This is not a request for a workaound, it simply illustrates the journey of a user from Windows to antiX and back to Windows.


The story starts about 10-12 months ago. The user had two Laptops for his own use, with others used by various family members. All were running Windows. The local network is WIFI and includes a wireless HP printer.

antiX was initially trialed running from from a USB stick. After a few weeks, the user asked for Windows XP to be replaced by antiX on the hard disk of his oldest laptop. Some months later, he asked for antiX-13.2-Stable to replace the Windows 7 on his second laptop. The first of his laptops was then given away.

Some time later he asked for assistance with a printing problem. LibreOffice in his antiX system had become unable to print to the HP printer. All his family members were able to print from their Windows systems.

Nothing could be found in the logs, so the matter was put down to a glitch following an update/upgrade. The printer was deleted and recreated and printing was restored.

Subsequently the problem has recurred a number of times, again without any obvious cause or record in the logs. On one occasion a problem was discovered in the router. This has subsequently been eliminated as the cause of the problems as it has been replaced as a no-cost upgrade from the ISP.

Using fixed IP addresses was tried, as was re-installing HPLIP etc, checking the disk and filesystem, all without success.

Throughout, the Windows systems have been able print without a hitch. Additionally, the antiX system has always made a successful, reliable, and strong connection to the network.

There is no pattern I can discern and cannot make it occur on demand. The only consistent factor is that, at unpredictable times, the antiX system is unable to connect to the HP printer. A series of internet searches has not turned up anything useful.

The turning point came a few days ago when he needed to print out his CV. After trying for about 90 minutes he gave up and borrowed a Windows system and had it done in a matter of minutes.

After struggling with the problem for some months, frustration has led the user to return to Windows 7.

Without knowing if running testing/stable/or unstable, or even experimental repos.
Without knowing who did upgrades and how they were done.

I've always had the opinion of run what ya brung.

I have no local tech support like you give SamK. I make do on my own and just jaw jack away
on this forum

I wish who ever good luck with their Windows lease.
They ARE lucky to have you on call I guess is all I can say.
Here in the desert. One survives on their own wits.
Or dies.

Happy Trails, Rok

@rokytnji
Thanks for those kind words.

As far as the user's system is concerned...
I set it up for him with antiX-13.2-Stable. Reliability was very high on his list of priorities. Only the antiX and Debian stable + security repos were used for updates. Other than the HPLIP software, no software was installed from anywhere else by any other means.

As far as the user is concerned...
He does not have deep technical knowledge. He demonstrated a willingness to learn some new skills, and showed persistence over a period of months. In short he wanted to succeed with antiX, and did not pull out at the first sign of trouble.

Like many people he has limited time and does not want to spend it fixing his system in order to do day-to-day tasks such as printing. There were a couple of other minor issues which I did not mention in the post (to help with clarity).

In the end he decided that being able to use his laptop to do his mundane tasks on demand was why he had the machine in the first place. The reasons that made him want to move to antiX didn't outweigh the problems he faced. For him the poor performance, extra vulnerability, disliked GUI, and financial cost of Windows 7, are the price he has to pay to be able to use his system reliably for the limited range of task conducts.

yeah, printing can be a voodoo mystery for linux because of Hardware DRM and the like.
I hafta keep a Windows 7 handy dandy to run TTS motorcycle DRM software.

Live and let live is my path in life.
One finds it hard to be non judgmental as one descends into old fartdom.

Nothing is for the 1st time any more so one of the worse things I can read usually is
"Been there, done that"

That is when the next what i would call a fault. Judgement kicks in.
So my biker prozac keeps me on a even keel and lets my inner 12 year old think."That's OK".

So Happy Trails to your bud. He will be back when his hard ware goes"Damn, that Windows 12.x just won't load on my ancient gear"!

We'll be here with a grin and welcome and say pull up a seat.

rokytnji wrote:He will be back when his hard ware goes"Damn, that Windows 12.x just won't load on my ancient gear"

I'm not so sure about that.

For someone with little interest in computers either at work or as a hobby, I think an experience like this re-confirms preconceptions. The message becomes something like...
I may not like paying for it, and I don't like what I buy, but it lets me do what I need to do when I want to do it. The path of least dissatisfaction is to buy a new system when Windows is no longer viable on the old one.

unable to print to the HP printer

THERE's yer problem!

(not specific to linux) As a troubleshooting step, I would have attempted to setup & print to a different brand of printer. As a separate matter, I've learned to despise HP products (as well as Sony) -- family members are well aware that they're on their own, no support assistance from me, if they choose to use/wrestle with products of those brands.

skidoo wrote:As a troubleshooting step, I would have attempted to setup & print to a different brand of printer.

