Lack of information

Researching this device is rather annoying. I can't find anything that talks about if the printer supports postscript or PCL anywhere on the Lexmark website.

What do I know about it?

Stuff all, other then it listens on port 9100 like an HP printer. This might be a clue that it uses HP tech under the covers, but its not something that its safe to assume.

Because of this I'm left with questions:

• Do the bundled drivers explain it?
• Do they work well?
• Whats the firmware update do? Make it work as a PCL or postscript printer? That would be nice.

PPD extraction script

Because it wasn't obvious what was needed to print to it (a detail somewhat bizarrely missing from all technical details of the printer) I decided to extract the ppd files for myself and find out what was what. On the off chance it would be useful to someone else, I wrote the script to extract the ppds so whoever else might want to see them can cut out the discovery part of their printer setup. (Its nothing special, its just unwrapping layer upon layer of different archives)

#!/bin/bash
# Extract lexmarks drivers from their deb bundles
# Run it from the dir with the printer deb.sh in it

# Where we will extract
tempdir="/tmp/$$"
# Where our ppds go
output="/tmp/output-ppds.$$"
# amd64 is the other option
ourarch="i386"

mkdir $tempdir

# Extract the self installer manually
./lexmark-inkjet-legacy-1.0-1.$ourarch.deb.sh \
        --noexec --target $tempdir

cd $tempdir

# unpack the archive component
tar --lzma --extract --file instarchive_all

# Extract the deb as a tar
# Use tar to extract only the ppd files from it
dpkg --fsys-tarfile lexmark-inkjet-legacy-1.0-1.$ourarch.deb \
  |tar --wildcards '*.ppd' --extract

mkdir $output
mv usr/local/lexmark/legacy/etc/*ppd $output

echo "Look in $output for the ppds"

rm -r $tempdir

Does it work on generic drivers?

No. Not without lexmarks drivers.

I tried the 'PCL 6/PCL XL Printer' drivers, as well as the 'Postscript Printer' (Generic, foomatic) drivers as shipped in Debian - both failed. Thats a rather disappointing result for something thats ostensibly a network printer.

Installing lexmarks drivers

Basic steps to install the driver:

• run the script ./lexmark-inkjet-legacy-1.0-1.i386.deb.sh (or your arch/package format as required). These seem to have a weird glitch where they won't install properly if you don't have a root password (may be inherited from system-config-printer, where I found something similar). If you hit the glitch, use sudo or gksudo to get root for running it.
• agree to the 'I agree that lexmark can beat me up in a dark ally' licence agreement. It contains choice quotes like these: "I agree that this patented printer is licensed for, and designed to work with only genuine Lexmark ink cartridges for the life of the patented printer. I agree to: (1) use only genuine Lexmark ink cartridges with this printer ..." "I agree that the patented print cartridge(s) shipped with this printing device are sold subject to the following license/agreement: The patented print cartridge(s) contained inside is/are licensed for a single use only and is/are designed to stop working after delivering a fixed amount of ink ..." "12. APPLICABLE LAW. This Software Licensing Agreement is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States of America. No choice of law rules in any jurisdiction shall apply. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply."
• Hit next. It goes and installs, doing things like reloading udev rules, adding temp files to /root and installing both bundled .debs - whether you want them or not.
• Wait a moment while it closes the installer and launches a configuration application, then step through to your taste.

If someone knows how to get it working with free/generic ppds let me know, because I'd be happy not to agree to that licence again... (I'm also wondering what happens for people who didn't agree to it but set up the printer, does Lexmark think they have sway over them?)

Extracted PPDs

So, what do they tell us? I'll take a quick peak at lxPro800-Pro900.ppd, since its the one which covers my Lexmark Platinum 905p printer. A quick 'head' of the other files looks quite similar so far.

*% PPD file for Lexmark Pro800-Pro900 Series with CUPS.
*% Created by the CUPS PPD Compiler v1.2.3.
*%
*%  Adobe PostScript(R) Printer Description File
*%
*%  Produced by Lexmark International, Inc

So far so good, at least we know there is a fair chance it'll do postscript. If we're super lucky, we might be able to use Proper postscript, not some wacky Lexmark version of it.

A few lines down we see this

*Path: "/usr/local/lexmark/legacy"
[...]
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 /usr/local/lexmark/legacy/bin/printfilter"

Seems there is more custom magic in there then I'm willing to toy with, so I don't appear to have been super lucky after all :/