I had to setup a Minolta BizHub 420 multifunction device on SUN Solaris 9 (UNIX), this is how I did it (of course, from the command line):
Download the Linux driver for the printer from here.
Install the driver (PPD file) by copying the file (KO500UX.ppd) to /usr/share/cups/model/, then restart CUPS:
cp KO500UX.ppd /usr/share/cups/model/
/etc/init.d/cups restart
You can now verify that the printer is available for use inside of cups:
lpinfo -m
(You should see the printer model in the list now, in this case “KO500UX.ppd KONICA MINOLTA 500/420/360PS(P)”)
Install the printer using lpadmin:
lpadmin -p bizhub420 -E -v socket://10.10.10.5:9100 -m KO500UX.ppd
You can then tweak the options, like PageSize (Paper) and other options with the lpoptions command. First show the current options with a -l (the * denotes the default):
lpoptions -p bizhub420 -l
Then change the option with a -o:
lpoptions -p bizhub420 -o PageSize=Letter
Make sure it works:
echo “this is a test” | lp -d bizhub420
You’re set!
Side note: If you are having problems, you can change the LogLevel for cups in this file: /etc/cups/cupsd.conf and then restart cups to see more verbose logging. In my instance the log file was in /var/log/cups/error_log.
From what I understand PPD files are supposed to be standardized and technically you can install a Windows PPD file to a UNIX box and have it work. I tried one once and it failed, but looking back at it now, I may know why. You need to make sure that the line endings are correct. CUPS has a great utility for testing PPD files (just found out):
$ cupstestppd Windows2000.ppd
Windows2000.ppd: PASS
WARN File contains a mix of CR, LF, and CR LF line endings!
WARN Non-Windows PPD files should use lines ending with only LF, not CR LF!
So fix it with dos2unix:
$ dos2unix Windows2000.ppd
$ cupstestppd Windows2000.ppd
Windows2000.ppd: PASS
Let me know how it works for you!