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How to prevent CUPS omitting the bottom of the CUPS Printer test page

April 28, 2021 5 Comments

This is something that has been bugging me for years but I never bothered to look into it until now. When I set up a printer using CUPS Administration and then print a test page, for some printers the bottom of the test page image is cut off, as shown in the scanned image below. Also, the left side of the test page image is too close to the left side of the sheet of paper. This happens when I use the Gutenprint printer drivers, although I do not know if that is a coincidence. The CUPS printer test page (A4 paper) shown below is from a Canon PIXMA MP510 printer using the Gutenprint v5.3.3 driver for that model.

I had a look at the values of the ImageableArea for A4 paper in the printer’s PPD file, and the as-installed values were as follows:

user $ sudo grep "ImageableArea A4" /etc/cups/ppd/MP510.ppd
*ImageableArea A4/A4:   "0.000 0.000 595.000 842.000"

I then edited the PPD file and changed the x,y coordinates of the bottom left of the imageable area from 0,0 to 10,3 for A4 paper so the file now contains the following:

user $ sudo grep "ImageableArea A4" /etc/cups/ppd/MP510.ppd
*ImageableArea A4/A4:   "10.000 3.000 595.000 842.000"

It is necessary to restart CUPS when a change is made to the PPD file:

Gentoo Linux installation using OpenRC

user $ sudo rc-service cupsd restart

Lubuntu 20.10 installation using systemd

user $ sudo systemctl restart cups

Now the ‘Printer test page’ printed by CUPS looks like this:

Much better.

ADDENDUM (2 May 2021): I have discovered that the ImageableArea is not the only factor…

I also have a Canon PIXMA MP560 printer, and I printed a CUPS ‘Printer test page’ on that using the Gutenprint v5.3.3 driver for the Canon PIXMA MP560. A scan of the printed test page is shown below:

The as-installed values of the ImageableArea for A4 paper in the printer’s PPD file were as follows:

user $ sudo grep "ImageableArea A4" /etc/cups/ppd/Canon_MP560_Wi-Fi.ppd
*ImageableArea A4/A4:   "0.000 0.000 595.000 842.000"

Unlike the original test page for the Canon PIXMA MP510, the vertical lines on the left and right sides of the test image are more or less equidistant from the edges of the paper. However, as with the original test page for the Canon PIXMA MP510, the bottom line of the test page was missing. So I tried editing the y coordinate of the bottom left of the ImageableArea in the PPD file for the Canon PIXMA MP560. However, whatever value I used for the y coordinate of the bottom left of the test image, the bottom line was never printed.

I then looked at the contents of the file /etc/cups/printers.conf and found that the configuration for the Canon PIXMA MP510 included a line ‘Option fitplot True‘ whereas the configuration for the Canon PIXMA MP560 did not:

# Printer configuration file for CUPS v2.3.3
# Written by cupsd
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE WHEN CUPSD IS RUNNING
NextPrinterId 3
<Printer Canon_MP560_Wi-Fi>
PrinterId 2
UUID urn:uuid:428a074e-0e81-3ba3-7789-f8050da82c5a
Info Canon MP560 Wi-Fi
Location My office upstairs
MakeModel Canon PIXMA MP560 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.3.3
DeviceURI lpd://192.168.1.78/lpt1
State Idle
StateTime 1619978009
ConfigTime 1619880075
Type 36892
Accepting Yes
Shared No
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy retry-job
</Printer>
<DefaultPrinter MP510>
PrinterId 1
UUID urn:uuid:0a2a12b5-ea49-33eb-572a-341c1af02f7e
Info Canon MP510
Location aspirexc600
MakeModel Canon MP510 series - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.3.3
DeviceURI usb://Canon/MP510?serial=934631&interface=1
State Idle
StateTime 1619662185
ConfigTime 1619628669
Type 36876
Accepting Yes
Shared Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy retry-job
Option fitplot True
</DefaultPrinter>

So I stopped the CUPS service, edited the file to add the line ‘Option fitplot True‘ for the Canon PIXMA MP560, and restarted the CUPS service:

user $ sudo systemctl stop cups
user $ sudo nano /etc/cups/printers.conf
user $ sudo systemctl start cups

The file now looks like this:

# Printer configuration file for CUPS v2.3.3
# Written by cupsd
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE WHEN CUPSD IS RUNNING
NextPrinterId 3
<Printer Canon_MP560_Wi-Fi>
PrinterId 2
UUID urn:uuid:428a074e-0e81-3ba3-7789-f8050da82c5a
Info Canon MP560 Wi-Fi
Location My office upstairs
MakeModel Canon PIXMA MP560 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.3.3
DeviceURI lpd://192.168.1.78/lpt1
State Idle
StateTime 1619978009
ConfigTime 1619880075
Type 36892
Accepting Yes
Shared No
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy retry-job
Option fitplot True
</Printer>
<DefaultPrinter MP510>
PrinterId 1
UUID urn:uuid:0a2a12b5-ea49-33eb-572a-341c1af02f7e
Info Canon MP510
Location aspirexc600
MakeModel Canon MP510 series - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.3.3
DeviceURI usb://Canon/MP510?serial=934631&interface=1
State Idle
StateTime 1619662185
ConfigTime 1619628669
Type 36876
Accepting Yes
Shared Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy retry-job
Option fitplot True
</DefaultPrinter>

I have the ImageableArea for A4 paper configured as follows in the Canon PIXMA MP560 PPD file for the Gutenprint v5.3.3 driver (I had to increase the y coordinate of the bottom left of the area to 2.000 in order for the bottom line to be printed):

user $ sudo grep "ImageableArea A4" /etc/cups/ppd/Canon_MP560_Wi-Fi.ppd
*ImageableArea A4/A4:   "0.000 2.000 595.000 842.000"

After restarting the CUPS service I printed another CUPS Printer test page and the result is shown below. As you can see, the bottom line is now printed.

So, if the outline of the CUPS Printer test page is not centred or is missing one or more of the lines, first adjust the ImageableArea for the paper size on which the test page is being printed, and, if that does not result in success, check if ‘Option fitplot‘ exists for the printer in the file /etc/cups/printers.conf and that it is set to ‘True‘.

Filed under Hardware, Linux Tagged with CUPS, Gentoo Linux, Lubuntu Linux, printer

Work-around in Linux to switch between single-sided and double-sided printing

December 3, 2020 1 Comment

I use Gentoo Linux on my laptop, and have drivers installed for quite a few printer manufacturers and models, as I work in multiple offices and they have a wide range of printers and MFPs. To date I have had no trouble printing single-sided (‘simplex’) and double-sided (‘duplex’) documents on the printers that support duplex printing. However, one of the offices I have been working in recently has a Konica Minolta bizhub C368, a floor-standing MFP, and the printer in this MFP did not enable me to switch between single-sided and double-sided printing even though Windows users in the same office could. This article explains how I managed to switch between the two printing modes.

A Linux driver for the bizhub C368 can be downloaded from the Konica Minolta Download Centre. I downloaded the tarball KMbeuUXv1_22_multi_language.tar.gz, extracted the contents to the directory ~/KMbeuUXv1_22_multi_language/ and followed the instructions in ‘BEU Linux CUPS Driver Guide.pdf‘:

user $ cd ~/KMbeuUXv1_22_multi_language
user $ su
root # ./install.pl
root # rc-service cupsd restart

I then used the CUPS Administration page in a browser window to set up the printer.

As I wanted the printer to be the default printer while I was working in that office, I edited the system-wide and user-specific lpoptions files to contain the printer name I had specified to CUPS when setting up the printer:

user $ cat ~/.cups/lpoptions
Default Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368

root # cat /etc/cups/lpoptions
Default Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368

I was then able to print from all the usual applications, except that the applications could only select single-sided printing, even though the printer supports double-sided printing and Windows users in the office could print double-sided. I could not find a setting for this in the CUPS Manager’s ‘Set Default Options’ page for the printer, so I edited the PPD file to change the relevant default option:

root # nano /etc/cups/ppd/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.ppd

I changed the default printing option from:

*DefaultKMDuplex: 1Sided

to:

*DefaultKMDuplex: 2Sided

Then I could print double-sided pages, but selecting ‘single-sided’ in applications would still print double-sided. Now, I don’t know if there is a proper fix for this, but I could not find out how to do it. Therefore I opted for a work-around which is fine for my purposes. Here is what I did…

I created the shell script ~/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.sh containing the following:

#!/bin/bash
echo
echo "Konica Minolta bizhub C368 printer"
echo
echo "Select single-sided or double-sided printing as the default"
echo
# Get the password entry over and done with now
echo "Enter your user account password."
sudo ls > /dev/null
echo
CHOICE=""
while [[ $CHOICE != "X" && $CHOICE != "x" ]]; do
    if [[ $CHOICE != "X" && $CHOICE != "x" ]]; then
        echo
        echo -n "[1]-sided, [2]-sided or e[X]it : "
        read -n1 CHOICE
        echo
    else
        break
    fi
    case $CHOICE in
        [1] ) sudo cp /home/fitzcarraldo/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.ppd.single-sided /etc/cups/ppd/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.ppd
              echo "Single-sided printing has been selected"
        ;;
        [2] ) sudo cp /home/fitzcarraldo/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.ppd.double-sided /etc/cups/ppd/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.ppd
              echo "Double-sided printing has been selected"
        ;;
        [Xx] ) echo; exit;;
        * ) echo; echo " Enter '1', '2' or 'X/x'"
    esac
done

I created the Desktop Configuration File ~/Desktop/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.desktop containing the following:

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_GB]=Select single-sided or double-sided printing for Konica Minolta bizhub C368
Comment=Select single-sided or double-sided printing for Konica Minolta bizhub C368
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=konsole -e sh /home/fitzcarraldo/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.sh
GenericName[en_GB]=Select printing sides for KM bizhub C368
GenericName=Select printing sides for KM bizhub C368
Icon=/home/fitzcarraldo/Pictures/Icons/konica-minolta.png
MimeType=
Name[en_GB]=Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368
Name=Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368
Path=
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=true
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=none
X-DCOP-ServiceType=
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=

I downloaded a Konica Minolta logo from the Web and used it for the icon for the Desktop Configuration File.

