LAOS Laser

h1. LAOS CUPS driver

{{>toc}}

This page describes the CUPS printer driver installation.

h2. How it works

The printer driver translates standard Postscript into LAOS codes.

This is done in the following steps

* Application generates a postscript file (by pressing print)

* The printer dialog shows the configuration dialog based on PPD. The user selects the appropriate settings 

* Postscript printer data captured in file, along with the selected settings

* File is received by the LaOS cups printer driver. 

* LaOS cups printer driver uses pstoedit to convert the file into LaOS [SimpleCode]

* LaOS cups printer driver transfers the file to the laser cutter using the TFTP protocol

h2. OS Support

The goal is to write platform-independent printer driver, based on CUPS.

Our test environment is Linux. However: it should be possible to compile the driver on Windows or Mac. Another option is to work from a Windows or MAC workstation and send the data to the CUPS printer on a Linux system. (the cups driver for windows could help: http://www.cups.org/articles.php?L376 ). The PPD file can be used on Windows and Mac. 

The backend conversion (pstoedit) is also usable as a stand-alone program, and sending the files to the actual printer can be done with a standard TFTP program.

h2. Installation

h3. Linux

This is how you install the driver on Linux.

Tested on:

* Debian Squeeze

* Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04, 11.10, 12.04 LTS

Please add your distro or let us know problems you encounter!

*Downloading software*

Before installing the CUPS driver, install [[pstoedit with laos support]].

Get Debian/Ubuntu packages needed:

@apt-get install bison flex tftp-hpa@

From SVN download the cups-laos:

@svn co https://tuxic.nl/laos/cups-laos

Some svn programs will complain if they don't know the CA, (ssl error), in that case, add this line to the file ~/.subversion/servers:

@ssl-trust-default-ca = no@

Installing the cups driver:

@cd <where-ever you installed> cups-laos/src

make

sudo make install@

(if make fails, rename or copy one of the personal makefiles in that folder and call it 'Makefile')

Now it's time to install the laser cutter using your CUPS printer interface. 

* On Debian, go to System -> Administration -> Printing 

** Choose: Add Printer (the arrow next to add)

** Choose: Devices: Generic CUPS-LAOS Printer

** Change the device URI to match your device IP and PORT, as configured in the firmware of the laser. For the SUDA laser, it's: 

 cups-laos://192.168.13.111:69/minimal

** Choose a name for your laser and press apply

** You might need to select the PPD (Postscript Printer Description). It's located in cups-laos/src-tftp/

** Do NOT print a test page!!!

** Now you can right-click on the new printer and go to '''Printer Options''' to adapt the defaults for your laser.

h3. Windows

Installing the CUPS driver on Windows.

Tested on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit

*Downloading software*

Download the cups-windows files from SVN:

@https://tuxic.nl/laos/cups-windows/@

*Installing the 'printer'*

* On Windows 7, go to 'Start' -> Control Panel -> Devices and Printers

** Click Add Printer (or right click then Add Printer)

** Add a local printer

** Create a new port - Standard TC/IP Port

** Stick in the IP address (and port - ie. 192.168.1.2:69)

** Give the port a name (LAOS [ip address] or something maybe)

** Untick 'Query the printer and automatically select the driver to use'

** Click Next and wait for Windows to try and detect the device.

** Select Generic Network Card and click Next

** Select 'Have Disk' and browse to the .inf file from the files you just downloaded.

** Click Next and ignore/accept any warnings.

** Give your laser cutter (printer) a name.

** Share the printer if you want to, set it as default if you want to but DO NOT print a test page.

** Default preferences can be selected under Printer Preferences - Preferences - Advanced.