Bug 880896

Do not use "Factory" if your system is
not "Factory". Use the matching packages
for your particular system (see below).

We (i.e. openSUSE) distribute the HPLIP software as is
but we do not develop it. In case of issues with HPLIP
please contact HPLIP directly via
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/support.html
when threre are issues with HP's HPLIP software
that are not caused by openSUSE, see "UPSTREAM" at
https://bugzilla.novell.com/page.cgi?id=fields.html#status

When "lsusp does not reliably detect the printer"
(I assume it should read "lsusb does not reliably detect the printer")
it is likely a low level USB issue and
neither an issue in CUPS nor in HPLIP.

But I am not at all an USB expert so that I cannot help
debugging low level USB issues.

Regardless that it is probably not an issue in HPLIP you may contact
HPLIP upstream directly - perhaps they might be able to help.
At least HPLIP upstream should be informed about possible
USB issues with that kind of printers.

You may have a look at my personal "fun" with that kind of printers:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/187049

The crucial point for that kind of printers is to make sure
the printer gets its firmware before anything is printed.
Perhaps you may have to upload the firmware manually
into the printer by using "hp-firmware".

Regarding the newest HPLIP version for openSUSE:

I provide HPLIP 3.14.4 as RPM packages
"hplip", "hplip-hpijs", and "hplip-sane"
for various openSUSE and Suse Linux Enterprise versions
in the "Printing" development project in the openSUSE build service
for 32-bit i586 and 64-bit x86_64 architecture.

E.g. for openSUSE 13.1 32-bit i586 from this direct URL
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Printing/openSUSE_13.1/i586/

Please read
https://build.opensuse.org/project/show?project=Printing
in particular note therein:
=====================================================
The "Printing" project may contain new, upcoming
software. Therefore the packages in the "Printing"
project might neither be in a stable state nor fit
well into currently installed systems.
Have this in mind if you think about to install
packages from the "Printing" project into your
currently running system.
Do not use "Factory" if your system is
not "Factory". Use the matching packages
for your particular system.
The packages in the "Printing" project are
only for testing, without any guarantee
or warranty, and without any support.
As an extreme example, this means if your
complete computer center crashes because
of those packages, it is only your problem.
On the other hand this does not mean that those
packages are known to be terrible broken but
they are not thoroughly tested so that any
unexpected issue can happen.
=====================================================
For general information see
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:How_to_set-up_a_HP_printer

I assume you are a venturous openSUSE user who likes to try out
if the openSUSE HPLIP 3.14.4 RPM packages "hplip", "hplip-hpijs",
and "hplip-sane" work for you.

In this case please report whether or not it works for you
(you can add comments to this bug regardless that it is
closed as "upstream" - i.e. there is no need to reopen it
only to provide feedback).

Many thanks in advance for testing it and for your feedback!

Only FYI:

By chance I noticed
https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/249391
where a Ubuntu user has issues with a LaserJet 1018 and HPLIP 3.14.4.

In the end it seems "you get what you pay for":
https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/187049/comments/4
and the HPLIP authors still need to implement this and that
to work around the weak USB hardware in that printers.

Thank you for your valuable comments. I have to state that I was not precise enough saying that I was going to use the version from factory - yes, I would, after having compiled on 13.1, what IMHO should not cause any issues (and if it would I wouldn't install it anyway ....). I did not know about the "Printer" directory within the "repositories" directory. Very good hint.

Nevertheless, as stated before, I will test the latest version from factory with the laserjet 1018 - being a high quality printer or not. IMHO, at the end of the day the question ought to be what consequences arise for the final user.

If (!) the version from factory is going to do the job I am still convinced that it might be a good idea to update what is distributed through 13.1. The hplip maintainers are capable to fix what is going on with hplip, but they cannot modify what is distributed with openSUSE.

Nevertheless this will take a decent amount of time now as I will not get access to this printer prior to the end of June. I'll be back as soon as I know more ....

Thank you again for looking into this,
take care




Dieter Jurzitza

So, today I could test. The hplip version from "factory" repository (recompiled from source rpm ...) successfully detects the printer, in contrast, the hplip version from openSUSE-13.1 repository does not.

So as said before, IMHO it would make sense to upgrade hplip, but this is up to the openSUSE team.

Thank you for looking into this,
take care





Dieter Jurzitza

Only FYI:

In contrast to you case
HPLIP 3.12.11 in openSUSE 13.1 works but
HPLIP 3.13.10 in openSUSE 13.1 does not work
but HPLIP 3.14.6 again works for you,
an Ubuntu user reports in
https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/1315408
that neither HPLIP 3.14.3 nor HPLIP 3.14.4 works but
downgrading to HPLIP 3.13.9 makes it work.

From my point of view it indicates it is more or less luck
whether or not "these out-sourced printers" work with
what exact HPLIP version under what exact circumstances
in what exact environment (e.g. USB host hardware,...).

https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/187049/comments/4
 "Unfortunately these out-sourced printers
  have Linux USB issues and are easy to hang."

It is up to the openSUSE community whether or not to provide
HPLIP version upgrades for released openSUSE distributions.