And finally I copied the PPD file to two files and edited them:

~/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.ppd.single-sided

which includes *DefaultKMDuplex: 1Sided

~/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368/Konica_Minolta_bizhub_C368.ppd.double-sided

which includes *DefaultKMDuplex: 2Sided

Now, if I want to switch between single-sided and double-sided printing I just double-click on the icon on my Desktop and a terminal window pops-up allowing me to select the new default:

Konica Minolta bizhub C368 printer
Select single-sided or double-sided printing as the default Enter your user account password. Password:
[1]-sided, [2]-sided or e[X]it :

Filed under Gentoo Linux, Hardware, Linux Tagged with CUPS, Gentoo Linux, Linux, printer

The problem of scanning using USB multi-function printers in Linux (success at last)

July 29, 2015 1 Comment

After my investigations described in a couple of earlier posts ([1], [2]), I finally got Gentoo Linux to scan reliably via the USB connection to my Canon MP560 MFP (multi-function peripheral), a single USB device with three interfaces: scanner (Interface 0); printer (Interface 1); mass storage (Interface 2). Well, ninety-nine per cent reliably, if that isn’t a contradiction in terms. The formula for success? I had to do all the following:

Stop the kernel from binding the usb-storage driver to the device.
Create a UDEV rule to modify the ACL (access control list) of the device to give both the ‘lp‘ and ‘scanner‘ groups Read-Write access to the device.
Create a UDEV rule to: a) change the owner of the device from ‘root‘ to my user account (fitzcarraldo); b) change the device’s group to ‘scanner‘ instead of ‘lp‘; c) give all users Read-Write access to the device (see my note about this at the end of this post).
Disable the SANE backend from accessing the MP560 via the network.

Let’s look in more detail at each of these …

Stop the kernel from binding the usb-storage driver to the device

Originally I had built the usb-storage driver into the kernel (CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y). During the course of my investigations into this problem I rebuilt the kernel with CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m, i.e. I rebuilt the driver as an external module, although it should not matter either way.

The vendor ID (04a9) and product ID (173e) of the MP560 can be found using the lsusb command:

# lsusb | grep -i canon Bus 001 Device 007: ID 04a9:173e Canon, Inc. MP560

If the usb-storage driver is built as an external module, the kernel configuration file will include the following:

# grep CONFIG_USB_STORAGE= /usr/src/linux/.config CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m

In this case, it is possible to stop the driver binding to the USB storage interface in the MP560 by creating a ‘quirk’ in the file /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf as shown below:

# cat /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf options usb-storage quirks=04a9:173e:i

If the usb-storage driver is built into the kernel, the kernel configuration file will include the following:

# grep CONFIG_USB_STORAGE= /usr/src/linux/.config CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y

In this case, it is possible to stop the driver binding to the USB storage interface in the MP560 by adding a ‘quirk’ (usb-storage.quirks=::i) to the kernel boot line as shown below (ignore the rest of the parameters shown below, as yours are likely to be different):

# grep usb-storage /boot/grub/grub.cfg linux /vmlinuz-3.18.11-gentoo root=/dev/sda5 ro drm_kms_helper.edid_firmware=edid/1920x1080_Clevo_W230SS.bin i915.modeset=1 rcutree.rcu_idle_gp_delay=1 usb-storage.quirks=04a9:173e:i

If you edit the file /boot/grub/grub.cfg directly, the change will be lost if you rebuild or upgrade in future. The ‘proper’ way to add the quirk would be to add it to the list of kernel boot parameters in GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in the file /etc/default/grub and regenerate grub.cfg using the command ‘grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg‘.

Create a UDEV rules file to modify the device’s ACL

I created a UDEV rules file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-canon-mp560.rules containing the following:

# ACL settings for Canon PIXMA MP560 printer MFP
ATTR{idVendor}=="04a9", ATTR{idProduct}=="173e", GOTO="canon"
GOTO="canon_end"
 
LABEL="canon"
RUN+="/bin/setfacl -m g:scanner:rw -m g:lp:rw $env{DEVNAME}"
TEST=="/var/run/ConsoleKit/database", \
        RUN+="udev-acl --action=$env{ACTION} --device=$env{DEVNAME}"
 
LABEL="canon_end"

Create a UDEV rules file to change the owner, group and permissions of the device

The file 41-libsane.rules in my installation is the only UDEV rules file in the directory /lib/udev/rules.d/ that explicitly mentions the MP560:

# grep 173e /lib/udev/rules.d/* /lib/udev/rules.d/41-libsane.rules:ATTRS{idVendor}=="04a9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="173e", MODE="0664", GROUP="scanner", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

As the USB device was always in the ‘lp‘ group (see the output of the ‘ls -la‘ command [1]), the above UDEV rule was clearly being overridden by another rule, but which one in the long list of rules files created automatically when I installed the OS and various packages (see below)?

# ls -F1 /lib/udev/rules.d/ 10-ft-rockey.rules 10-virtualbox.rules 40-gentoo.rules 40-usb-media-players.rules 41-libsane.rules 42-usb-hid-pm.rules 50-udev-default.rules 56-hpmud.rules 60-block.rules 60-cdrom_id.rules 60-drm.rules 60-evdev.rules 60-persistent-alsa.rules 60-persistent-input.rules 60-persistent-storage-tape.rules 60-persistent-storage.rules 60-persistent-v4l.rules 60-serial.rules 61-accelerometer.rules 64-btrfs.rules 69-cd-sensors.rules 70-libgphoto2.rules 70-mouse.rules 70-printers.rules 70-touchpad.rules 70-udev-acl.rules 75-net-description.rules 75-probe_mtd.rules 77-mm-cinterion-port-types.rules 77-mm-ericsson-mbm.rules 77-mm-huawei-net-port-types.rules 77-mm-longcheer-port-types.rules 77-mm-mtk-port-types.rules 77-mm-nokia-port-types.rules 77-mm-pcmcia-device-blacklist.rules 77-mm-platform-serial-whitelist.rules 77-mm-simtech-port-types.rules 77-mm-telit-port-types.rules 77-mm-usb-device-blacklist.rules 77-mm-usb-serial-adapters-greylist.rules 77-mm-x22x-port-types.rules 77-mm-zte-port-types.rules 77-nm-olpc-mesh.rules 78-sound-card.rules 80-drivers.rules 80-mm-candidate.rules 80-net-name-slot.rules 80-udisks2.rules 85-regulatory.rules 90-alsa-restore.rules 90-libgpod.rules 90-network.rules 90-pulseaudio.rules 95-cd-devices.rules 95-upower-battery-recall-dell.rules 95-upower-battery-recall-fujitsu.rules 95-upower-battery-recall-gateway.rules 95-upower-battery-recall-ibm.rules 95-upower-battery-recall-lenovo.rules 95-upower-battery-recall-toshiba.rules 95-upower-csr.rules 95-upower-hid.rules 95-upower-wup.rules 97-hid2hci.rules 99-fuse.rules 99-ntfs3g.rules 99-nvidia.rules

Anyway, I created a UDEV rules file /etc/udev/rules.d/95-libsane.rules to change the owner of the MP560 USB device from ‘root‘ to me (i.e. user name ‘fitzcarraldo‘), to put the device in the ‘scanner‘ group instead of the ‘lp‘ group, and to give all users Read-Write permission for the device:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="04a9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="173e", MODE="0666", OWNER="fitzcarraldo", GROUP="scanner", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

So I now have two user-created UDEV rules files:

# ls /etc/udev/rules.d/ 95-libsane.rules 99-canon-mp560.rules

Note that user-created UDEV rules files should be put in the directory /etc/udev/rules.d/, not the directory /lib/udev/rules.d/ which is reserved for UDEV rules installed when you install the OS and by packages you install later. Unfortunately, there is no consistency in UDEV rules file names and their contents between Linux distributions, which makes debugging UDEV rules even more difficult. Higher numbered rules files override lower-numbered rules files.

I then switched off the MP560 and switched it on again. The two UDEV rules files I created had worked as intended. The ownership and group of the device had changed, and so had the permissions and ACL:

# ls -la /dev/bus/usb/001 total 0 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 200 Jul 29 10:10 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 80 Jul 29 09:56 .. crw-rw-r-- 1 root usb 189, 0 Jul 29 11:25 001 crw-rw-r-- 1 root usb 189, 1 Jul 29 09:56 002 crw-rw-r-- 1 root usb 189, 2 Jul 29 11:25 003 crw-rw-r-- 1 root usb 189, 3 Jul 29 09:56 004 crw-rw-r-- 1 root usb 189, 4 Jul 29 11:25 005 crw-rw-r-- 1 root usb 189, 5 Jul 29 11:25 006 crw-rw-r-- 1 root usb 189, 7 Jul 29 11:25 008 crw-rw-rw-+ 1 fitzcarraldo scanner 189, 8 Jul 29 11:27 009

# getfacl /dev/bus/usb/001/009 getfacl: Removing leading '/' from absolute path names # file: dev/bus/usb/001/009 # owner: fitzcarraldo # group: scanner user::rw- user:fitzcarraldo:rw- group::rw- group:lp:rw- group:scanner:rw- mask::rw- other::rw-

Disable the SANE backend from accessing the MP560 via the network

Although scanning via the USB connection sometimes still works if I have also specified a network connection in the file /etc/sane.d/pixma.conf, apparently the two interfaces should not normally be enabled simultaneously. See the post [sane-devel] Pixma 530 series – tested and not working by SANE developer Rolf Bensch:

Please disconnect the scanner from network and try again. The backend
has problems if both network and USB are connected at once.

