Anders Lundgren

As I wrote earlier I’ve changed the cartridge in my old HP LaserJet 1200. Unfortunately the cartridge was broken so I get something that looks like brushstrokes across all pages, caused by the drum. So, I ordered a new printer and this time I decided for a HP Color LaserJet 2600n.

Since I’ll save my old printer to use for drafts I want to use just one print server for both my printers. Even if I’m using a print server I connected the printer to the network so I can print to it directly if I want. So, how do you make CUPS print thru the Color LaserJet 2600n?

I started by looking at the OpenPrinting web page and found my printer there, HP Color LaserJet 2600n. The recommended driver was the foo2hp which have great step-by-step instructions on the web page.

I run Debian Sarge on my print server, with that said I did like this:

1. $ sudo aptitude install foomatic-bin

   - Needed by foo2hp as said on the web page

2. $ wget -O foo2zjs.tar.gz http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/foo2zjs.tar.gz

   - Download

3. $ tar zxf foo2zjs.tar.gz

   - Unpack

4. $ cd foo2zjs

   - Enter directory

5. $ make

   - Compile the foo2hp package

6. $ ./getweb 2600n

   - Get the HP LaserJet 2600n .ICM files

7. $ sudo make install

   - Install foo2hp (driver, foomatic XML files, and extra files)

8. $ sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart

   - Restart CUPS

Now I just browsed to my print server using Firefox and added the printer:

1. $ firefox http://192.168.0.1:631/

   - Start the browser

2. Click on Do Administration Tasks
3. Click on Add printer

4. • Name: HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n

     - Remember, no spaces!

   • Location: 

     - Left empty, just a printer at home

   • Description: Color printer

5. Device: AppSocket/HP JetDirect

6. Device URI: socket://192.168.0.5:9100/

   - This is the IP address to my printer

7. Make: HP

8. Model: HP Color LaserJet 2600n foomatic/foo2hp (recommended) (en)

   - If the foo2hp package installed successfully you should see this alternative.

9. Done! Now I had to change the Color Mode for the printer from the standard monochrome to Color (you do this if you click on Configure Printer)
10. Try to print a test page, it should now print the CUPS test page with the color wheel in nice colors. No? Then google it.

I’m not saying that this is the way to do this but whis worked for me.

Today I finally changed the cartridge in my HP LaserJet 1200. The cartridge, part number C7115A, gave up after not less than 5158 pages. The C7115A will cover 2,500 pages at 5% so I’m very pleased with my 5158 pages. Now I’ve changed to a C7115X instead, 3500 pages at 5% so I should be able to get about 7000 pages with this one.

Going to buy new printer? Laser? Go for a HP printer, that’s my advice. Going to print photos? Go for an Epson instead.