Tests were run using a variety of printers including others from HP.

Because the symptoms ocurred at unpredictable times, they could not be reproduced on demand. This means the results were not definitively conclusive. The tests were done with the full knowledge they had limited value in terms of reaching an overall, acceptable, resolution.

As far as the user and his family is concerned...
The printer has been working faultlessly for a number of years. During that period, it has provided a daily, reliable service to everyone. It has worked without a hitch with multiple (non linux) OSs and variety of hardware.

Another limitation of the above tests are the consequences of reaching an unequivocal result (even if this had been possible). The clearest result would demonstrate an incompatibility between the antiX/Debian software and the HP hardware.

At this point the choice facing the family becomes...

• Accommodate antiX on a single laptop by purchasing a new printer to replace the one that works for everyone else. Obtain, deploy and configure the drivers on each system in the household
• Return to a known good condition by reverting the antiX laptop to Windows 7. No purchase required, no disruption to other family members

Incidently, the latter choice is equally vailid if the tests are not conducted.

Unsurprisingly, the user opted to revert to Windows 7.

Like Adobe, HP sometimes has had a problem with slowly abandoning Linux. Either the programmers are not interested in learning or are making programming errors when setting up FIRMWARE and SOFTWARE updates. __{{emoticon}}__ HP is constantly going towards the money, like so many other businesses in the world. Their"updates" of the software for printing suites occassionally has glitches in it where the product will stop working after the update. The printer is still good, but doesn't want to print.

I have an old HP 1200C Deskjet which has stopped working even in Windows after the last two software"updates" HP put out. If I revert to the older drivers, it works fine in Win 3, Win95, Win98, WinXP, Win7, Win8, OS X 10.8"Mountain Lion", and various Linux distros. Using the newer drivers and software for the printing suite causes the printer to sit there like it is just turned on. The first reaction is to go out and buy a new printer. __{{emoticon}}__

Do a Google search for"hp printer driver" and you will get over 4 MILLION results, the majority of which are for programs to search and update the drivers OR to revert back to older firmware drivers to get the printer to work.

Sometimes new isn't better. Like in this case, I think.

I wonder if installing Virtual box and then running xp in that would be an option.
I run a cut down version of xp in virtual box when I want to use Photoshop for instance. I know you can run photoshop under Wine but I find it easier to set up Virtual box than wine.
So basically I am running linux for most of my use and then just run virtual box when I occasionaly want to do photo editing. I know there is Gimp but I find it way behind the times.

LibreOffice in his antiX system had become unable to print to the HP printer.

I have had this happen and solved by going to:
LibreOffice Writer>File>Printer Settings>Properties(for specific printer)>Device>Printer Language Type Then select one of the PostScript settings. PostScript (Level from driver) is what works for me.

valdoonican wrote:I wonder if installing Virtual box and then running xp in that would be an option

To a Linux enthusiast or hobbyist this might be worth exploring. To the user in question it was less appealing.

He is an unsophisticated computer user. To him, a laptop is just another tool of daily life, in the same way as his 'phone, TV or car. He was looking replace Windows rather than gain another system to manage.

lfever wrote:I have had this happen and solved by...

Printing from LibreOffice was mentioned only to indicate a symptom seen by the user. It was the only app that he printed from. The matter was not restricted to LibreOffice alone.

Once the unpredictable condition ocurred, printing ceased from all apps including printing a test page. When the antiX system was in this state, every other (non Linux) system in the household was able to continue successfully printing to the printer.

As a troubleshooting step, I would have attempted to setup & print to a different brand of printer. As a separate matter, I've learned to despise HP products

HP printers have worked very well for me on both Winders and Linux

Not that I have any special knowledge here, but...

Anytime I'm installing another O/S, I always leave Windows on the machine with a multi-boot that can be used when needed. The reality is you don't know what can go wrong till it does, and that doesn't mean you can fix it for sure, either, so allow for that possibility from the get go.

I wouldn't have a clue how to fix the problem itself...

thriftee wrote:...I always leave Windows on the machine with a multi-boot that can be used when needed.

The user was looking to have a single OS rather than acquire a second one to manage.

He really could not have exercised much more care (refer to the ealier posts). Initially he ran antiX from a live USB on two of his laptops. After some weeks he replaced XP on one of them with antiX. After a further few months(ish) antiX replaced Windows 7 on his second laptop and he got rid of the first laptop.

Throughout this extended testing period the symptoms were not present on either laptop. Whether this was simply blind luck will probably never be known.

I have read (and now can't find the article) about how different models of HP have caused this"no print suddenly" problem with LibreOffice. One model works flawlessly, and another gives headaches. I suspect IT IS a firmware problem.