HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

Id also didn't seem to work in my gutsy here either, it just reinstalled the old packages

Yeah, it looks like I'm at the end of the line here.
Thanks for helping me out here and generously offering your time.
Someday, I'll be back and give Kubuntu another try.
Matt

[claydoh]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

I had mistyped the line myself, the software does install correctly

it is unfortunate that relatively simple things as scanners seem to be hard (at least at first) to get running, but with the huge amounts of hardware variables, and the constantly changing software and developers constantly trying to keep up with both, there are often brick walls we run into. Reminds me of when I upgraded to xp for that short time I ran it. neither of my scanners would work there initially, and eventually someone found a hack to run it, the other was simply not supported.

But I think in your case witht he HP is simply the hardware/software is just a little ahead of Ubuntu. (much newer hplip software is already in Hardy)

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

it is unfortunate that relatively simple things as scanners seem to be hard (at least at first) to get running, but with the huge amounts of hardware variables, and the constantly changing software and developers constantly trying to keep up with both, there are often brick walls we run into.

But I think in your case witht he HP is simply the hardware/software is just a little ahead of Ubuntu. (much newer hplip software is already in Hardy)

Well, I suppose I could try to install Hardy and see if anything changes, but I'm afraid I'd experience other problems with the experimental software. I'm not sure what my options are at this point.

I'm a little confused about this whole thing, because some people have posted here that they had success running the HP 8100 series. That's what made me feel confident buying it. I wish some of them could jump in here and offer some insights.

Matthew

[claydoh]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

so do I, as i have no HP hardware.

My investigations only mention the printer working, but nothing of the scanner. But as I have mentioned, the drivers in Gutsy do not support your model, you would need to install newer software/drivers, which those who were successful probably already had done.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

Claydoh,
Well, you have been a model of support! It's people like you who make the Linux expperience more likely to happen for many people.

But the silence on this issue from others just tells me there is no solution. As a last-ditch effort, I'm going to try the Hardy Heron Alpha release today. But when an issue like this comes up and there is silence, it just screams out to everyone that Linux is just not ready for mainstream support.

I really wish it was different, because there are so many things I love about Linux. I hate Vista, and the thought of having to go back there gives me nightmares, but I'm kind of pushed into it.

Matt

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

In searching for information on this, I landed at this site:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/

My version of HPLIP is 2.7.7 and the latest one seems to be 2.7.12. However, from the notes it is prettty much impossible to tell what it does. I have no idea if it offers more support for the 8180. I followed some of the links on the page and things just got fuzzier and fuzzier.

Matt

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

Just to add to the confusion, another "compatibility" site lists the 8100 series as functional. It even goes so far as to specify that scanning works.

Check this: http://hplip.sourceforge.net/support...nkjet_aio.html

This kind of contradictory and confusing information is really frustrating.

Matthew

[moir]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

It's worth a shot: just download it from their download page and install it. It works fine in ubuntu 7.10 so it should work just fine in Kubuntu.
I see photosmart C8100 support is from 2.7.9 but 8100 support should have been from 1.6.1.

I think the silence you're hearing is because people are waiting for you to try the latest driver, which is the most common solution to hardware problems regardless of OS. Linux will be "ready" when more people use it, causing the hardware mfgrs to support it better. We've been listening to the 'not quite ready' line for 10 years now and it's wearing real thin.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

I think the silence you're hearing is because people are waiting for you to try the latest driver, which is the most common solution to hardware problems regardless of OS. Linux will be "ready" when more people use it, causing the hardware mfgrs to support it better. We've been listening to the 'not quite ready' line for 10 years now and it's wearing real thin.

OK, I got all the way through those 16 steps (yes, I'm not kidding -- 16 steps), and everything seemed to go fine. I confirmed every step according to the screen shots in the "help" page.

Then the moment of truth came, and I ran XSane...
"No devices available."

Kooka...
Nothing

How about running Quiteinsane from GIMP...
"No local devices were found."

And guess what? Now I can no longer print either. And the HPLIP tool box is gone.

I'm worn out.

Matt

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

Good Morning,
It's fixed! What did I do? I updated to Hardy Heron 8.04 alpha 3. Following the upgrade instructions, it went very smoothly. Good job Kubuntu developers!

When I was done with the upgrade, it was like a blessing -- suddenly, the scanner portion of the all-in-one printer was detected and working perfectly in Kooka, Xsane, and GIMP. And so was the printer. This might sound like a small matter to some people, but I'm so thrilled about this -- I can keep Kubuntu!

So I guess the trick is, if you have one of the newer HP printers you should upgrade to 8.04. There might be risks involved in installing an alpha release, but the new HPLIP Toolbox is great. It detects the printer immediately (it even printed out the documents that were buffered from a previous print attempt in 7.10).

I also spent some time going through the features of 8.04. It looks really nice (I'll report on that in another discussion).

So, my scanner woes are gone. Hopefully, anyone else who is having the same problem can use my experience as a guide.

Matthew

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

Bad news...

After getting everything working so well, I restarted my system and nothing works. I'm right back to the awful place I was at before I upgraded -- can't scan, can't print, and can't even access the CUPS service.

Frustrated beyond words,
Matt

[dibl]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

Ouch.

sudo apt-get install --reinstall hplip

?

You might try booting with the scanner/printer turned off, and then after you're booted to your desktop, turn it on. Sometimes the USB bus is better at detecting a newcomer than the ones that were there at boot time.

The newest hardware is always the worst .... :P

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

dibl,
I ran "apt-get install --reinstall hplip" and it went fine. But still nothing works.

I also cannot access the "http://localhost:631" site, which is usually a reliable way to manage printing details. I get an error for the page.

I also tried re-booting with the printer off. Doesn't work.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

I think the silence you're hearing is because people are waiting for you to try the latest driver, which is the most common solution to hardware problems regardless of OS.

OK, I have installed not only the latest drivers but also the latest operating system! What accounts for the silence now?

[Harri]

Re: HELP - Scanner Not Working!!!

I had similar problem with my old HP scanner / printer. For some reason it was very slow so I decided to remove everything and install it again. After that the scanning did not work at all but the printer worked fine.

Here is what I did and how I got it working again.

I installed it using the "add printer wizard" (system settings .. printers .. add ..add printer / class ...). On the first page I took -X- local printer (parallel, serial, USB). On the next page I took -X- parallel port. And this was the wrong answer. My old printer is using palallel port, that is why I took that one.

After a couple days I did some tests and installed the same printer/scanner again and this time I took something under the --others with (HPLIP) statement. After that the scanner woke up. And this time it is much faster.

My english is a bit... , anyway I hope you get the scanner working soon
Harri