Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Over the last few months, I’ve written a few articles that I promised to follow-up on, and also received some emails from readers whose information I should pass along:
Print Server
To recap: I wanted to set up a Raspberry Pi 3 for use as a print server (with google cloud print via chromium) for usage with a Brother MFC-230c printer. I set up as much of the software as possible before leaving, but at the point where I wrote the article, had not yet tested it.
The update: The raspberry pi (RPi) settings (for wireless) worked out of the box, meaning I was able to just plug in the power adapter, and then direct myself to the IP of the device that I had pre-programmed statically. After that, I made sure the CUPS server was available (which was fine), and double-checked the chromium install. So far, so good.
Problem #1: Brother doesn’t offer ARM-based drivers for the 230C, and therefore I couldn’t actually install the printer on the RPi for use with chromium and google cloud print. However, I did connect the printer in RAW mode, where the RPi acted basically as a network interface for the printer, allowing network printing on all devices that could install drivers for the printer locally. Basically how network printers work these days.
Problem #2: However, one of the devices was a Chromebook, for which drivers could not be installed (as it runs through Google Cloud Print). What I did here was set up the printer on my laptop, and then added it to google cloud print, and then shared it to the Chromebook. This worked fine, so long as my laptop was on and Chrome was open. Seeing as USB printing wouldn’t have worked from the Chromebook anyway, it was the only solution left, and wasn’t too annoying to use.
What I learned: Check for ARM drivers before assuming a RPi can work as a print server like that, or else just use the RAW mode in CUPS.
Music Engraving
To recap: I wrote an article on using LilyPond to write guitar tablature (and musical notation). At the time, LilyPond was the only example of a LaTeX-like engraving system I knew of.
The update: A reader emailed me after the article was published, and suggested I look at MUP. I have since done so, and tried to recreate a couple of the tabs from LilyPond.
The good: I do find the syntax to be a little more readable than LilyPond’s, and some of the defaults seem a little more sane.
The bad: The documentation. Just googling for MUP generally brings up results for meteor-up, and when you can find MUP (by arkkra), they seem to have only a user guide (which to me, is more of a thorough manual than a guide). However, LilyPond offers a wide variety of examples (and user-created content), which I have simply not been able to find to the same degree with MUP.
The result: I have written a few MUP files, and can generate PDF and PS files. However, it took me some time to figure out how to actually have MUP produce tablature. It also has issues with some characters (such as umlaute), and the documentation for creating your own font files is sorely lacking.
Resource: http://www.arkkra.com/doc/uguide/index.html
My request: If anyone has more experience with MUP (or knows of a good resource), please send me an email (my email address is in the conclusion).
If you have any experience with LilyPond or MUP - let me know! As always, you can reach me at lswest34+fcm@gmail.com.