# [PC-BSD] FreeBSD 9 foomatic drivers available in CUPS?



## shakky4711 (Feb 26, 2012)

Hello,

I have the problem in PC-BSD 9 that there are no foomatic drivers in the CUPS webpage offered. I already started a thread at the PC-BSD forum but this issue is unsolved now for 4 weeks.

To find out if this is a PC-BSD problem only I would like to know if this issue is already existing in FreeBSD 9. 
My FreeBSD machines are running with 8.2 without X and cups and I currently will not touch them. 

So my request to FreeBSD 9 users, could someone with a FreeBSD 9 please look if cups offers foomatic drivers there?

Many many thanks.

Best regards
Shakky


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## jrm@ (Feb 26, 2012)

Is one of these what you are looking for?

Search results for foomatic on the freebsd ports page


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## paulfrottawa (Feb 26, 2012)

I use this one to install foo2zjs from source myself. 
print/foomatic-filters


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## wblock@ (Feb 26, 2012)

Ports are not part of the operating system, and there is only one ports tree that is the same for FreeBSD 9 and previous versions.  As jrm and paulfrottawa suggest, the problem is likely that they just need to be installed.


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## shakky4711 (Feb 27, 2012)

Hello,

Many thanks for the quick response, but it seems I was not able to give clear information.

On my PC-BSD 9 system all foomatic packages are already installed but the foomatic drivers do not show up when you want to install or change a printer.
When you navigate and choose the ppd manually it works, so generally foomatic seems to work.



```
foomatic-db-20090530_2 Foomatic database
foomatic-db-engine-4.0.7,2 Foomatic database engine
foomatic-db-hpijs-1.4 Foomatic data for the HPIJS printer drivers
foomatic-filters-4.0.7 Foomatic wrapper scripts
gutenprint-foomatic-5.2.7 GutenPrint Printer Driver
```

It seems to be a strange problem and it is unsolved since 4 weeks at the PC-BSD forum.

I want to know if this bug is already present in FreeBSD or if it only exists in PC-BSD. So I asked the question here if anyone with a running FreeBSD 9 could check if CUPS offers foomatic drivers at FreeBSD (of course when all foomartic ports are installed).

Many thanks.

Shakky


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## shakky4711 (Mar 1, 2012)

Dear all,

30.000 registered members in this forum and nobody out there with a running FreeBSD9 and CUPS who would spend these 30 seconds to check and support me at the error search?

Please 

Shakky


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## rockHardRideFre (Mar 3, 2012)

Hi, shakky4711

foo2zjs, as installed from ports, didn't work for me either, and I have FreeBSD 9.0. But I downloaded the source myself, compiled and installed (following the instructions and FreeBSD notes that came in the package), and it works for me with CUPS.

Only I had to add a devd rule to /etc/devd.conf, or else the firmware doesn't get uploaded automatically. But your case might be different because all foo2zjs printers don't need firmware uploaded to them.


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## shakky4711 (Mar 15, 2012)

Dear rockHardRideFre, you are right, this was not the issue with my setup, but thanks for your response.

Because from 30.000 registered users nobody is using foomatic drivers I had to spend a day to setup a computer from parts I had lying around, setup FreeBSD 9, install xorg, xfce, cups and foomatic to help myself.


For all people who come from google, this is the final result:


FreeBSD 9 with CUPS and FOOMATIC does not show any foomatic drivers likewise, so my problems with my PC-BSD laptop started at the root and is not PC-BSD related. 

Generally foomatic works. For my Brother laserprinters HL-1430, HL-5140 and HL-2150n I needed the hl-1250-foomatic driver, it is present at PC-BSD and can be installed this way:



```
- Enter the CUPS website

- Add new pinter or change it

- At the step where to enter the driver choose choose "provide pps"
Then take this path: /usr/local/share/cups/model/foomatic-db
```

There all drivers are present, try to identify the one you need, for all of my Brother laserprinters I had to choose "BROTHER-HL-1250-hl1250.ppd.gz" 

TRAP: This driver is not present with the FreeBSD 9 foomatic installation but the PPD file which is offered at linuxprinting.org works perfect http://www.openprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.php?driver=hl1250&printer=Brother-HL-1250&show=0

Best regards
Shakky


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## zennybsd (Mar 17, 2012)

shakky4711 said:
			
		

> Dear all,
> 
> 30.000 registered members in this forum and nobody out there with a running FreeBSD9 and CUPS who would spend these 30 seconds to check and support me at the error search?
> 
> ...





			
				shakky4711 said:
			
		

> Because from 30.000 registered users nobody is using foomatic drivers I had to spend a day to setup a computer from parts I had lying around, setup FreeBSD 9, install xorg, xfce, cups and foomatic to help myself.



