Inq documentation
Introduction
Inq is a graphical front-end for libinklevel, a library which allows Linux users to check the ink level of their printers.
It supports printers with parallel port and USB interfaces.
Installation
Installation of Qt 4.3
Inq is written in C++ using the toolkit Qt 4.3 for the window management.
If your distribution uses a package management system (such as DEB o RPM),
try to install the qt4 e qt4-devel packages (or others with similar names)
If you want to install it from sources, then follow these instructions.
Installation of libinklevel
Inq uses libinklevel to retrieve the ink levels.
If you want to install it from the sources, then follow these instructions.
Installation of Inq
Installation from RPM
If you decide to install Inq from our repository, you DO NOT have to install from sources either Qt or libinklevel, since they should be kept from the right repository during dependency resolution.
- Configure the fioreltech.net repository
-
Install the package inq
$ su -c "yum install inq"
Password: <hidden password> -
You can add your user to the lp group in order to use Inq without being root.
$ su -c "gpasswd -a <your user> lp"
Password: <your password>
Installation from sources
- Download the sources
-
Unpack the sources
$ tar xvzf inq-1.0.0.tar.gz -
Enter into the source tree
$ cd inq-1.0.0 -
Create the makefile
$ chmod +x ./configure
$ ./configureThe script may fail if it isn't able to detect the qmake tool belonging to the Qt 4.x.
In that case you could save in the environment variable QMAKE the path to the homonymous program and launch the script again
$ QMAKE=<path-to-qmake> ./configure -
Build Inq
$ make -
Install Inq
$ su -c "make install"
Password: <your password>Inq tries to add your user to the lp group, in order to let you to execute the program without being root.
Due to a limitation of libinklevel you should never query a printer when it isn't yet fully initialised (or it is printing).
Update
At every start-up Inq connects to the server www.fioreltech.net, in order to verify if there is a newer version of the program.
In the affirmative case a label is shown in the very right of the status bar and it may be clicked in order to open in the predefined browser a web page containing the updates.
Usage
Inq allows checking the ink level of many printers with USB or parallel port interface.
At every start-up Inq detects all the supported printers, which are associated to some predefined device nodes.
Due to a limitation of libinklevel you should never query a printer when it isn't yet fully initialised (or it is printing).
Overview
The program's main window is divided into four parts from top to bottom
Menu bar
Inq has three menus
Selector of the current printer
When the program detects more than one printer, they are added to the selector at top, but only one pf them is considered the current printer and their ink levels are shown in the central area of the window.
Viewer of the ink levels
In the central area of the window the current printer's ink levels are shown.
When the mouse holds over a cartridge for a while, a tooltip is shown containing the ink name (exblack, magenta,...) and its level expressed as per cent.
Status bar
The status bar shows some temporary messages.
If updates exist, then a label is shown in the very right of the status bar and it may be clicked in order to open in the predefined browser a web page containing the updates.
File Menu
In the file menu you can select the main functions of Inq, such as searching a printer and refreshing the ink level of the current printer.
Find (CTRL+F)
It opens a dialog box where you can specify the device file, which the interesting USB printer is associated to.
A device file is a special file in the Linux file system which
allows programs in user space to communicate with hardware components
through common input/output operations.
These files often live under the directory /dev
The user who executes Inq must have the read/write permission on the appropriate device file.
Due to a limitation of libinklevel you should never query a printer when it isn't yet fully initialised (or it is printing).
Find All (CTRL+A)
It clears the printer selector and tries to detect all the printers associated to certain predefined device files.
For USB printers that files are /dev/usb/lp[portnumber] e
/dev/usblp[portnumber]
For parallel port printers that files are
/dev/parport[portnumber] e /dev/lp[portnumber]
Due to a limitation of libinklevel you should never query a printer when it isn't yet fully initialised (or it is printing).
Refresh (CTRL+R)
It retrieves the ink levels from the current printer and it displays them.
If the operations fails, then the printer is removed from the selector.
Due to a limitation of libinklevel you should never query a printer when it isn't yet fully initialised (or it is printing).
Settings Menu
In the settings menu you can configure the program's behaviour.
Guard level
If the ink level of a cartridge is less or equal to the guard level, then
it is marked with the blinking signal 
and the program's icon in the system tray becomes 
.
Since Canon printers only say if the ink level is sufficient or not, then libinklevel uses 100% and 20% respectively for the normal level or the warning one. Thus in the case of Canon printers, you shouldn't ever choose a guard level less than 20%.
Start in background
If this option is active, when the program starts, the main window doesn't appear, even if it may be shown by clicking the program's icon in the system tray.
When you select this option, you could also select Go to background on close
This option is useful when you want to launch the program automatically during the session start-up.
Under GNOME you could select System/Preferences/Personal/Sessions.
Go to background on close
If this option is active, when the user closes the main window, the program still lives in the system tray.
The main window of the program may be shown again by clicking the program's icon in the system tray.
Select the action Exit under the File menu,
in order to quit the program.
Using the system tray
When the program is running, in the system tray there is a small icon, which may look differently depending on the program's state.
|
if the program found at least one printer and the current one has't any exhausting cartridge |
|
|
if the program didn't find any printer or the current one has at least an exhausting cartridge |
In the icon's context menu there are almost all the actions living under the file menu.
When the program's main window isn't visible, eventual warnings are shown through balloons in the system tray.
License
Inq - check the ink level of printers.
Copyright (C) 2007 Manuel Fiorelli
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (version 2) as published by the Free Software Foundation.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.