[SOLVED]HPlip Toolbox will not launch

[Ozo]

I am getting a new HP printer ready to use and I have the HPlip toolbox and it is even pinned to the panel but it will not launch. Mint 17.3 "Rosa" Cinnamon. lpstat -p info below.

Printer.png

[GreyGeek]

hp-toolbox is a link:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Jan 26 21:28 /usr/bin/hp-toolbox -> ../share/hplip/toolbox.py
to the toolbox.py python script used to collect the data displayed by the hp-systray, which is a link to ../share/hplip/systray.py.

Have you tried to run it using
python /usr/bin/hp-toolbox
???

When I installed my HP P1606dn printer I ran the menu option "HP Device Manager" in the Utilities menu the first thing and it put the system tray icon in the system tray. I don't have to run hp-toolbox from the CLI, just right click the system tray HP icon and choose "HP Device Manager". Or, I put "localhost:631" into my browser URL line and run the CUPS printer app.

[Ozo]

I typed python /usr/bin/hp-toolbox in the Terminal and got this;

HP1.png

You said "When I installed my HP P1606dn printer I ran the menu option "HP Device Manager" in the Utilities menu the first thing and it put the system tray icon in the system tray" I see no option "HP Device Manager" or "Utilities Menu". I do see HPlip Toolbox and I put its icon in the panel but it will not launch. When I right click the icon I get four options; Launch, Add, Edit, Remove.

And by "System tray" do you refer to the lower panel?

[Ozo]

When I type " lpstat -p" I get'

Ready printer.png

When I enter "sudo apt-get install hplip-gui" in the Terminal I then see the HPlip Toolbox on the Menu but it will not launch.

I get error: error: 'python3-dev' package is missing/incompatible after running Terminal entry "hp-check -t".

I recall that I need an HP plugin but do not think it has been loaded. When I download HPlip I get this but it will not open;

[Ozo]

I reloaded Linux Mint and started over. This time when I load "sudo apt-get install hplip-gui" I get the entire package. Before I only got a small package. Now I have the HP Toolbox Utility and it operates correctly.

[GreyGeek]

I reloaded Linux Mint and started over. This time when I load "sudo apt-get install hplip-gui" I get the entire package. Before I only got a small package. Now I have the HP Toolbox Utility and it operates correctly.

Super!

The hplip-3.15.11.run package probably wasn't marked executable so it couldn't run.

[Ozo]

I have a new HP printer coming tomorrow which I was trying to get prepared for by one more attempt to enable the HP Laserjet Pro P1102w . I unboxed it and began by installing the HPlip Toolbox and then (after I got the Toolbox onboard) I tried to enable it but I could not. It seems the plugin is missing. I started a new thread on that here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 8&t=215640
I had that printer printing earlier with USB but it would not link to the router. I am sure that I had the pliugin at that time. Now the new printer will be here tomorrow and I am hoping to get that going then I just reinstalled the GUI and saw no errors but saw no mention of a plugin either, The P1102w Is in the box and on it's way back. Wish me luck.

[Ozo]

I refer you to this thread: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 8&t=215640 . I have a new HP printer and it will not work with Linux so I am using it with Win10 on a separate computer for my print tasks only. This is the only deficiency I see on Linux at this time. Hopefully that will be solved by the manufacturer in the future. It just hooked right up to Windows, very easy.

[GreyGeek]

I refer you to this thread: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 8&t=215640 . I have a new HP printer and it will not work with Linux so I am using it with Win10 on a separate computer for my print tasks only. This is the only deficiency I see on Linux at this time. Hopefully that will be solved by the manufacturer in the future. It just hooked right up to Windows, very easy.

The problem is sending data to the printer in a language it understands. It's always easy to write printer drivers when the printer manufacture gives you a copy of their proprietary documentation for the language of their new printers. They gave an advance copy to Microsoft so it could write Win10 drivers, but they won't give a copy of that documentation to FOSS developers, who are left to work in "green rooms" and create drivers by the process of trial and error. The whole process for writing Linux printer drivers is explained here. Besides explaining all the terms and printer elements it also explains:

Many printer drivers, especially drivers supplied by printer manufacturers, have problems due to a bad design which makes the drivers difficult or complicated to install or even break things in the user's system including security problems. This often happens when driver developers are used to Microsoft Windows where the architecture of the operating system and the printing infrastructure is well different.

A big difference in the printing infrastructure is that under Windows printer drivers are running on the client machine (the machine which runs the desktop applications). The driver is usually called directly by the application and so it can communicate with the application bi-directionally, can add GUI elements to the application's print dialog and can also pop up its own windows. The application then sends the data in the printer's native language to the spooler. This means also that every client machine which wants to print needs the driver locally installed.

The HPLIP driver for your printer is here: http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/mo ... 1102w.html.

Code: Select all

Distro	Version	Installer	GUI14	Scan3	Fax5	Status	Photo Card4	USB	Parallel	Network1
Linux Mint	14	Yes	Yes (Qt4)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Linux Mint	15	Yes	Yes (Qt4)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Linux Mint	16	Yes	Yes (Qt4)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Linux Mint	17	Yes	Yes (Qt4)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Linux Mint	17.1	Yes	Yes (Qt4)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Linux Mint	17.2	Yes	Yes (Qt4)	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes