Cups and Raspberry Pi – How to setup your print server

Print Server is one of those things that makes life easier.  I hooked up my Raspberry Pi and a Docker image in order to have a CUPS server and the Bonjour configuration.

Login to the Raspberry Pi and switch to root (sudo -s or sudo su –)

Check lsusb to see if you can see the USB device.

 root@raspberrypi:~# lsusb 
 Bus 001 Device 005: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver 
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8564:1000 Transcend Information, Inc. JetFlash
 Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0424:7800 Standard Microsystems Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub 
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 root@raspberryp:~#  

If you don’t see it, check to see that the device is properly plugged in.

Check again, and you’ll see your manufacture for your printer listed. (highlighted in red)

 root@raspberrypi:~# lsusb 
 Bus 001 Device 007: ID 03f0:7411 Hewlett-Packard 
 Bus 001 Device 005: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8564:1000 Transcend Information, Inc. JetFlash
 Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0424:7800 Standard Microsystems Corp. 
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 root@raspberrypi:~# 

Further, I am able to see the exact model that is connected:

 root@raspberrypi:~# lsusb -v | grep -A 20 Hewlett-Packard 
 Bus 001 Device 007: ID 03f0:7411 Hewlett-Packard 
 Device Descriptor:
   bLength                18
   bDescriptorType         1
   bcdUSB               2.00
   bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
   bDeviceSubClass         0 
   bDeviceProtocol         0 
   bMaxPacketSize0        64
   idVendor           0x03f0 Hewlett-Packard
   idProduct          0x7411 
   bcdDevice            1.00
   iManufacturer           1 HP
   iProduct                2 Photosmart C4600 series
   iSerial                 3 |||MASKED|||MASKED|||MASKED||| 

I’ll use these details downstream in order to install and use the HP driver.

If you still don’t see the USB device, you should check dmesg and look at the pattern for USB.

 [3077006.701281] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 7 using dwc_otg
 [3077006.831891] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=03f0, idProduct=7411 
 [3077006.831908] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
 [3077006.831917] usb 1-1.2: Product: Photosmart C4600 series
 [3077006.831925] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: HP 

If you don’t see it, unplug and plug the device back in.

You can also use usb-devices

 T:  Bus=01 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=01 Cnt=02 Dev#=  7 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
 D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1 
 P:  Vendor=03f0 ProdID=7411 Rev=01.00
 S:  Manufacturer=HP
 S:  Product=Photosmart C4600 series
 S:  SerialNumber=<<>><<>>
 C:  #Ifs= 4 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr=2mA
 I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=cc Prot=00 Driver=(none)
 I:  If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=07(print) Sub=01 Prot=02 Driver=usblp 
 I:  If#= 2 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=(none)
 I:  If#= 3 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage 

Copy the Dockerfile and the cupsd file locally (in the folder etc-cups/cupsd.conf). Cupsd is configured to listen on all interfaces: Listen 0.0.0.0:631

Build the Docker image (based off of this image https://github.com/a0js/rpi-cups and uses a different base image https://hub.docker.com/r/arm32v7/debian/ ) docker build -t cups-pi/cups-pi .

 root@raspberrypi:/data/cups-printer# docker build -t cups-pi/cups-pi . 
 Sending build context to Docker daemon  8.192kB
 Step 1/9 : FROM arm32v7/debian:latest
  ---> 64b4748d266b
 Step 2/9 : ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
  ---> Using cache
  ---> 38ebdf2f5bb6
 Step 3/9 : RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y   sudo   locales   whois   cups   cups-client   cups-bsd   printer-driver-all   hpijs-ppds   hp-ppd   hplip
  ---> Using cache
  ---> 0b5b9eac6cef
 Step 4/9 : RUN sed -i "s/^#\ \+\(en_US.UTF-8\)/\1/" /etc/locale.gen && locale-gen en_US en_US.UTF-8
  ---> Using cache
  ---> fd55737901b8
 Step 5/9 : ENV LANG=en_US.UTF-8   LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8   LANGUAGE=en_US:en
  ---> Using cache
  ---> d6cd104b40ec
 Step 6/9 : RUN useradd   --groups=sudo,lp,lpadmin   --create-home   --home-dir=/home/print   --shell=/bin/bash   --password=$(mkpasswd print)   print   && sed -i '/%sudo[[:space:]]/ s/ALL[[:space:]]*$/NOPASSWD:ALL/' /etc/sudoers   && apt-get clean   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*   && mkdir /var/lib/apt/lists/partial
  ---> Using cache
  ---> 156dcd02e397 
 Step 7/9 : COPY etc-cups/cupsd.conf /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
  ---> e1624a96970e
 Step 8/9 : EXPOSE 631
  ---> Running in a16705e0f3d9
 Removing intermediate container a16705e0f3d9
  ---> 60758af63011
 Step 9/9 : ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/sbin/cupsd", "-f"]
  ---> Running in add02d421ea9
 Removing intermediate container add02d421ea9
  ---> 8c6fe42423c8
 Successfully built 8c6fe42423c8
 Successfully tagged cups-pi/cups-pi:ltest 

Run the Docker image to start the print server

root@raspberrypi:/data/cups-printer# docker run -d -p 631:631 --privileged -v /var/run/dbus:/var/run/dbus -v /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb -h myhostm.mydomain.org --name cupsm cups-pi/cups-pi:latest
fe6d9bc34c66911f05b011ef185fce95947efb965e90ef2b4ecdd0f1c3a32d68

It’s important to use the -h if you want to remotely access via hostname.

Login to the console http://myserver.mydomain.org:631/admin using print:print

Click Add Printer

Select a local printer “HP Photosmart C4600 series (HP Photosmart C4600 series)”

Click Continue

Click Share This Printer

Click Continue

Click Add Printer

Select Media Type – Letter

Click Set Default Options

Click Add

When you find the Printer, you can add the printer

You now have an image ready for use with a CUPS printer.  (If you rebuild, you may have to re-setup the default printer…. Just warning you ahead of time).  You can always look at http://myhost.mydomain.org:631/printers/HP_Photosmart_C4600_series

If you need to connect to the console, you can look at the docker ps

root@raspberrypi:/data/cups-printer# docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                    COMMAND                CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                                    NAMES
fe6d9bc34c66        cups-pi/cups-pi:latest   "/usr/sbin/cupsd -f"   5 minutes ago       Up 5 minutes        0.0.0.0:631->631/tcp                     cups

Extract the CONTAINER ID, and look at the /bin/sh

root@raspberrypi:/data/cups-printer# docker exec
-i -t fe6d9bc34c66 /bin/sh

Then look at the /var/log/cups files, specifically the error_log

Reference

List USB Devices Linux https://linuxhint.com/list-usb-devices-linux/

Dockerfile https://github.com/a0js/rpi-cups https://github.com/ryansch/docker-cups-rpi https://github.com/aadl/docker-cups/blob/master/2.2.1/Dockerfile

Arm 7 https://hub.docker.com/r/arm32v7/debian/

Cupsd.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/a0js/rpi-cups/master/etc-cups/cupsd.conf https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CUPS/Printer_sharing

SSL / Advanced Configuration http://chschneider.eu/linux/server/cups.shtml http://192.168.86.176:631/admin (use IP if receiving a bad request indicator to the admin interface)

Advanced Ubuntu Configuration https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/serverguide/cups.html.en