Therefore, to try using SANE to access the MP560 via USB, I disabled network access to the MP560 by commenting out the URI in the relevant SANE backend configuration file, which in the case of the MP560 is the file /etc/sane.d/pixma.conf. I commented out the line ‘bjnp://192.168.1.78‘ which I had previously inserted to enable me to scan via my home network because the USB connection was unreliable.

Trying to scan

I then checked if the USB-connected scanner is detected by SANE when running as root user and when running under my user account:

# scanimage -L device `pixma:04A9173E_1653C4' is a CANON Canon PIXMA MP560 multi-function peripheral # sane-find-scanner -q found USB scanner (vendor=0x04a9 [Canon], product=0x173e [MP560 series]) at libusb:001:010 # exit exit $ scanimage -L device `pixma:04A9173E_1653C4' is a CANON Canon PIXMA MP560 multi-function peripheral $ sane-find-scanner -q found USB scanner (vendor=0x04a9 [Canon], product=0x173e [MP560 series]) at libusb:001:010

The test using the scanimage command worked:

$ scanimage -d pixma:04A9173E_1653C4 -T scanimage: scanning image of size 638x877 pixels at 24 bits/pixel scanimage: acquiring RGB frame, 8 bits/sample scanimage: reading one scanline, 1914 bytes... PASS scanimage: reading one byte... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 2 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 4 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 8 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 16 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 32 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 64 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 128 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 256 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 512 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 1024 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 2048 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 2047 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 1023 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 511 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 255 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 127 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 63 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 31 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 15 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 7 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 3 bytes... PASS

So I tried to scan an A4 page from the command line:

$ scanimage -d pixma:04A9173E_1653C4 -l 0 -t 0 -x 215 -y 297 --resolution 150 --mode Color | convert - scanned-page.png

That worked, so I launched XSane, one of the GUI scanner applications:

$ xsane

That also worked.

Sometimes either scanimage or a GUI scanner application (XSane, gscan2pdf, Simple Scan or whatever) hangs, but, more often than not, scanning now works via the USB connection. However, if either scanimage or a GUI scanner application hangs, I kill them, run them again and then they usually work.

Importantly, printing still works, even though I have changed the USB device group from ‘lp‘ to ‘scanner‘.

So I have satisfied my curiosity and managed to get the MP560 to scan when connected to my laptop via USB, even though it already worked fine when using a network connection instead.

A note on the version of SANE

For information, I currently have Version 1.0.25_pre20150725 (daily snapshot from 25 July 2015) of the package sane-backends installed:

$ eix -I sane-backends [I] media-gfx/sane-backends Available versions: 1.0.24-r5 (~)1.0.25_pre20150628 (~)1.0.25_pre20150725[1] {avahi doc gphoto2 ipv6 snmp systemd threads usb v4l xinetd ABI_MIPS="n32 n64 o32" ABI_PPC="32 64" ABI_S390="32 64" ABI_X86="32 64 x32" SANE_BACKENDS="+abaton +agfafocus +apple +artec +artec_eplus48u +as6e +avision +bh +canon +canon630u +canon_dr -canon_pp +cardscan +coolscan +coolscan2 +coolscan3 +dc210 +dc240 +dc25 +dell1600n_net +dmc +epjitsu +epson +epson2 +fujitsu +genesys +gt68xx +hp +hp3500 +hp3900 +hp4200 +hp5400 +hp5590 +hpljm1005 -hpsj5s +hs2p +ibm +kodak +kodakaio +kvs1025 +kvs20xx kvs40xx +leo +lexmark +ma1509 +magicolor +matsushita +microtek +microtek2 +mustek -mustek_pp +mustek_usb mustek_usb2 +nec +net +niash +p5 +pie +pixma +plustek +plustek_pp -pnm +qcam +ricoh +rts8891 +s9036 +sceptre +sharp +sm3600 +sm3840 +snapscan +sp15c +st400 +stv680 +tamarack +teco1 +teco2 +teco3 +test +u12 +umax +umax1220u +umax_pp +xerox_mfp"} Installed versions: 1.0.25_pre20150725[1](01:39:24 25/07/15)(avahi gphoto2 ipv6 usb v4l -doc -snmp -systemd -threads -xinetd ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="32 64 -x32" SANE_BACKENDS="abaton agfafocus apple artec artec_eplus48u as6e avision bh canon canon630u canon_dr cardscan coolscan coolscan2 coolscan3 dc210 dc240 dc25 dell1600n_net dmc epjitsu epson epson2 fujitsu genesys gt68xx hp hp3500 hp3900 hp4200 hp5400 hp5590 hpljm1005 hs2p ibm kodak kodakaio kvs1025 kvs20xx leo lexmark ma1509 magicolor matsushita microtek microtek2 mustek mustek_usb nec net niash p5 pie pixma plustek plustek_pp qcam ricoh rts8891 s9036 sceptre sharp sm3600 sm3840 snapscan sp15c st400 stv680 tamarack teco1 teco2 teco3 test u12 umax umax1220u umax_pp xerox_mfp -canon_pp -hpsj5s -kvs40xx -mustek_pp -mustek_usb2 -pnm") Homepage: http://www.sane-project.org/ Description: Scanner Access Now Easy - Backends [1] "local_overlay" /usr/local/portage

However, the same symptoms occurred with versions 1.0.24-r5, 1.0.25_pre20150628 and 1.0.25_pre20150725 of the sane-backends package, so I believe the problem was not version-specific.

A note about scanning in Linux
An early developer’s Web site for the SANE pixma backend has the following warning:

If you grant a group a full permission to access the scanner (by using udev, hotplug, resmgr etc.), every members in the group will have full access rights not only for the scanner part but also for the other parts of the device i.e. printer, memory-card reader and fax. These users can bypass your system’s security policy and do everything with the device intentionally and unintentionally.

It is all very well to say that, but it is the only way I could get the backend to work reliably (almost). And, judging by the number of people who posted on the Web that they had to do the same with other Linux distributions, other manufacturers and models of MFPs, this is a common requirement in order to get Linux to work with MFP scanners. It’s not impressive when people have to resort to this to get something to work.

Note that the success of the approach described in this post is dependent on the contents and order of all the UDEV rules files. Just because the rules files I have posted above work in my case does not guarantee they will work in your case too. It depends what rules files your installation already has, what are their precise contents and in what order they are. In my opinion this is not a good concept.

I stand by my comments in the Conclusion of my first post regarding this problem. To have to jump through so many hoops to be able to scan using Linux on a computer connected to a MFP via USB is ridiculous in my opinion. The fact that it works reliably via a network connection does not alter that. I have been ‘scratching an itch’ as I enjoy tinkering, but I feel sorry for users who just need something that works without having to mess around for hours or days.

Background

Addendum (7 October 2019): I have deleted the file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-canon-mp560.rules I created in 2015, as both the printer and scanner in my Canon PIXMA MP560 can now function without it. Firstly, that rule required ConsoleKit, which I am no longer using. Secondly, apparently the Linux system software has changed since I made my blog post in 2015 and I think eudev and/or elogind, which I am currently using in Gentoo Linux, are managing ACLs now (see Tomasz Torcz’s 2012 blog post Linux automatic user ACL management), which I assume was not the case when I wrote this blog post in 2015. Although I do not use systemd (which incorporates udev and logind) in Gentoo Linux, I believe it manages ACLs as discussed in the aforementioned blog post by Tomasz Torcz.

Addendum (7 October 2019): If you use Gentoo Linux and are having trouble getting SANE to work with one of the Canon models listed below, you might find that Canon’s ScanGear MP driver and GUI work. The package is media-gfx/scangearmp2. For details see Gentoo Bugzilla Bug Report No. 663176 and Gentoo Forums – Canon G3110 Multifunction Printer Scanner Does Not Work.

E3100 series Product_ID 0x1828
E460 series Product_ID 0x1788
E470 series Product_ID 0x180C
E480 series Product_ID 0x1789
G3000 series Product_ID 0x1794
G3010 series Product_ID 0x183B
G4000 series Product_ID 0x181D
G4010 series Product_ID 0x183D
MB2000 series Product_ID 0x1778
MB2100 series Product_ID 0x1793
MB2300 series Product_ID 0x1779
MB2700 series Product_ID 0x1792
MB5000 series Product_ID 0x1776
MB5100 series Product_ID 0x1790
MB5300 series Product_ID 0x1777
MB5400 series Product_ID 0x178F
MG2900 series Product_ID 0x1780
MG3000 series Product_ID 0x180B
MG3600 series Product_ID 0x178A
MG5600 series Product_ID 0x177F
MG5700 series Product_ID 0x178E
MG6600 series Product_ID 0x177E
MG6800 series Product_ID 0x178D
MG6900 series Product_ID 0x178C
MG7500 series Product_ID 0x177C
MG7700 series Product_ID 0x178B
MX490 series Product_ID 0x1787
TR7500 series Product_ID 0x1824
TR7530 series Product_ID 0x1845
TR8500 series Product_ID 0x1823
TR8530 series Product_ID 0x1844
TR8580 series Product_ID 0x1841
TS3100 series Product_ID 0x1827
TS5000 series Product_ID 0x1802
TS5100 series Product_ID 0x1825
TS6000 series Product_ID 0x1801
TS6100 series Product_ID 0x1822
TS6130 series Product_ID 0x1843
TS6180 series Product_ID 0x1840
TS8000 series Product_ID 0x1800
TS8100 series Product_ID 0x1821
TS8130 series Product_ID 0x1842
TS8180 series Product_ID 0x183F
TS9000 series Product_ID 0x179F
TS9100 series Product_ID 0x1820
TS9180 series Product_ID 0x183E
XK50 series Product_ID 0x1846
XK70 series Product_ID 0x1847

Filed under Gentoo Linux, Hardware, Linux Tagged with Gentoo Linux, laptop, Linux, MFP, multi-function peripheral, printer, scanner, USB

The problem of scanning using USB multi-function printers in Linux (continued)

July 24, 2015 2 Comments

My previous post discussed the inability of the Linux installation on my main laptop to use the scanner of my Canon PIXMA MP560 MFP (multi-function peripheral) when they are connected via USB. Linux sees the MP560 as a single USB device with multiple interfaces: Interface 0 (scanner), Interface 1 (printer) and Interface 2 (USB mass storage). The basic problem seems to be that the usb-storage driver — whether built into the kernel or as an external module — claims the USB device and blocks access by userspace’s libusb, which is what the SANE backend (‘pixma‘, in the case of the MP560) uses to access the USB device. However, scanning works fine when using a network connection instead of the USB connection.

Attempts such as unbinding the usb-storage driver from the USB device — either manually or using a UDEV rule — in order to try and allow libusb/SANE to access the scanner, did not solve the problem. Although I can scan by connecting to the MP560 via my home network, the inability of the OS to scan via the USB interface piqued my interest, so I continued my investigations and below I discuss my latest findings.

Disabling kernel auto-binding

I learned from the interesting blog post Controlling USB device access on Linux how to stop the kernel automatically binding a driver to a USB device in the first place, as distinct from unbinding a driver after the kernel has bound it to a device. I thought this approach could be used to stop the usb-storage driver from binding to the MP560 and thus allow libusb/SANE to access Interface 0. The method using sysfs to stop the kernel binding the driver is to disable kernel USB auto-probing before launching a scanner application, by using the following command:

# echo 0 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers_autoprobe

This did indeed stop the kernel from automatically binding USB drivers to USB devices, but unfortunately libusb/SANE would still not access the MP560 scanner via USB. When drivers_autoprobe contains zero, applications such as XSane can use the network-connected MP560 as before, but still hang if the USB-connected MP560 is selected.

Unloading the usb-storage module

According to various blog and forum posts, some people have been able to use MFP scanners via USB after manually unloading the usb-storage module. I decided to try this. As I had built the kernel with the usb-storage driver internally rather than an external module, I first had to rebuild the kernel with CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m instead of CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y. Then I unloaded manually the usb_storage module using the command ‘rmmod usb_storage‘ and launched a scanner application, but the application still hung.

Disabling the usb-storage driver using a ‘quirk’

Then I had a thought: Perhaps there is a kernel ‘quirk’ to disable the usb-storage driver from binding to a specific USB device. Indeed there is (see Kernel Parameters or /usr/src/linux-<version>/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt).

If the usb-storage driver is built into the kernel (CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y), I would need to add the following kernel boot parameter to the kernel boot line:

usb-storage.quirks=04a9:173e:i

’04a9′ is the Vendor ID and ‘173e’ is the Product ID of the MP560. The ‘i‘ stands for ‘ignore’.

If the usb-storage driver is built as a kernel module (CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m), I would need to create a file with a name such as /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage.conf containing the following line:

options usb-storage quirks=04a9:173e:i

So I set up the quirk. Upon rebooting my laptop, the dmesg command reported the following:

usb 1-1.2.2: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=04a9, idProduct=173e usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 usb 1-1.2.2: Product: MP560 series usb 1-1.2.2: Manufacturer: Canon usb 1-1.2.2: SerialNumber: 1653C4 usb-storage 1-1.2.2:1.2: USB Mass Storage device detected usb-storage 1-1.2.2:1.2: device ignored

Notice the final line. The quirk does indeed cause the usb-storage driver to ignore the MP560.

The lsusb command still shows the device, which is a good sign:

# lsusb Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0bc2:3300 Seagate RSS LLC Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0411:01d9 BUFFALO INC. (formerly MelCo., Inc.) Bus 002 Device 003: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 USB 2.0 Hub Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 006: ID 5986:055c Acer, Inc Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:07dc Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0603:00f2 Novatek Microelectronics Corp. Keyboard (Labtec Ultra Flat Keyboard) Bus 001 Device 008: ID 04a9:173e Canon, Inc. MP560 Bus 001 Device 005: ID 045e:00d1 Microsoft Corp. Optical Mouse with Tilt Wheel Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 USB 2.0 Hub Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

# lsusb -t /: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/2p, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/8p, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 480M |__ Port 3: Dev 5, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 480M /: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/2p, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M |__ Port 1: Dev 5, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M |__ Port 2: Dev 8, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=usbfs, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 8, If 1, Class=Printer, Driver=, 480M |__ Port 2: Dev 8, If 2, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=, 480M |__ Port 4: Dev 7, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M |__ Port 4: Dev 7, If 1, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M |__ Port 3: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M |__ Port 3: Dev 4, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M |__ Port 4: Dev 6, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M |__ Port 4: Dev 6, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M

The output of the lsusb -v -d 04a9:173e command applicable to the MP560 is as follows:

Bus 001 Device 008: ID 04a9:173e Canon, Inc. MP560 Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 0 bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 idVendor 0x04a9 Canon, Inc. idProduct 0x173e MP560 bcdDevice 0.04 iManufacturer 1 Canon iProduct 2 MP560 series iSerial 3 1653C4 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 85 bNumInterfaces 3 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 0 bmAttributes 0xc0 Self Powered MaxPower 2mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 3 bInterfaceClass 255 Vendor Specific Class bInterfaceSubClass 0 bInterfaceProtocol 255 iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x07 EP 7 OUT bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x88 EP 8 IN bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x89 EP 9 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 11 Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 1 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 2 bInterfaceClass 7 Printer bInterfaceSubClass 1 Printer bInterfaceProtocol 2 Bidirectional iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x01 EP 1 OUT bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x82 EP 2 IN bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 2 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 2 bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk-Only iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x84 EP 4 IN bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x05 EP 5 OUT bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes bInterval 0 Device Qualifier (for other device speed): bLength 10 bDescriptorType 6 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 0 bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 bNumConfigurations 1 can't get debug descriptor: Resource temporarily unavailable Device Status: 0x0001 Self Powered

The USB device created at boot was as follows:

# ls -la /dev/bus/usb/001/008 crw-rw-r--+ 1 root lp 189, 7 Jul 24 11:01 /dev/bus/usb/001/008

Whether run by the root user or under my user account, the SANE tools detected the MP560 scanner network and USB connections:

$ scanimage -L device `pixma:MP560_192.168.1.78' is a CANON Canon PIXMA MP560 multi-function peripheral device `pixma:04A9173E' is a CANON Canon PIXMA MP560 multi-function peripheral

$ sane-find-scanner # sane-find-scanner will now attempt to detect your scanner. If the # result is different from what you expected, first make sure your # scanner is powered up and properly connected to your computer. # No SCSI scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that # you have loaded a kernel SCSI driver for your SCSI adapter. found USB scanner (vendor=0x04a9 [Canon], product=0x173e [MP560 series]) at libusb:001:008 # Your USB scanner was (probably) detected. It may or may not be supported by # SANE. Try scanimage -L and read the backend's manpage. # Not checking for parallel port scanners. # Most Scanners connected to the parallel port or other proprietary ports # can't be detected by this program.

But scanner applications still hung! This time the message displayed by the dmesg command was:

usb 1-1.2.2: usbfs: interface 0 claimed by usbfs while 'scanimage' sets config #1

I unplugged the USB cable and plugged it in again. The output of the dmesg command was:

usb 1-1.2.2: USB disconnect, device number 8 usb 1-1.2.2: new high-speed USB device number 9 using ehci-pci usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=04a9, idProduct=173e usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 usb 1-1.2.2: Product: MP560 series usb 1-1.2.2: Manufacturer: Canon usb 1-1.2.2: SerialNumber: 1653C4 usb-storage 1-1.2.2:1.2: USB Mass Storage device detected usb-storage 1-1.2.2:1.2: device ignored

I then launched XSane several times and each time I was able to select either the MP560 via my home network (pixma:MP560_192.168.1.78) or via the USB cable (pixma:04A9173E_1653C4) and scan successfully.

By the way, it is possible to scan via the command line instead of using a GUI scanner application. For example, tjhe following command will scan an A4 page via the MP560’s USB connection (see man scanimage for details of the options):

$ scanimage -d pixma:04A9173E_1653C4 -l 0 -t 0 -x 215 -y 297 --resolution 150 --mode Color | convert - scanned-page.png

So the problem is solved, right? Wrong! For whatever reason, scanning via the USB interface is not guaranteed to work every time I boot the laptop. Sometimes scanner applications (and the scanimage command) hang if I select the USB interface; at other times they don’t hang and scanning works fine. If scanning using the USB device is not working, if I unplug and re-insert the USB cable a few times it becomes possible to scan using the USB interface. And once scanning via the USB interface does work, from then onwards it works consistently during that session.