Hi, please do not be so harsh and challenging. It is my experience that support here is prompter than the paid support with some proprietary systems (both hardware and software). And I mean it! Of course it is not as abundant as with the GNU/Linux. However, *BSD guys are doing their best without getting any pay for support from you, right! So please do not press the volunteers who contribute their time and code for free.

As for me, I am whining for weeks with *BSD (both FreeBSD9-RELEASE and DragonFlyBSD3.0.1 and minix3) despite having sysadmin experience with former BSD, GNU/Linux, Solaris, WindowsNT versions from the last century because things have changed a lot in FreeBSD9 from kernel modules to other configs. In addition, FreeBSD9 still has some ruffages, maybe they will be cleared in 9.1, I guess.

Experiencing some issues with thermal management, drivers, package management, nanobsd compilation and so on, but just waiting the right time to get an expert opinion. See my posts with problems here: http://forums.freebsd.org/showpost.php?p=170378&postcount=1 and http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=30502 which give a brief preview of the unresolved problems which worked perfectly in FreeBSD-8.2.



			
				shakky4711 said:
			
		

> For all people who come from google, this is the final result:
> 
> 
> FreeBSD 9 with CUPS and FOOMATIC does not show any foomatic drivers likewise, so my problems with my PC-BSD laptop started at the root and is not PC-BSD related.
> ...



 Glad to see that you solved the problem just by adding a ppd file for the printer. That can also be done in command line, yet cupsd running on localhost:631 is an easy way to go.

Look you found your solution faster than my problems which is pending for a long, yet I am not complaining because it is the spirit of FLOSS (free, libre and open source softwares).

You too are helping to FLOSS world because your post above will help someone with a similar problem in the future. ;-) I, for one, think in a proactive way.

PS: Since it is already solved, it will be wise to add [SOLVED] prefix to your subject. Just my 2 cents.

zenny

-----

support http://thehumanape.org


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## shakky4711 (Mar 17, 2012)

> Hi, please do not be so harsh and challenging. It is my experience that support here is prompter than the paid support with some proprietary systems


Yes, surely you are right. But to be honest I expected in this international forum with such a lot of members more people who use FreeBSD as a destop system with GUI and a connected printer compared to the small and local FreeBSD/PC-BSD forums I visit normally. So I had the feeling that the question is not too stupid to be posted and I have done my best before to find an answer by myself before I ask other people to support me. 

I am active member at some other NAS and Linux forums and many posted issues are so interesting for me that I check the discussed behavor on my systems to learn, increase my knowledge or help the thread starter. Some problems were such an experience that I setup a machine to simulate the problem and find solutions for other people. 

This was the reason I was so sad that I got no response within 2 weeks and asked myself what could be the reason for it or what I have done wrong. 



> In addition, FreeBSD9 still has some ruffages, maybe they will be cleared in 9.1, I guess.


I agree, have read a lot about problems the 8.x did not have. This is the reason I keep my 8.2 machines untouched and will update to next 8.3 until 9.x gets the identical reliability. But now I have a running 9.0 testing system to checkout all things before I bring them to my productive systems. 

BTW: I am not able to mark this thread as solved, searched the faq and it seems I need more posts to get the right to edit my posts and heading.

Best regards
Shakky


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## wblock@ (Mar 17, 2012)

You didn't do anything wrong.  But realize that not everyone with a FreeBSD desktop system uses CUPS (I don't), and even those who do may not have experienced the same problem.


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## Spencer PriceNash (Jun 5, 2015)

This item has been invaluable to me so many times in the last few years that it's caused me to sign up to reply.  Thanks for preserving it.  (FreeBSD 9.1-RELEASE-p22, multiple Canon imageRunner 3025s on the workplace network)


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