Is there CUPS support for Canon PIXMA IP4200?

Robert S

I am looking at purchasing a Canon PIXMA IP4200. Is there any CUPS driver support for this printer?

I was a bit concerned to see that a search on the CUPs page for "Canon" under the driver search didn't come up with any hits. A quick google search has done little to reassure me.

I'm planning to use it through a USB ethernet print server.

Failing that can anybody recommend an HP printer for home use - mainly B&W, with occasional color and photo printing?

bkunlimited · l33t Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 672

check http://www.linuxprinting.org

Robert S · Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 10:52 am Post subject:

Thanks. I see that the IP4000 is supported at http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Canon-iP4000. Has anybody had any experience with the IP4200?

I see that Turboprint supports the IP4200, but I don't know how that would go with gentoo. I've also see a file at ftp://download.canon.jp/pub/driver/bj/linux/cnijfilter-ip4200-2.60-1.i386.rpm that looks as if it might be for this purpose, but once again I don't know how gentoo would cope with this.

What is everybody's experience with Canon printers - especially thei PIXMA series?

didymos · Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 11:11 am Post subject:

I think the only full support for Canon PIXMA IP400-series printers is with Turboprint. Unfortunately, it proprietary. There is a free edition, but you need to get a license anyway, and you'd have to set it manually. I really don't know much about how it works.

[EDIT] I guess you don't need to get a license, but I'm still not sure how the free edition works anyway.
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Thomas S. Howard

Robert S · Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 11:22 am Post subject:

The file at ftp://download.canon.jp/pub/driver/bj/linux/cnijfilter-ip4200-2.60-1.i386.rpm contains a file called canonip4200.ppd. Would this be sufficient to drive the printer? It looks like a proper Canon site.

It looks as if gutenprint (formerly gimp-print I believe) supports the IP4000. Is this likely to be compatible with the IP4200?

I'm not fully convinced yet that there is no free solution for this.

I'd like to avoid using a proprietary product if possible. It looks as if TurboPrint works through CUPS and its quite cheap. The free edition has a few restrictions which I could probably live with.

didymos · Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 7:29 pm Post subject:

I'm guessing, but I think gutenprint probably will work. It isn't likely to be feature-complete though, but then again, neither is Turboprint, unless you feel like shelling out for the license.
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Thomas S. Howard

Robert S · Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:26 pm Post subject:

Thanks. Might go ahead and get it. Looks as if support for competing printers isn't much better and the Canon seems to have the best features for my purposes.

Just found this - its probably possible to adapt it for the 4200: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-430913-highlight-pixma.html. I suspect that there'll be problems with 32 vs 64-bit libraries.