I had been using Version 1.0.24-r5 of the sane-backends package in Gentoo Linux, which is the latest stable version according to the Gentoo package manager. To check if that particular version of the SANE pixma backend might be the cause of the problem I installed the latest version available in the Gentoo package manager (currently 1.0.5_pre20150625). However it made no discernable difference.

To sum up, in my case the most successful approach so far has been to use a kernel ‘quirk’ to force the usb-storage driver to ignore the device and not bind to it. However, this approach does not result in libusb/SANE being able to access the scanner during every boot session, but, if access is successful, it remains successful during the current session. Even if access via the USB interface does not work initially, sometimes I can get it to work by unplugging and re-inserting the USB cable.

UPDATE (July 30, 2015): I have now managed to get scanning to work with almost 100% reliability when connected to the MP560 via USB — see my latest post for details.

Filed under Gentoo Linux, Hardware, Linux, Networks, Wireless Tagged with Gentoo Linux, laptop, Linux, MFP, multi-function peripheral, printer, scanner, USB

The problem of scanning using USB multi-function printers in Linux

July 20, 2015 8 Comments

Whilst searching the Web I have found many other people experiencing this problem, which I believe happens as a consequence of the way Linux is designed. Basically, if you have a multi-function peripheral that you connect to your computer via USB, the chances are that either scanning or printing will not work. The Web is littered with blog posts, forum threads, mailing list posts and bug reports regarding this phenomenon. There are numerous suggested fixes, usually entailing the addition or modification of udev rules. Sometimes the suggested fixes work; often they don’t. Linux can be a major hassle where peripherals are concerned.

I have a Canon Pixma MP560 MFP (multi-function printer/peripheral), which is a printer, scanner and copier. It also has memory card slots and a USB pen drive socket, to be able to store images directly from the scanner without the need to connect a computer. The MP560 provides two alternative means of connection to a computer: USB and Wi-Fi. I normally connect it via USB to my Clevo W230SS laptop running Gentoo Linux (amd64), but I can also connect it to the laptop via my home Wi-Fi network. Either connection method allows me to print, but I can scan only via the wireless connection.

The dmesg command displays the following messages after I plug a USB cable from the MP560 into my laptop:

usb 1-1.2.2: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=04a9, idProduct=173e usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 usb 1-1.2.2: Product: MP560 series usb 1-1.2.2: Manufacturer: Canon usb 1-1.2.2: SerialNumber: 1653C4 usb-storage 1-1.2.2:1.2: USB Mass Storage device detected scsi host6: usb-storage 1-1.2.2:1.2 scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Canon MP560 series 0104 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0 sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Notice that the device also has some internal storage.

The lsusb command shows the device:

$ lsusb Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 006: ID 5986:055c Acer, Inc Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:07dc Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0603:00f2 Novatek Microelectronics Corp. Keyboard (Labtec Ultra Flat Keyboard) Bus 001 Device 009: ID 04a9:173e Canon, Inc. MP560 Bus 001 Device 005: ID 045e:00d1 Microsoft Corp. Optical Mouse with Tilt Wheel Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 USB 2.0 Hub Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

My Linux user account is in the lp and scanner groups:

$ groups disk lp wheel floppy uucp cron audio cdrom video games cdrw usb users plugdev crontab wireshark vboxusers scanner fitzcarraldo

The device is in the lp group and I can print without any trouble:

$ ls -la /dev/bus/usb/001/009 crw-rw-r--+ 1 root lp 189, 8 Jun 19 02:55 /dev/bus/usb/001/009

The usblp driver, a common cause of problems with USB printers, does not exist because I purposely did not set CONFIG_USB_PRINTER when I built the kernel, specifically to avoid such problems:

$ grep CONFIG_USB_PRINTER /usr/src/linux/.config # CONFIG_USB_PRINTER is not set

so, obviously, the usblp driver is neither built into the kernel nor compiled as a module:

$ lsmod | grep usb btusb 22292 0 bluetooth 281605 27 bnep,hidp,btusb,rfcomm

I have the latest stable versions of the udev-related packages installed (as you can see below, I use eudev instead of udev):

$ eix -I udev [I] dev-python/pyudev Available versions: 0.16.1-r1 {pygobject pyqt4 pyside test PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_3 python3_4"} Installed versions: 0.16.1-r1(03:32:17 18/04/15)(pyqt4 -pygobject -pyside -test PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_3 -python3_4") Homepage: http://pyudev.readthedocs.org https://github.com/pyudev/pyudev Description: Python binding to libudev [I] sys-fs/eudev Available versions: *1.3 *1.5.3-r1 1.9-r2 1.10-r2 ~2.1.1 ~3.0 3.1.2 ~3.1.2-r10 **9999 {doc gudev (+)hwdb introspection (+)keymap (+)kmod +modutils +openrc +rule-generator selinux static-libs test ABI_MIPS="n32 n64 o32" ABI_PPC="32 64" ABI_S390="32 64" ABI_X86="32 64 x32"} Installed versions: 3.1.2(19:44:12 16/07/15)(gudev hwdb introspection kmod -doc -selinux -static-libs -test ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="32 64 -x32") Homepage: https://github.com/gentoo/eudev Description: Linux dynamic and persistent device naming support (aka userspace devfs) [I] sys-fs/udev-init-scripts Available versions: 27^t [M]~29^t ~30^t **9999^t Installed versions: 27^t(05:29:06 09/04/15) Homepage: http://www.gentoo.org Description: udev startup scripts for openrc [I] virtual/libgudev Available versions: 215-r1(0/0) 215-r2(0/0) 215-r3(0/0) ~230(0/0) {introspection static-libs systemd ABI_MIPS="n32 n64 o32" ABI_PPC="32 64" ABI_S390="32 64" ABI_X86="32 64 x32"} Installed versions: 215-r3(10:18:16 11/06/15)(introspection -static-libs -systemd ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="64 -32 -x32") Description: Virtual for libgudev providers [I] virtual/libudev Available versions: 215-r1(0/1) {static-libs systemd ABI_MIPS="n32 n64 o32" ABI_PPC="32 64" ABI_S390="32 64" ABI_X86="32 64 x32"} Installed versions: 215-r1(17:51:42 18/04/15)(-static-libs -systemd ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="32 64 -x32") Description: Virtual for libudev providers [I] virtual/udev Available versions: 215 ~217 {systemd} Installed versions: 215(05:28:55 09/04/15)(-systemd) Description: Virtual to select between different udev daemon providers Found 6 matches.

I have the latest stable SANE-related packages installed:

$ eix -I sane [I] dev-perl/Sane Available versions: (~)0.50.0-r1 {test} Installed versions: 0.50.0-r1(17:39:10 23/06/15)(-test) Homepage: http://search.cpan.org/dist/Sane/ Description: The Sane module allows you to access SANE-compatible scanners in a Perl [I] kde-apps/ksaneplugin Available versions: (4) 4.14.3(4/4.14) {aqua debug} Installed versions: 4.14.3(4)(14:13:01 17/04/15)(-aqua -debug) Homepage: http://www.kde.org/ Description: SANE Plugin for KDE [I] kde-apps/libksane Available versions: (4) 4.14.3(4/4.14) {aqua debug} Installed versions: 4.14.3(4)(13:55:44 17/04/15)(-aqua -debug) Homepage: http://www.kde.org/ Description: SANE Library interface for KDE [I] media-gfx/sane-backends Available versions: 1.0.24-r5 ~1.0.25_pre20150628 {avahi doc gphoto2 ipv6 snmp systemd threads usb v4l xinetd ABI_MIPS="n32 n64 o32" ABI_PPC="32 64" ABI_S390="32 64" ABI_X86="32 64 x32" SANE_BACKENDS="+abaton +agfafocus +apple +artec +artec_eplus48u +as6e +avision +bh +canon +canon630u +canon_dr -canon_pp +cardscan +coolscan +coolscan2 +coolscan3 +dc210 +dc240 +dc25 +dell1600n_net +dmc +epjitsu +epson +epson2 +fujitsu +genesys +gt68xx +hp +hp3500 +hp3900 +hp4200 +hp5400 +hp5590 +hpljm1005 -hpsj5s +hs2p +ibm +kodak +kodakaio +kvs1025 +kvs20xx kvs40xx +leo +lexmark +ma1509 +magicolor +matsushita +microtek +microtek2 +mustek -mustek_pp +mustek_usb mustek_usb2 +nec +net +niash +p5 +pie +pixma +plustek +plustek_pp -pnm +qcam +ricoh +rts8891 +s9036 +sceptre +sharp +sm3600 +sm3840 +snapscan +sp15c +st400 +stv680 +tamarack +teco1 +teco2 +teco3 +test +u12 +umax +umax1220u +umax_pp +xerox_mfp"} Installed versions: 1.0.24-r5(17:55:11 18/04/15)(avahi gphoto2 ipv6 usb v4l -doc -snmp -systemd -threads -xinetd ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="32 64 -x32" SANE_BACKENDS="abaton agfafocus apple artec artec_eplus48u as6e avision bh canon canon630u canon_dr cardscan coolscan coolscan2 coolscan3 dc210 dc240 dc25 dell1600n_net dmc epjitsu epson epson2 fujitsu genesys gt68xx hp hp3500 hp3900 hp4200 hp5400 hp5590 hpljm1005 hs2p ibm kodak kodakaio kvs1025 kvs20xx leo lexmark ma1509 magicolor matsushita microtek microtek2 mustek mustek_usb nec net niash p5 pie pixma plustek plustek_pp qcam ricoh rts8891 s9036 sceptre sharp sm3600 sm3840 snapscan sp15c st400 stv680 tamarack teco1 teco2 teco3 test u12 umax umax1220u umax_pp xerox_mfp -canon_pp -hpsj5s -kvs40xx -mustek_pp -mustek_usb2 -pnm") Homepage: http://www.sane-project.org/ Description: Scanner Access Now Easy - Backends [I] media-gfx/sane-frontends Available versions: 1.0.14 {gimp} Installed versions: 1.0.14(19:47:50 18/06/15)(gimp) Homepage: http://www.sane-project.org Description: Scanner Access Now Easy [I] media-gfx/xsane Available versions: 0.999-r1 {gimp jpeg lcms nls ocr png tiff} Installed versions: 0.999-r1(12:03:12 19/04/15)(gimp jpeg lcms nls png tiff -ocr) Homepage: http://www.xsane.org/ Description: graphical scanning frontend Found 6 matches.

