% of the time if something goes wrong you can still SSH in, so if you are watching the AUD (or whatever you use) then you can make do without the dongle, it's just a "nice to have".

[sarf2k4]

What printer is that?

I personally always use HP but all manufacturers offer ePrinters,

<span>At present I am using a HP Envy 4500 <a href="http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Produ ... HC&sel=PRN" class="smarterwiki-linkify">http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Produ ... </a></span>

The reason for choosing that printer was that the setup can be undertaken from the printers in built menu, so did not need to plug it in to any computer and install un-needed software, the setup is a little fiddly but it is only a one time operation.

Please note that all-in-one Printers have a scan to print facility built in so no computer required, unless I want to manipulate what has been scanned then I scan and save to computer using the IceWeasel browser.

ePrinters also work with Android and iOS as well as Google Cloud Print.

Sounds like a good printer, but is there any that can be used with CISS tank?

I can report success using the Raspberry Pi as a print server for a Samsung ML-1710 monochrome laser printer which connected via USB. I used that arrangement from late 2011 to just a few weeks ago (the printer finally died).

That printer no longer had useful drivers from Samsung. CUPS works fine. Windows clients could print to the printer via the RPI's CUPS server by treating it as a generic PostScript printer.

A page usually took about 10s to start to be sent to the printer, although this could be several minutes for the worst case of graphics-intensive print jobs. That's very much a product of that Samsung printer needing the page to be fully rasterised. On the plus side, the quality of that rasterisation by CUPS is streets ahead of that done by the manufacturer's own printer driver (for Windows Xp).

I had some trouble configuring the printer, the secret is to install the package foomatic-db-compressed-ppds. Then Foomatic doesn't attempt to compile all the printer PPDs when searching for a printer driver, which leads to the CUPS web user interface timing out.

I used a Class 10 SD card and keep a good eye on syslog for card I/O errors.

The CUPS system can be trivially made to advertise its printers as an Apple-compatible "AirPrint" printer. That made me quite tickled -- a very old printer with better support for new protocols than the printer's manufacturer itself offered in its newer models in its printer range at that time.

The same RPi runs the home's Internet access (allowing some smarts such as restricting capacity for some applications of a school-day evening). I have previously used that RPi to attach a scanner using the saned scanner server. It was pretty painless. LibreOffice has a sane client built in.

In short, I would recommend it as a solution. Particularly attractive is the low running cost compared with a old PC. I did the sums: replacing a typical PC with a RPi has a payback period of about a year.

Note that you can readily configure the RPi headlessly, it's pretty easy if you have access to your DHCP server's allocation records. If not, mount the card on your laptop and delete /etc/modprobe.d/ipv6.conf. Then when the RPi boots it will get a IPv6 link local address (which you know, as you know the machine's MAC address) and you can SSH in.

I would recommend buying a USB/RS-232(3.3v) dongle with your RPi. That gives you console access to the RPi when it is running as a print server should something go severely wrong. That saves unpacking it out of it's position with the printer. But 99% of the time if something goes wrong you can still SSH in, so if you are watching the AUD (or whatever you use) then you can make do without the dongle, it's just a "nice to have".

What about printing properties such as paper size settings, some maintenance option like print head cleaning, nozzle check, alignment (for inkjet)? I'm a little lost because often, I had no luck on setting something up on the network access environment