Setting up basic device connectivity

This file documents the procedure to set up basic device connectivity (low-level communication) with the HP OfficeJet Linux driver (hpoj) software, whether you're setting up the hpoj software for the first time, upgrading from an older version, or adding a new device later.

In case of difficulty

If something goes wrong with these instructions, then refer to the separate connectivity details and troubleshooting document for more information.

Adding or removing devices

Connect and power on your device if you haven't already.

This setup wizard is now used to set up hpoj-managed devices with all supported connection types (parallel, USB, and JetDirect). It asks you a few questions and guides you through the following steps:

Deleting one or more devices that are already set up (possibly to re-probe it in a later step)
Probing for and setting up parallel-connected devices
Probing for and setting up USB-connected devices
Setting up JetDirect-connected devices
Setting the default device (only if more than one device is defined or a default device is already set)

Starting and stopping the hpoj driver

At any time as root, you may invoke the commands "ptal-init start" and "ptal-init stop" to start and stop the hpoj daemons for the devices that have been previously set up using "ptal-init setup".

Testing basic device connectivity

Here are some simple tests you can run to be sure you have basic connectivity to the device, before you proceed to subsequent tasks such as setting up printing, scanning, or photo-card access, all of which depend on having a working I/O path to the device.

In the following examples, you may provide the optional [devname] parameter to specify the PTAL device name of the desired device. (In general, square brackets indicate an optional parameter and should not actually be typed.) If you omit it, then an already configured device is arbitrarily picked. If you have set up more than one device, then you should use "ptal-init setup" as described above to set the default device.

ptal-devid [devname]
Displays the device ID string. For example, here is the device ID string from an OfficeJet K80, with line breaks added between fields for clarity:

	MFG:Hewlett-Packard;
	MDL:OfficeJet K80;
	CMD:MLC,PCL,PML;
	CLASS:PRINTER;
	DESCRIPTION:Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet K Series;
	1284.3M:f7f,f7f;
	1284.4DL:4d,4e,1;
	SERN:000000000010;
	VSTATUS:$HB0$NC0,ff,DN,IDLE,CUT,K0,C0,SM,NR,KP085,CP080;
	AiO:0;
	DW-PCL;

ptal-print [devname] </dev/null
Tests ability to connect to the device's print service. If this fails and you're connected via USB, then verify that hpoj was built with libusb support.
ptal-hp [devname] device
Displays additional information about the device. Note that some or all of the fields may be unsupported on your model, in which case "(unavailable)" is displayed.
ptal-hp [devname] clock
Displays the device clock, if your model is so equipped. In addition, you may specify the -set switch to synchronize the device clock with the PC clock. The -mmddyy, -ddmmyy, -yymmdd, -12hour, and -24hour switches may be used to change the device's date/time display format.
ptal-hp [devname] display
xojpanel [devname] &
Displays the contents of the device's LCD (liquid crystal display), either once on the command line (in the case of "ptal-hp display") or in more-or-less real time in a separate window (in the case of xojpanel, which requires the QT GUI toolkit library). Note that some models do not support this feature; see the xojpanel column on the Supported devices page for more information.
ptal-connect [devname] -service ECHO
Attempts to connect to the device's echo service. Each line you enter should be echoed back to you. Press Control-C or Control-D to exit.

Optional: Reboot to make sure everything still works

As described in the main and troubleshooting documents for compiling and installing the software, you should ensure that the ptal-init script is set up to start when your computer boots, and most importantly, to start before your print spooler.

If you'd like to verify that this is set up correctly before proceeding to the next steps, then reboot your computer now. Watch the startup messages very carefully for a message about starting ptal-init or "the HP OfficeJet Linux driver", and make sure it happens before your print spooler is started.

Caution: If ptal-init does not start before the print spooler, then you may experience problems setting up printing (if using CUPS), or subsequent reboots may hang after you set up print queues (if using LPRng). You should fix this if possible, before proceeding to set up printing.

After your system has come back up, you may also want to re-run the connectivity tests suggested above, in order to verify that everything still works after a reboot.

In case of difficulty

If something goes wrong with these instructions, then refer to the separate connectivity details and troubleshooting document for more information.

Next steps

Now you're ready to set up printing, scanning, and/or photo-card access (depending on your model), or return to the index.