Set Up a Printer with Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core 1.X

Printer

Following is an explanation of how to set up a Printer. In this example a Brother HL-6050D printer was used.

When setting up different printers, some things may be different.

Things You Need

You need a printer.

You need Tiny Core installed on the computer.

You need an internet browser installed in Tiny Core.

You need Cups installed in Tiny Core.

You need an internet connection to download the printer driver (some printers may have Linux drivers on a CD).

You need a method of extracting the printer driver. In this example a Debian operating system was used.

Download the Printer Driver

Download the driver for the make and model of the printer from openprinting.org.

There may be two different files containing the printer driver, a "deb" file and an "rpm" file. Download whichever is appropriate for the Linux distribution you will use to extract it.

Extract the Printer Driver

In this example, a Debian operating system was used to extract the "deb" file.

Using the Debian operating system, create a new directory. In this example it is called "printertemp."

Copy and paste the printer driver to "printertemp."

Using the Root File Manager click on the file containing the printer driver. You will get a new window. Click "Extract." You will get a new window. Click "Extract" again.

After extraction, you will see two tar.gz directories called "control.tar.gz" and "data.tar.gz." Extract these using the same method.

You may delete the original compressed files, or leave them there.

The printer drivers are also tar.gz files. Leave them as they are, they do not need to be extracted.

Copy the directory "printertemp," with the files in it, to Tiny Core. Use Tiny Core for the rest of the setup.

Root Password

If you don't already have a root password, set one up. To do this, open the Root Terminal and type:

passwd

Enter the root password when prompted. You need to enter it twice.

To retain the root password when the computer is turned off, add the following line to /opt/.filetool.lst.

etc/shadow

For more information see Backup.

Start Cups Automatically

So that Cups starts automatically each time Tiny Core is started, add

/usr/local/bin/cups_start.sh

to /opt/bootlocal.sh.

To save settings, you must Backup when shutting down Tiny Core.

Before setting up the printer, turn the computer off and restart, so Cups is running.

Connect the Printer and Turn it On

If not already connected, connect the printer to the computer before restarting.

If the printer is connected to a USB port, Cups will automatically detect it. Older printers may not be automatically detected.

Turn the printer on.

Copy the Printer Driver to Tiny Core

Using a Root File Manager, copy and paste all of the directories and files in "printertemp," which you extracted earlier, to the root directory in Tiny Core.

You may get several messages like, "'/opt' already exists - merge contents?" Click "yes" each time. (In this example Rox was used)

In this example PPR was used, so these files are automatically deleted when the computer is turned off.

If you use PPI, you can delete files, but not directories, added to the root directory, after setting up the printer.

Set Up the Printer

Start the web browser.

Where you see the web site address in the web browser, normally in the middle near the top, starting with "http://," type:

http://localhost:631

Press "Enter."

You will see a new window. Click "Add Printer."

You will see a new window. Type a name and description for the printer. Click "Continue."

You will see a new window. Select your printer. Click "Continue."

You will see a new window. Click "Choose..." or "Browse..." (depending on which web browser you are using). You will see a new window. Go to the location of the printer driver and click on the driver for your make and model of printer. The Brother driver is in /opt/OpenPrinting-Brother/ppds/Brother/, with drivers for other brother printers. Click "Open." This window will close, and you will go back to the previous one. Click "Add Printer." You need to enter the username and password. The username is "root." Use the root password you selected earlier. Click "OK."

You will see a new window. If you want to change printer options, do it here. Click "Set Printer Options."

You will see a new window. Click "Set As Default."

The printer should work now. Print a test page.

Save Settings

At this stage, when the computer is turned off, the settings will be lost. Following are two different methods to save settings.

Method 1: Save Settings in Backup

To save settings in backup, add the following line to /opt/.filetool.lst.

etc/cups

For more information see Backup.

To save settings, you must Backup when shutting down Tiny Core.

Method 2: Make an Extension for the Printer

As more files are added to backup, it takes longer. If you make extensions for things which don't need to be in backup, it will be a little quicker.

If you install Tiny Core on another computer, or reinstall it on the same computer, you can just copy the extension, and add "/usr/local/bin/cups_start.sh" to /opt/bootlocal.sh.

To make a tcz extension, the cramfs-utils extension needs to be installed.

Begin by creating directories. Open the Root Terminal and type:

mkdir -p /home/myext/printer/etc/cups/ppd

You can use different directories, but /etc/cups/ppd must be used.

If you use different directories, also use them in the following commands.

Copy and paste files.

cp -p /etc/cups/* /home/myext/printer/etc/cups/
cp -p /etc/cups/ppd/* /home/myext/printer/etc/cups/ppd/

Make either a tce extension or a tcz extension.

Make TCE Extension

Skip this section if you are making a tcz extension.

To make an extension called "myprinter.tce," open the Root Terminal, and type:

cd /home/myext/printer
tar czvf myprinter.tce etc

Make TCZ Extension

To make a extension called "myprinter.tcz," open the Root Terminal, and type:

cd /home/myext
mkfs.cramfs printer/ myprinter.tcz

Copy to TCE Directory

Copy and paste the new extension to the "tce" directory.

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