Fix Network Printing Problem with Synology DS207+ and HP1018 Printer

The HP LaserJet 1018 printer would not print via the Synology DS207+ as a network printer if the printer had been turned off and on again. I found that I had to connect the printer directly to a computer running Windows (in this case Windows XP) as a USB printer,  and print something, and then reconnect the printer to the DS207+ before my Ubuntu computer computers could use the HP1018 as a network printer. It looks like this is because the printer needs firmware "uploaded" each time it is turned on and this happens via the Windows printing process. After some hunting about (and this post maybe premature as I have only just "fixed" the problem) it looks like the solution is to update the Synology so that each time the printer is plugged it uploads the firmware. Here I will outline the step that I followed to accomplish this so that the printer should always work as a network printer for computers running the GNU/Linux/Ubuntu operating system. Briefly the steps are, gaining telnet access to the DS207+, downloading and copying 2 files to the DS207+. Most of the information I found at this forum post... http://www.synology.at/enu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12718&sid=133792242a5c43c98348c4961947d545#p54476

Telnet access

Get the telnet patch from here http://download.synology.com/download/telnet/EnableTelnet.zip and follow the sysnology instructions for installing the patch http://www.synology.com/enu/support/releaseNote/telnet.php Basically through theDS207+ management HTML interface, go to firmware and select the newly downloaded and unzipped patch file, and then wait for the DS207+ to restart.

To access the DS207+ via telnet, open up a terminal in Ubuntu - Applications>Accessories>Terminal and type

telnet [IP address of the DS207+]
(In my case this was 192.168.2.2)

Then type the user name

root

and the admin password used for accessing the management interface.

Downloading and copying the files across to the DS207+

Ok... so far so good, we have a telnet session going on the DS207+

Now, download the 2 files needed from here

http://cid-94d5e7d028973aa5.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/usb.agent
http://cid-94d5e7d028973aa5.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/sihp1018.dl

I then copied these via samba/the network/Nautilus, to a shared folder I had set-up on the DS207+ called shared

Then, back to the terminal and time to copy the files from their shared location on the DS207+ to the location that they need to be on the DS207, i.e. copying the files from where I dropped them across the network into the correct place on the DS207+ operating system.

So I needed to get root access on the DS207+, first of back in the terminal windows type...

su

then...

ls

to list all the folder. Then...

cd  volume1/shared

Then

ls

again to make sure the files I copied there, are indeed there... they were! To copy the file to where they need to be type...

cp usb.agent /usr/syno/hotplug/

and then...

cp sihp1018.dl /usr/syno/hotplug/firmware/

Now reboot the DS207+ and the printer should always work with Ubuntu as a network printer.

Who was it that said something like... "I'm sorry I have written you such a long note but I don't have time to write a short one"!!! This is just to help me remember what I have done and what resources I have used, so if you are reading this I'm, sorry if it does not makes sense...