The following SANE backends were installed when I installed SANE:

$ ls -F1 /etc/sane.d/ | columns -c 3 -w 20 abaton.conf agfafocus.conf apple.conf artec.conf artec_eplus48u.conf avision.conf bh.conf canon.conf canon630u.conf canon_dr.conf cardscan.conf coolscan.conf coolscan2.conf coolscan3.conf dc210.conf dc240.conf dc25.conf dell1600n_net.conf dll.conf dll.d/ dmc.conf epjitsu.conf epson.conf epson2.conf fujitsu.conf genesys.conf gphoto2.conf gt68xx.conf hp.conf hp3900.conf hp4200.conf hp5400.conf hs2p.conf ibm.conf kodak.conf kodakaio.conf leo.conf lexmark.conf ma1509.conf magicolor.conf matsushita.conf microtek.conf microtek2.conf mustek.conf mustek_usb.conf nec.conf net.conf p5.conf pie.conf pixma.conf plustek.conf plustek_pp.conf qcam.conf ricoh.conf rts8891.conf s9036.conf saned.conf sceptre.conf sharp.conf sm3840.conf smfp.conf snapscan.conf sp15c.conf st400.conf stv680.conf tamarack.conf teco1.conf teco2.conf teco3.conf test.conf u12.conf umax.conf umax1220u.conf umax_pp.conf v4l.conf xerox_mfp.conf

I checked all the SANE backend configuration files, and none of them mention the MP560 (I was not expecting them to mention it, as, according to man sane-pixma, the pixma backend detects Canon PIXMA USB devices automatically):

$ grep -rnwi /etc/sane.d/ -e "173e" $

The SANE file dll.conf does list the pixma backend configuration file which is only for declaring networked Canon PIXMA devices, as the pixma backend detects Canon USB devices automatically):

$ grep pixma /etc/sane.d/dll.conf pixma

$ cat /etc/sane.d/pixma.conf # pixma.conf configuration for the sane pixma backend # # define URI's of scanners (one per line) # This is only used for network scanners. # normally scanners will be detected by sending a broadcast # if this does not work under your OS, or if the scanners # are on a different subnet, configure your scanners URI here # # method must be bjnp # port number can normally be left out, port 8612 is used as default # Example: # bjnp://myscanner.my.domain:8612 # bjnp://printer-1.pheasant.org #

I don’t think it is even used these days, but the file /etc/hotplug/usb/libsane.usermap already includes the device:

# Canon PIXMA MP560
libusbscanner 0x0003 0x04a9 0x173e 0x0000 0x0000 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00000000

The file /lib64/udev/rules.d/41-libsane.rules already includes the device:

# Canon PIXMA MP560
ATTRS{idVendor}=="04a9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="173e", MODE="0664", GROUP="scanner", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

However, scanning from Linux via USB is a troubled affair. Very occasionally the scanner application (XSane, Simple Scan, gscan2pdf, or whatever) will launch and the scanner works, but usually the scanner application just hangs and the dmesg command shows one or more error messages such as the following:

usb 1-1.2.2: usbfs: interface 2 claimed by usb-storage while 'xsane' sets config #1

usb 1-1.2.2: usbfs: interface 2 claimed by usb-storage while 'gscan2pdf' sets config #1

I have USB mass storage support enabled in the kernel so that my laptop can access external USB mass storage devices:

$ grep CONFIG_USB_STORAGE= /usr/src/linux/.config CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y

As the three interfaces (printer, scanner and internal storage) are all accessed as a single USB device (/dev/bus/usb/001/009, or whatever), there appears to be a conflict between the kernel claiming the MFP’s internal mass storage and SANE trying to access the scanner. I do not want to disable the kernel’s USB mass storage support (not even by rebuilding the kernel with CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m and temporarily unloading manually the usb-storage module, as some people suggest), as I would not be able to access my external USB mass storage devices.

The scanimage and sane-find-scanner utilities detect the scanner correctly via USB:

$ scanimage -L device `v4l:/dev/video0' is a Noname BisonCam, NB Pro virtual device device `pixma:04A9173E_1653C4' is a CANON Canon PIXMA MP560 multi-function peripheral

(The BisonCam is the Webcam built into my laptop.)

$ sane-find-scanner # sane-find-scanner will now attempt to detect your scanner. If the # result is different from what you expected, first make sure your # scanner is powered up and properly connected to your computer. # No SCSI scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that # you have loaded a kernel SCSI driver for your SCSI adapter. found USB scanner (vendor=0x04a9 [Canon], product=0x173e [MP560 series]) at libusb:001:009 # Your USB scanner was (probably) detected. It may or may not be supported by # SANE. Try scanimage -L and read the backend's manpage. # Not checking for parallel port scanners. # Most Scanners connected to the parallel port or other proprietary ports # can't be detected by this program. # You may want to run this program as root to find all devices. Once you # found the scanner devices, be sure to adjust access permissions as # necessary.

The scanimage test commands do not indicate any problem:

$ scanimage -d test -T scanimage: scanning image of size 157x196 pixels at 8 bits/pixel scanimage: acquiring gray frame, 8 bits/sample scanimage: reading one scanline, 157 bytes... PASS scanimage: reading one byte... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 2 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 4 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 8 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 16 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 32 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 64 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 128 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 256 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 255 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 127 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 63 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 31 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 15 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 7 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 3 bytes... PASS

$ scanimage -d pixma -T scanimage: scanning image of size 638x877 pixels at 24 bits/pixel scanimage: acquiring RGB frame, 8 bits/sample scanimage: reading one scanline, 1914 bytes... PASS scanimage: reading one byte... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 2 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 4 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 8 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 16 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 32 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 64 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 128 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 256 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 512 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 1024 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 2048 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 2047 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 1023 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 511 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 255 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 127 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 63 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 31 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 15 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 7 bytes... PASS scanimage: stepped read, 3 bytes... PASS

As mentioned earlier, the udev/eudev rules file appears to contain a valid rule for the scanner:

# Canon PIXMA MP560
ATTRS{idVendor}=="04a9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="173e", MODE="0664", GROUP="scanner", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

Notice the rule assigns the device’s group to be ‘scanner‘, not ‘lp‘, although changing the group assignment to ‘lp‘ in the rule makes no discernable difference to the scanning problem in my case. As the device’s group is actually ‘lp‘, I assume another rule overrides this rule, but I have no idea which rule it is and in which rules file it occurs.

Occasionally I am lucky and scanning does work, but, more often than not, scanner applications cannot access the scanner and just hang.

A work-around if the peripheral also has a network interface

I configured my home network router always to use the IP address 192.168.1.78 for the MP560 and I added the following line to the file /etc/sane.d/pixma.conf in order to be able to scan via Wi-Fi instead of USB (I have the package cups-bjnp installed for printing purposes, but I am not sure if that package is also needed by SANE in this case):

bjnp://192.168.1.78

With the above line added to /etc/sane.d/pixma.conf the scanimage utility detects the scanner correctly via both the Wi-Fi connection and the USB interface:

$ scanimage -L device `v4l:/dev/video0' is a Noname BisonCam, NB Pro virtual device device `pixma:MP560_192.168.1.78' is a CANON Canon PIXMA MP560 multi-function peripheral device `pixma:04A9173E_1653C4' is a CANON Canon PIXMA MP560 multi-function peripheral

So, as I usually cannot get scanning to work via USB, I can scan via Wi-Fi instead. It’s a work-around, not a solution, but at least by doing that I can scan reliably as well as print. Of course you can’t use such a work-around if you have a model of MFP that only provides a USB connection.

