Installing Canon LBP2900 Printer on Ubuntu 16.04

Capturing notes on installation of Canon LBP2900 printer on a 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 (a first for this version) locally (usb). These are essentially a mix and match of instructions from the pages Canon CAPT Driver, installing canon printer on debian systems, & Canon CAPT driver in a sequence that works.

=> Pre-requisites:

 

- Cups installation:

(Note: These instructions are from the alternate open source foo2capt library library. I have retained the installs for now, did not apt-remove. Not sure if all of them are actually needed.

As such, the foo2capt code failed to build & install with a whole lot of other missing/ invalid dependency issues. The foo2capt project rewrite seems to be on, so for now dropped the idea of experimenting with it any further.)

- Work around to known CAPT 64-bit OS issues linking to 32-bit libraries:

=> Download & install the Linux CAPT printer driver:

Download Linux_CAPT_PrinterDriver_V260_uk_EN.tar.gz, also linked here.

- Untar & install the 64-bit > Debian packages: 

=> Add printer to system:

- Start/ Restart cups service:

 

 - Can be done via the command line using lpadmin:

  

- Alternatively can be done via System Settings > Printer:

Either type on terminal: 

Or via System Tools > System Settings & Search for Printer

At this point a new printer gets created in my system with the name "Canon-LBP2900-CAPT-English".

(NOTE: Important to use the port 59787 (and not 59687). Also note that in the /etc/ccpd.conf, port 59787 is mentioned as UI_Port (& used by the captstatusui to communicate), while port 59687 as PDATA_Port files. Once ccpd services have been started, you can telnet to check that these ports are listening. )

 

=>  Add printer to ccpadmin:

- Add "Canon-LBP2900-CAPT-English" to ccpadmin: (will override any existing/ old entry)

- Now there should be a proper entry corresponding to the printer "Canon-LBP2900-CAPT-English":

=> Restart ccpd services:

The ccpd services need to be restarted since they don't start up automatically, there could also be the one ccpd process issue.

 

=> View status of printer on captstatusui:

- In case you see a communication error, unplug your printer & plug it in again. On my system this works & the printer status changes to:
 "Ready to Print"

(Note: Steps for setting up capt rules for usb add/remove could also be tried out.)

=> Print test page:

 Next print a test page on "Canon-LBP2900-CAPT-English" & that's it for the set-up.