FreeNAS as print server

General

I didn’t go to bed…

I worked through the instructions and realised that they were for an “embedded” FreeNAS, where I am running a FULL install.  I worked out that all I needed to do was make the permanent changes that are outlined in the script.  I also didn’t want to use a RAM disk so changed the printcap file to that suggested in the Instructable I found, and created the appropriate directory.

    #   @(#)printcap   Canon i550
    lp|deskjet:\
    :sd=/var/spool/lpd/bare:\
    :sh:\
    :lp=/dev/ulpt0:

My devd.conf turned out like this (I don’t have a speaker on the fit-PC slim:

    # devd.conf
    # start action when USB printer ulpt0 is plugged in
    # wait 3 seconds and then start the spooler daemon
    #
    attach 100 {
       device-name “ulpt0”;
       action “sleep 3; lpd;
       checkpc -f;
       chown 0:0 /dev/ulpt0;
       chmod 666 /dev/ulpt0;”;
    };

I did all the file linking as per the script, rebooted and…

Nothing happened when I tried to print.

So I went through the script.

First I found that I had not given the spooling script the right permissions (700) or ownership (1:1).
Next I ran checkpc and was reminded of this error:
“Shared object “libintl.so.8″ not found”

I got over this somehow last time using these threads and working out that the code was:

    ln -s /usr/local/lib/libintl.so.9 /usr/local/lib/libintl.so.8

It still didn’t work.  I looked at the /usr/bin and my symlinks had disappeared, so I copied over the files instead.  It still didn’t work.  I tried a manual print to lpr and got:


    lpr /mnt/data/printtest.prn 
    Status Information, attempt 1 of 3:
    sending job ‘root@minime+2078’ to lp@localhost
    connecting to ‘localhost’, attempt 1
    cannot open connection to localhost – No such file or directory
    Make sure the remote host supports the LPD protocol
    Waiting 10 seconds before retry

So I rebooted and tried again. Again.


Out popped the print job!  Ubuntu suddenly showed the printer as alive and I was away.


I go to bed happy.  Hope this helps someone.  Please comment if it does.