Failed experiments

Experiment 1

I also tried unbinding the usb-storage driver from the usb device:

# ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers btusb hub usb usb-storage usbfs usbhid uvcvideo # ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/btusb/ 1-1.3:1.0 1-1.3:1.1 bind module new_id remove_id uevent unbind # ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/hub 1-0:1.0 1-1.2:1.0 1-1:1.0 2-0:1.0 2-1:1.0 bind module new_id remove_id uevent unbind # ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb 1-1 1-1.2 1-1.2.1 1-1.2.2 1-1.2.4 1-1.3 1-1.4 2-1 bind uevent unbind usb1 usb2 # ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb-storage/ 1-1.2.2:1.2 bind module new_id remove_id uevent unbind # ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usbfs bind module new_id remove_id uevent unbind # ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usbhid 1-1.2.1:1.0 1-1.2.4:1.0 1-1.2.4:1.1 bind module new_id remove_id uevent unbind # ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/uvcvideo 1-1.4:1.0 1-1.4:1.1 bind module new_id remove_id uevent unbind # tree /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb-storage/ /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb-storage/ ├── 1-1.2.2:1.2 -> ../../../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2/1-1.2.2/1-1.2.2:1.2 ├── bind ├── module -> ../../../../module/usb_storage ├── new_id ├── remove_id ├── uevent └── unbind 2 directories, 5 files # echo -n "1-1.2.2:1.2" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb-storage/unbind # tree /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb-storage/ /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb-storage/ ├── bind ├── module -> ../../../../module/usb_storage ├── new_id ├── remove_id ├── uevent └── unbind 1 directory, 5 files # tree /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-1.2.2:1.2 /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-1.2.2:1.2 ├── bAlternateSetting ├── bInterfaceClass ├── bInterfaceNumber ├── bInterfaceProtocol ├── bInterfaceSubClass ├── bNumEndpoints ├── ep_05 │ ├── bEndpointAddress │ ├── bInterval │ ├── bLength │ ├── bmAttributes │ ├── direction │ ├── interval │ ├── power │ ├── type │ ├── uevent │ └── wMaxPacketSize ├── ep_84 │ ├── bEndpointAddress │ ├── bInterval │ ├── bLength │ ├── bmAttributes │ ├── direction │ ├── interval │ ├── power │ ├── type │ ├── uevent │ └── wMaxPacketSize ├── modalias ├── power ├── subsystem -> ../../../../../../../../bus/usb ├── supports_autosuspend └── uevent 6 directories, 27 files

After unbinding the usb-storage driver from the USB device, no more messages such as ‘usbfs: interface 2 claimed by usb-storage while 'xsane' sets config #1‘ are added to /var/log/messages when I launch a scanner application and select the USB device, but the scanner application still hangs (e.g. the XSane windows do not appear until I switch off the MP560 or unplug the USB cable). This happens irrespective of whether the USB device permissions are:

# ls -la /dev/bus/usb/001/009 crw-rw-r--+ 1 root lp 189, 8 Jul 20 20:35 /dev/bus/usb/001/009

or:

# ls -la /dev/bus/usb/001/009 crw-rw-r--+ 1 fitzcarraldo lp 189, 8 Jul 20 20:35 /dev/bus/usb/001/009

or:

# ls -la /dev/bus/usb/001/009 crw-rw-r--+ 1 fitzcarraldo scanner 189, 8 Jul 20 20:51 /dev/bus/usb/001/009

To reiterate, neither unbinding the usb-storage driver from the USB device first nor changing the owner and group of the USB device solves the problem. So possibly the problem is not caused by udev or by a USB driver, but by the SANE software.

Experiment 2

I found a thread in the SANE developers’ mailing list about the same problem with a different model of MFP: Help needed diagnosing strange failure to scan with Samsung SCX-4500W. The same user posted the same query in the Arch Linux forums: [SOLVED] Samsung SCX4500W MFP can’t get scanner to work. Like my Canon PIXMA MP560, that MFP has more than one interface in a single USB device. Notice in the Arch Linux thread that the user never found a solution and finally adopted the same work-around I use, namely to scan via a network interface rather than via the USB interface.

Theodore Kilgore gives a good explanation in that SANE developers’ mailing list thread of why the problem occurs in Linux, and Thorsten Müller’s post suggests a udev rule that sets the permissions for the MFP so that SANE, CUPS and logged-in users can all access the USB device. All I had to do was replace references to Samsung (such as the vendor ID and product ID) with those for my Canon PIXMA MP560. I left everything else in my installation exactly the way it was (for example I did not touch /lib64/udev/rules.d/41-libsane.rules and /lib64/udev/rules.d/70-printers.rules). The only thing I did was to add a udev rules file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-canon-mp560.rules with the following contents:

# ACL settings for Canon PIXMA MP560 printer MFP
ATTR{idVendor}=="04a9", ATTR{idProduct}=="173e", GOTO="canon"
GOTO="canon_end"

LABEL="canon"
RUN+="/bin/setfacl -m g:scanner:rw -m g:lp:rw $env{DEVNAME}"
TEST=="/var/run/ConsoleKit/database", \
        RUN+="udev-acl --action=$env{ACTION} --device=$env{DEVNAME}"

LABEL="canon_end"

Both /bin/setfacl and /var/run/ConsoleKit/database exist in my installation, and, as shown earlier, my user account is a member of both the lp and scanner groups. After adding the above file, I rebooted and it appears the rule works as intended:

# getfacl /dev/bus/usb/001/009 getfacl: Removing leading '/' from absolute path names # file: dev/bus/usb/001/009 # owner: root # group: lp user::rw- user:fitzcarraldo:rw- group::rw- group:lp:rw- group:scanner:rw- mask::rw- other::r--

However, although I was still able to print I still could not scan. Mind you, the line beginning ‘TEST==‘ in the file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-canon-mp560.rules is also in the file /lib64/udev/rules.d/70-udev-acl.rules, but I’m no expert in udev rules, which are frankly beyond the ability of most users.

Experiment 3

I found a blog post about the same problem but with a Canon MP210 MFP: Canon multifunction printer: getting the printer drivers and scanner to work in debian/ubuntu/mint. This post suggested creating a udev rule file /etc/udev/rules.d/40-scanner-permissions.rules containing the following:

# usb scanner
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE:="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device",MODE:="0666"

but, although the rule appears to work as intended, it is still not possible to scan in my case. I then changed the file name to /etc/udev/rules.d/95-scanner-permissions.rules, but that made no difference in my case.

Experiment 4

I also tried changing MODE="0664" to MODE="0666" in the following line in the file /lib64/udev/rules.d/50-udev-default.rules but that made no difference either:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE="0664"

Experiment 5

I am able to change the group of the USB device to ‘scanner‘ instead of ‘lp‘ by adding a rules file /lib64/udev/rules.d/99-canon.rules (apparently 41-libsane.rules does not work as intended because it is overruled by a higher-numbered file, but I have no idea which one, as 41-libsane.rules is the only one explicitly mentioning the MP560) containing the following:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="04a9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="173e", MODE="0664", GROUP="scanner", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

But scanning still does not work, whether or not I unbind the usb-storage driver from the USB device first and whether or not I change the owner and group of the USB device to root:lp, root:scanner, fitzcarraldo:lp or fitzcarraldo:scanner.

Conclusion

Although my installation can print via USB, scanning via USB does not work, whether or not the usb-storage driver is bound to the USB device and whoever is the owner and group of the USB device. So it could be that the problem is not caused by udev or by the kernel (a USB driver), but by the SANE software itself. However, I think it is more likely to be some sort of contention between kernel and userspace, despite unbinding the usb-storage driver from the device. Although I’m not excluding the possibility of a bug in SANE, irrespective of that it seems to me that the way GNU/Linux handles multiple interfaces of a single USB device is flawed. The udev design results in a morass of confusing and potentially conflicting rules in umpteen files in different directories, and the apparently uncoordinated independent demands on the same USB interface by the kernel and userspace are another potential source of problems. There is no standardisation in the udev rules files and their contents between the different Linux distributions, making investigation and solution of such problems even more complicated. Having to resort to work-arounds such as scanning via a network interface or scanning to a USB pen drive or memory card is a poor way of circumventing the problem, and is of no help anyway if a multi-function peripheral does not have a network interface, pen drive socket or memory card slot.

UPDATE (July 24, 2015): I have tried some other approaches, and had more success using a ‘quirk’ for the usb-storage driver — see my next post for details.

Addendum: How to stop scanning applications detecting a Webcam

By the way, to stop XSane and other scanning applications detecting my Webcam via the Video for Linux SANE backend, I commented out all the device lines in the file /etc/sane.d/v4l.conf like so:

$ cat # In order to use the v4linux backend you have to give the device # You can enable multiple lines if # you really have multible v4l devices. # #/dev/bttv0 #/dev/video0 #/dev/video1 #/dev/video2 #/dev/video3

Filed under Gentoo Linux, Hardware, Linux, Networks, Wireless Tagged with Gentoo Linux, laptop, Linux, MFP, multi-function peripheral, printer, scanner, USB

Using a Samsung Xpress C460FW with Gentoo Linux and Android KitKat for printing and scanning

February 24, 2015 3 Comments

INTRODUCTION

A work colleague has just received a Samsung Xpress C460FW MFP (laser printer, scanner, copier and fax machine) for small print jobs. It is possible to connect to it via USB, Direct USB, wired network, wireless network, Wi-Fi Direct and NFC; that’s impressive for a MFP that can be purchased for GBP 270 in the UK.

I wanted to use the C460FW to print and scan from my laptop running Gentoo Linux, and also to print and scan from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 running Android KiKat. It turned out that I was able to do all of those, and it was not difficult to set up.

A technician from the IT Support department had already entered a static IP address, subnet mask and default gateway IP address via the C460FW’s control panel to connect it to the office’s wired network. So my options to connect to this particular C460FW are: the wired network for Linux; Wi-Fi Direct for Linux and Android; NFC for Android.

I had never used Wi-Fi Direct before, but it turned out to be easy in Gentoo Linux on my laptop, and also easy in Android KitKat on my Samsung Galaxy Note 4. I had never used NFC before either, and that also turned out to be easy on my Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Samsung has a series of videos on YouTube explaining how to use Wi-Fi Direct and NFC for printing, scanning and faxing with the C460FW from a Samsung smartphone; here are links to a few of them:

Samsung Smart Printing – 01 NFC Connect

Samsung Smart Printing – 02 Wi Fi Direct

Samsung Smart Printing – 03 Wi Fi

Samsung Smart Printing – 04 NFC Print

Samsung Smart Printing – 05 NFC Scan

Samsung Smart Printing – 06 NFC Fax

Samsung Smart Printing – 11 Samsung Mobile Print App(Printer Status)

PRINTING

Linux

Wired connection

I had installed the package net-print/samsung-unified-linux-driver Version 1.02 from a Portage local overlay back in March 2013 when I needed to print to a different model of Samsung MFP, so I thought I would see if that driver would work with the C460FW. I opened the CUPS Printer Manager in a browser window (http://localhost:631/) to configure my Gentoo installation to print to the device via the wired network. ‘Samsung C460 Series‘ was in the list of discovered network printers in the CUPS Printer Manager, and the driver ‘Samsung C460 Series PS‘ was displayed at the top of the list of models, so it was a piece of cake to set up the printer via CUPS, and I was able to print a test page in no time at all. My colleague uses a laptop running Windows 7, and he had to install the Windows driver from a Samsung CD that came with the C460FW.

