WARNING: To login into the EWS (Embedded Web Service) you need to point a browser to the printer URL using the IP address. Do not use the name eventually assigned by your DNS server or a static name defined e.g. with a static entry into the hosts file: in this case the login will fail wihtout any error message (System Firmware Version V3.82.01.14 FEB-04-2022, UP Version 1.16.7.20190114.141254, Engine Firmware Version V1.00.14 2019-03-04, UI Firmware Version V3.79.05.13).

• Turn on the printer.
• On the printer control panel, press the Menu button (three dots in line).
• Select System Setup (right arrow), and then press OK.
• Select Report (right arrow) and then press OK.
• Select Network Configuration (right arrow) and then press OK.
• Select Yes, and then press OK.
• A Configuration report prints.

The web server password are located under EWS Information, PIN number.

Other useful reports are: Configuration, Supplies Info, Usage Counter, …

Printing is supported through the image/urf image format, which is an Apple raster format used for AirPrint. CUPS 2.4.2, which is included in Debian 12 Buster, does support URF.

The communication protocol used is the Internet Printing Protocol over TPC/631 port. When adding the printer via the CUPS administration page, specify the URL like ipp://192.168.3.3:631/ipp/print. The printer should be discoverd as HP Color Laser MFP 179fnw, driverless, cups-filters 1.28.17.

If you want to check that the printer can be correctly discovered on the local LAN, use the command:

avahi-browse --all --resolve --terminate
...
=   lan0 IPv4 HP7C4D8F8963CC (HP Color Laser MFP 178 179)   Internet Printer     local
   hostname = [HP7C4D8F8963CC.local]
   address = [192.168.3.3]
   port = [631]

The name HP7C4D8F8963CC can be resolved using nmblookup too:

nmblookup HP7C4D8F8963CC
192.168.3.3 HP7C4D8F8963CC<00>

So the URI used by CUPS can be ipp://HP7C4D8F8963CC.local:631/ipp/print, that will work also if you change IP addresses in your LAN.

Here it is the PPD file generated by CUPS: hp-color-laser-mfp-179fnw-ppd.zip.

From the HP site you can download the proprietary HP Unified Linud Driver for this printer. Unfortunately this is a binary-only package, although compiled for various architectures (aarch64, i386, mips64 and x86_64).

The included PPD file for the printer uses the rastertospl cupsFilter.

What are the advantages on using this proprietary driver instead of the open source URF support provided by CUPS?

This scanner is supported through the AirScan (eSCL) protocol, so it is necessari to install the sane-airscan Debian package to allow the scanimage program to access the scanner itself.

It is possibile to autodetect the scanner when the multi function printer is powered on and connected to the local network:

scanimage -L
device `escl:https://192.168.3.3:443' is a HP C4D8F8963CC (HP Color Laser MFP 178 179) platen,adf scanner

All the supported options supported by the device can be discovered with:

scanimage --device-name 'escl:https://192.168.3.3:443' --all-options

A typical command line to scan from the flatbed is:

scanimage --device-name 'escl:https://192.168.3.3:443' \
    --buffer-size=1M --format=tiff \
    --batch='page_%03d.tif' --batch-start 1 --batch-count 1 \
    --mode 'Color' \
    --resolution='300' \
    --source='Flatbed'

Scanning through the automatic document feeder can be accomplished with the command:

scanimage --device-name 'escl:https://192.168.3.3:443' \
    --buffer-size=1M --format=tiff \
    --batch='page_%03d.tif' --batch-start 2 \
    --mode 'Color' \
    --resolution='300' \
    --source='ADF'

See Stampare un PDF con dimensioni esatte.