HP LaserJet 1020 with cups (on a raspberry)

Jonathan Fabrizio - 08/11/23

Under linux, you can use foo2zjs to manage your LaserJet 10xx printer. This printer is particular as, when you switch on the printer, the firmware must be uploaded. With foo2zjs, a script is provided to upload the firmware when the device is on. But, with new version of CUPS, you can get some messages like (use dmesg):

[  217.425424] usblp 1-1.4:1.0: usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 5 if 0 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x03F0 pid 0x2B17

but right after, you get:

[  325.810139] usblp0: removed

and this process fails to upload the firmware and the printer is useless. I will propose a workaround for this problem. I use it on my raspberry (in order to connect my printer to the network, but I think my workaround can be used on many different linux distributions.

The context

...

The solution

First we have to remove usblp module but we must not blacklist it because we will use it. In my case, I add:

rmmode usblp

in /etc/local.rc Then when my raspberry starts, I remove usblp module from the memory.

But we need usblp module to upload the firmware. Then I change the content of /lib/udev/hplj1020 (keep a copy of the original file, and be carreful as it is not a regular file, it is a symbolic link, use mv to keep this copy). I write simply:

#!/bin/sh
modprobe usblp
sleep 10
cat ./usr/lib/firmware/hp/sihp1020.dl > /dev/usb/lp0

I first load usblp module because now I need it. Then I wait to be sure both the module and the printer are ready. The path to the printer /dev/usb/lp0 is now added and I can use it to upload the firmware cat ./usr/lib/firmware/hp/sihp1020.dl > /dev/usb/lp0. I use it for a laserjet 1020 but this should work for other similar models.

I spent a lot of time to understand the trouble here... and I am happy to have a solution.

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