HP LaserJet 1020 on Linux — print it, share it with everything

Fix and fully document the classic problem:

The print job says "completed" in CUPS, the log says "Sent N bytes", but the printer never puts out a page.

This repo explains why that happens and provides an idempotent script + docs to make the HP LaserJet 1020 (and close relatives) print reliably on Linux, then share it to Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, FreeBSD and anything else on the LAN.

Tested on: Linux Mint 22.3 (Ubuntu 24.04 "noble"), CUPS 2.4.7, foo2zjs 20200505dfsg0, Samba 4.19.5, HPLIP 3.23.12, printer on USB.

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TL;DR — the 30-second explanation

The HP LaserJet 1020 is a host-based (GDI) printer with no firmware inside it. Every time it is powered on, the PC must upload a firmware blob (sihp1020.dl) into the printer's RAM before it can render anything. If the file is missing (or in the wrong format), the driver happily sends data, the job reports success, and the printer silently does nothing.

• The driver was never the problem. It's the normal open-source foo2zjs package.
• The firmware was missing. That's the fix.
• A second trap: arm2hpdl produces two different output formats (beef/ELF vs ACL/PJL). Only ACL/PJL works on the 1020.
• The reason the firmware is hard to get: upstream getweb's only mirror is dead — see OpenPrinting/foo2zjs#33. This repo bundles the correct firmware.

Details: docs/03-firmware.md.

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Quick start

git clone https://github.com/Orthodox2000/hp-laserjet-1020-linux
cd hp-laserjet-1020-linux

# 1) Install the driver + firmware for a local USB printer
sudo bash scripts/install-firmware.sh

# 2) Create the CUPS queue and (optionally) share it to the LAN
sudo bash scripts/restore-printer-and-shares.sh

Then verify:

lpstat -p -d
sudo modprobe usblp; sudo usb_printerid /dev/usb/lp0   # expect ...FWVER:20080222;
lp -d "$(lpstat -d | awk '{print $NF}')" /usr/share/cups/data/default-testpage.pdf

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How it works

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Cross-platform: one printer, every device

The host is the only machine that needs foo2zjs + the firmware. Everyone else speaks IPP (a vendor-neutral standard) or SMB, so there is no per-OS driver port to maintain.

OS / device	Discovery	Connection	Driver on client
Windows 11	IPP + mDNS	http://<ip>:631/printers/<q>	none (IPP class)
Windows 10	IPP + mDNS	http://<ip>:631/printers/<q>	none (IPP class)
Windows (SMB raw)	WSD	\\<ip>\HP-LaserJet-1020	HP LJ1020
macOS 11+ / older	Bonjour	auto (AirPrint)	none
iOS / iPadOS / visionOS	AirPrint	auto	none
Android	Mopria	auto or ipp://...	none
ChromeOS	IPP	ipp://...	generic
Linux (other PCs)	IPP + mDNS	lpadmin -m everywhere	none
FreeBSD / OpenBSD / NetBSD	IPP	lpadmin -m everywhere	none
Solaris / illumos / Haiku	IPP	print dialog / lpadmin	none

Full instructions and a larger matrix: docs/06-cross-platform.md.

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What's in here

Path	What it is
docs/README.md	Documentation index
docs/01-symptoms.md	What "broken" looks like (and what it does not)
docs/02-diagnosis.md	Reading the USB device ID / FWVER
docs/03-firmware.md	Host-based printers, sihp1020.dl, the arm2hpdl format trap
docs/04-cups-queue.md	The foo2zjs queue, PPD, device URI and filter chain
docs/05-windows-sharing.md	CUPS IPP + Samba + WS-Discovery (wsdd)
docs/06-cross-platform.md	Windows / macOS / Linux / iOS / Android / ChromeOS / BSD
docs/07-troubleshooting.md	Every symptom we hit and its cause/fix
docs/08-migration.md	Moving the whole setup to a fresh install
docs/09-windows-driver.md	HP's Windows driver per Windows version
docs/10-other-distros.md	Fedora/RHEL, Arch, openSUSE, NixOS, Gentoo, Alpine
docs/11-bsd-and-others.md	FreeBSD / OpenBSD / NetBSD / other hosts
scripts/install-firmware.sh	Installs/converts the firmware and wires up auto-load
scripts/restore-printer-and-shares.sh	One-shot: queue + firmware + LAN/SMB sharing
config/	smb.conf, reference cupsd.conf, exact working PPD
systemd/	wsdd.service unit + Samba mount dependencies
firmware/sihp1020.dl	The working firmware (ACL/PJL, 128999 bytes)
assets/	SVG diagrams (banner, pipeline, firmware flow, sharing, decision tree)

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Troubleshooting at a glance

Full field guide: docs/07-troubleshooting.md.

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Reporting / upstream status

The reason getweb cannot fetch firmware anymore is tracked upstream:

• OpenPrinting/foo2zjs#33 — getweb's only mirror (quirinux.org) is unreachable.
• Ubuntu Launchpad #1382606 — "foo2zjs doesnt automatically download firmware for LJ 1000/1005/1008/1020 etc." (open).

This repository is the documented workaround and bundles the correct firmware.

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Firmware notice

firmware/sihp1020.dl is HP's proprietary firmware, redistributed here for interoperability because it is required to operate hardware you own. It is the same blob HPLIP ships (hp_laserjet_1020.fw.gz) and that foo2zjs uploads. If you would rather not use the bundled copy, docs/03-firmware.md shows how to regenerate it from your own printer/HPLIP installation.

The scripts and documentation are MIT-licensed (see LICENSE).

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Credits

• The foo2zjs project (Rick Richardson, OpenPrinting) — the actual driver.
• HPLIP, which supplies the firmware blob.
• Samba, CUPS and wsdd for the sharing stack.