Wireless connection

As the IT Support technician had configured the C460FW to print via the office wired network rather than the office wireless network, I decided to configure my laptop to print via Wi-Fi Direct, just to learn about Wi-Fi Direct, really. On the C460FW’s control panel I selected Network > Wireless > Wi-Fi Direct and enabled Wi-Fi Direct. Scrolling through the Wi-Fi Direct entries in the LCD I saw the following information:

Device Name: C460 Series
Network Key: <an 8-digit code>
IP address: 192.168.003.001

Two new networks were listed under ‘Available connections’ in plasma-nm (the KDE GUI front-end to NetworkManager) on my laptop: ‘DIRECT-HeC460 Series‘ and ‘DIRECT-SqC460 Series‘, both using WPA2-PSK encryption. I used the control panel of the C460FW to print a network configuration report in order to check which of the two SSIDs I should select, and it is ‘DIRECT-HeC460 Series‘ (I found out later that an adjacent room also has a C460FW and its Wi-Fi Direct SSID is ‘DIRECT-SqC460 Series‘). So I selected ‘DIRECT-HeC460 Series‘ and plasma-nm prompted me to enter a network password. I entered the 8-digit key I had found from the C460FW’s LCD panel (it’s also listed in the printed network configuration report), and NetworkManager connected to the printer.

In exactly the same way as I do when setting up any printer in Linux, I launched Firefox, opened the CUPS Printer Manager page, clicked on ‘Administration’ > ‘Add Printer’ and entered the user name ‘root’ and the password in the pop-up window. Again the ‘Add Printer’ page had ‘Samsung C460 Series‘ in the list of discovered network printers, so I just selected it and clicked on ‘Continue’. As I had already set up the printer in CUPS for the wired network connection and given it the name ‘Samsung_C460FW_office‘, I entered the name ‘Samsung_C460FW_office_WiFi_Direct‘ to distinguish it from the wired network entry, entered a Description and Location, and clicked on ‘Continue’. The next page had ‘Samsung C460 Series PS‘ first in the driver list so I selected that, clicked on ‘Add Printer’ and that was it. I was able to print a test page from the CUPS Printer Manager, and the printer is now included the list of printers in Linux applications’ print dialogues.

When I want to print using Wi-Fi Direct the only thing I need to remember to do first is select ‘DIRECT-HeC460 Series‘ in the network GUI on the KDE Panel, so that the connection is active when I click ‘Print’ in whichever application I want to print from.

Given the ease of printing via the wired network and Wi-Fi Direct, I have no doubts that printing would also work had the C460FW been configured for the office wireless network instead of the wired network.

Duplex printing

The only downside to the Samsung Xpress C460FW is that it only supports manual duplex printing. If you specify duplex printing when printing from Windows, Samsung’s Windows driver prints all the odd-numbered pages in reverse order and displays a message in Windows telling you what to do next (turn over the pile of paper and put it back in the paper tray!), but in Linux it’s not difficult to work out what you have to do: you simply have to print all the odd-numbered sides first, turn over the paper, then print all the even-numbered sides. The print dialogue in Linux applications gives you the option to print only odd-numbered pages or only even-numbered pages, so there is no problem. The print dialogue in some Linux applications allows you to print pages in reverse order as well but, if not, you have to reverse the order yourself before printing the even-numbered pages (i.e. put Page 1 face down at the top of the pile then Page 3 face down under it, and so on). It’s not a big deal unless the document has a large number of pages.

Android

As you would expect with devices from the same manufacturer, setting up my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to print with the Samsung Xpress C460FW via WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) was easy. When I selected ‘Print’ on the Galaxy Note 4, it gave me the option to print via wireless network or Wi-Fi Direct. I chose the latter and, as I had already enabled Wi-Fi Direct on the C460FW’s control panel, the printer name was displayed in the list of available devices. I selected it, a blue LED began flashing on the C460FW’s control panel and the LCD prompted me to press the WPS button (on the left of the control panel). As soon as I pressed that, the C460FW printed the document sent by my Galaxy Note 4. From then onwards, I just needed to select ‘Print’ on the Galaxy Note 4, select the printer from the list of available devices, and the document is printed. When I want to print using Wi-Fi Direct the only thing I need to remember to do first on the Galaxy Note 4 is select ‘DIRECT-HeC460 Series‘ as the Wi-Fi network.

NFC

I then decided to try to print using NFC. I placed the Galaxy Note 4, without Wi-Fi enabled and with the Home Screen displayed (not the Lock Screen), on the NFC label on top of the C460FW; Android launched Play Store and prompted me to install Samsung Mobile Print, which I did. Now when I place the Galaxy Note 4 on the NFC label, the Galaxy Note 4 automatically enables Wi-Fi, connects to the C460FW directly and displays the Mobile Print app showing the options Print, Scan and Fax, and a page of icons labelled: Gallery, Camera, Google Drive, E-mail, Web page, Document, Facebook, DropBox, Evernote, OneDrive and Box, as well as a Settings icon to configure the printer (paper size etc.). I am able to select a document, photograph, Web page, etc. on the Galaxy Note 4 and print it. It is also possible to launch the Mobile Print app first and then place the Galaxy Note 4 on the C460FW.

NFC is not entirely trouble-free, though. Sometimes the Galaxy Note 4 displays a ‘Device not found‘ message but I can still print. Sometimes the Galaxy Note 4 displays the message ‘Connecting printer. There was some error while connecting to this device. Check your printer and try again. If NFC Pin was changed then please enter new NFC Pin.‘ and the two devices will not connect. Powering off then on the C460FW solves that. Sometimes the Galaxy Note 4 connects to another wireless network instead of to the C460FW via Wi-Fi Direct and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 then has to disconnect automatically from the other network. Sometimes the C460FW prompts me to press its WPS button and the Galaxy Note 4 then connects via Wi-Fi Direct but the Mobile Print app then displays the error message ‘Device not found. To troubleshoot please check – C460 Series is powered on. – Wi-Fi direct is enabled on C460 Series. – C460 Series and Mobile are connected to the same network.‘. Again, powering off then on the C460FW solves that. Despite these hiccups, printing via NFC is still handy.

SCANNING

Linux

I found out how to get the C460FW scanner working by consulting the third-party Web site The Samsung Unified Linux Driver Repository which someone created to provide .deb packages for the Samsung driver as well as tips on how to get Samsung printers and scanners working in Linux. It turned out to be relatively straightforward to scan, both via the office wired network and via Wi-Fi Direct. I edited the file /etc/sane.d/xerox_mfp.conf and replaced the following:

#Samsung C460 Series
usb 0x04e8 0x3468

with the following in order to use the C460FW to scan via the office wired network:

#Samsung C460 Series
#usb 0x04e8 0x3468
#Wired network static address of this C460FW:
tcp 10.90.21.125

or with the following in order to use the C460FW to scan via Wi-Fi Direct:

#Samsung C460 Series
#usb 0x04e8 0x3468
#Wi-Fi Direct address of this C460FW:
tcp 192.168.3.1

I found the IP addresses from the network configuration report I printed earlier.

I was able to use the two Linux scanning applications I normally use, XSane and gscan2pdf, to scan via the wired network and via Wi-Fi Direct. The resulting scans were very good. Given the ease of scanning via the wired network and Wi-Fi Direct, I have no doubts that scanning would work via a wireless network had the C460FW been configured for the office wireless network instead of the wired network.

Android

To use NFC to scan a document I place the Galaxy Note 4, without Wi-Fi enabled and with the Home Screen displayed (not the Lock Screen), on the NFC label on top of the C460FW. The Galaxy Note 4 enables Wi-Fi, connects automatically to the C460FW directly and launches the Mobile Print app showing the options Print, Scan and Fax. It is also possible to launch the Mobile Print app first and then place the Galaxy Note 4 on the C460FW. In other words, the procedure is exactly the same as when wanting to print via NFC. If I select Scan, the Galaxy Note 4 displays buttons for previewing and scanning. Amongst other things, the app’s Settings menu allows you to select whether you want to save the scanned image as a JPEG, PNG or PDF file. The hiccups mentioned above when printing via NFC also apply to scanning. Nevertheless, scanning from the C460FW to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 via NFC is still handy.

CONCLUSION

As I am mainly interested in printing text documents I have only tried to print a few colour photographs on plain copier paper, and they look good. Text in documents looks crisp. Despite the lack of automatic duplex printing the C460FW is an excellent peripheral, especially for the price, although I don’t pay for the consumables so I have no idea of the operating costs. The ease with which I got it printing and scanning in Gentoo Linux (laptop) and Android KitKat (Samsung Galaxy Note 4) means that I would definitely consider purchasing this model for home use.

Filed under Android, Gentoo Linux, Hardware, Linux, Networks, Wired, Wireless Tagged with Android, Ethernet, Firefox, Galaxy Note 4, Gentoo Linux, GUI, KDE, laptop, Linux, networks, printer, Samsung, scanner, wired, wireless, Xpress C460FW

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