The Howto (and Howto-Not) Corner

Clean install of 64-bit Flash player in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

2009-11-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

Dowload the archive from http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html
Unpack it to /opt:
sudo mkdir /opt/flashplayer
cd /opt/flashplayer/
sudo tar zxf /some/path/Downloads/libflashplayer-10.0.32.18.linux-x86_64.so.tar.gz
Use update-alternatives to make it the default flash player:
for i in firefox iceape iceweasel midbrowser mozilla xulrunner-addons xulrunner
do
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/${i}/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so \
${i}-flashplugin /opt/flashplayer/libflashplayer.so 100
done
Verify that the link really points to /opt/flashplayer:
ls -l /etc/alternatives/firefox-flashplugin
# outputs /etc/alternatives/firefox-flashplugin -> /opt/flashplayer/libflashplayer.so
Remove the Ubufox Flash player override:
ls -l /usr/share/ubufox/plugins/
# npwrapper.libflashplayer.so ->
# /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so
sudo rm /usr/share/ubufox/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so
sudo ln -s /opt/flashplayer/libflashplayer.so /usr/share/ubufox/plugins/
Verify that Firefox is using the plugin:

restart Firefox
open a new tab and type about:plugins
you should see File name: libflashplayer.so under Shockwave Flash

update-alternatives

2009-02-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

So you want to add another alternative to the update-alternatives list in Ubuntu or Debian? Here's an example for Java.

Assumptions: Sun's binary JDK installed to /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/.

Add all it's basic tools to the list as follows:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/java 1
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/javac 1
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javaws javaws /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/javaws 1

or even simpler:

for p in java javac javaws
do
 sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/$p $p /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/$p 1
done

Tune MySQL performance

2008-11-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

For a dual-core machine with 2 GB of RAM:

$ cat /etc/mysql/conf.d/performance.cnf
[mysqld]
query_cache_size=32M
max_connections=300
thread_cache_size=80
thread_concurrency=4
key_buffer=128M
sort_buffer_size=1M
read_buffer_size=1M
read_rnd_buffer_size=1M

Especially max_connections is helpful if you have high concurrency and get "Lost connection to server during query" errors.

MySQL character set information

2008-11-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

General:

mysql> show variables like 'character_set_%';
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| character_set_client | utf8 |
| character_set_connection | utf8 |
| character_set_database | utf8 |
| character_set_filesystem | binary |
| character_set_results | utf8 |
| character_set_server | utf8 |
| character_set_system | utf8 |
| character_sets_dir | /usr/share/mysql/charsets/ |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+

Particular (existing) database/table etc:

mysql> show create database dbname;
+----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Database | Create Database |
+----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| crawler | CREATE DATABASE `dbname` /*!40100 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 */ |
+----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Set default MySQL charset in Ubuntu

2008-11-13T10:04:00.001-08:00

$ cat /etc/mysql/conf.d/charset.cnf
[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8
collation-server=utf8_general_ci
[mysql]
default-character-set=utf8

Determine the memory type in Linux

2008-03-14T00:59:00.000-07:00

sudo lshw # for basic information
sudo apt-get install i2c-tools lm-sensors
sudo modprobe eeprom
sudo modprobe i2c-i801
wget http://www.lm-sensors.org/browser/i2c-tools/trunk/eeprom/decode-dimms.pl?format=raw
mv decode-dimms.pl\?format\=raw decode-dimms.pl
perl decode-dimms.pl

Resetting an xterm

2007-05-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

reset
if that doesn't help, ESC c should supposedly do a full reset (seems not to work for me)

or enable the xterm menu:

XTerm*vtMenu*softreset*Label:  Do Soft Reset
XTerm*vtMenu*hardreset*Label:  Do Full Reset

Locales in Ubuntu and Debian

2007-05-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

It used to be a matter of dpkg-reconfigure locales to get the locales you want. Not any more. At least in Ubuntu you have to install the relevant language packs.

apt-get install language-pack-et language-pack-en # Estonian and English
update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8 # set default to English

Enhancements to xubuntu-desktop metapackage

2007-05-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

xubuntu-desktop-expert:

either don't depend on xorg-video-all and xorg-input-all or purge unused modules after install.
either don't depend on Eastern fonts or purge unused ones after install.
add localepurge, debfoster, deborphan

Install Ubuntu (Feisty) from Windows

2007-05-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

If you want to do it manually from Windows 95/98:

mkdir c:\boot; cd boot
download http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/grub4dos/grub_for_dos-0.4.2.zip and unzip to boot
download http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/feisty/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz and http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/feisty/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
create a menu.lst file. I've chosen to install the minimal server edition, consult http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/feisty/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/ubuntu-installer/i386/pxelinux.cfg/default
if you want to install the full Gnome Ubuntu edition.
menu.lst
title Install Ubuntu Server Edition
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/linux base-installer/kernel/linux/extra-packages-2.6= tasks=standard pkgsel/language-pack-patterns= pkgsel/install-language-support=false vga=normal --
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.gz
reboot into plain DOS (press F8 during boot and choose Safe mode command prompt),
cd boot
grub (or grub --config-file="c:\boot\menu.lst")
Ubuntu installation will start.

XP installation is similar, just append c:\grldr="Install Ubuntu" to c:\boot.ini.

Possible errors:
It may happen, that the filesystem type is not properly changed if you chose to setup partition table manually. Grub fails to install in that case and grub-install will fail with a confusing message "file ...boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly". Just umount /target, fdisk /dev/hda and fix the partition type + rerun Install grub boot loader from menu.

Install GMPY on Ubuntu

2007-05-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

sudo apt-get install python-dev libgmp3-dev build-essential
cd tmp; wget http://gmpy.googlecode.com/files/gmpy-1.02-1.zip
unzip gmpy-1.02-1.zip
cd gmpy-1.02
sudo python setup.py install

Tweaking Linux for broadband connection

2007-05-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.santa-li.com/linuxonbb.html:

You can pick an arbitrarily large window size (for the most part) and not have to worry too much about making it too big. I use a window size of 512 KB (or 524288 bytes) myself, and I have no problems at all. My brother, who runs Linux over a different broadband provider than I have, had some trouble with using 512 KB--so, instead he used 256 KB (or 262144 bytes) which worked better for him. Typically, you will notice that your connection is actually slower than the default settings if your window size is too big. That being said, you should try out different size window sizes and see what works best for you--but, in most cases either 512 KB, 256 KB, or 128 KB seem to do the trick quite nicely.

/etc/sysctl.conf (substituting your window size in place of 524288, if necessary):

# Tweaks for faster broadband...
net.core.rmem_default = 524288
net.core.rmem_max = 524288
net.core.wmem_default = 524288
net.core.wmem_max = 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 87380 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_mem = 524288 524288 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_rfc1337 = 1
net.ipv4.ip_no_pmtu_disc = 0
net.ipv4.tcp_sack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_fack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0
net.ipv4.route.flush = 1

sudo sysctl -p

And turn off IPv6:

sudo su
echo 'alias net-pf-10 off' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist_ipv6

Check after reboot:
lsmod | grep ipv6
dmesg | grep 'family 10'

Tweaking Linux for speed

2007-05-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

This is inspired, but not limited by http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2006/11/11/howto-set-up-edgy-for-speed/ .

Use hashed b-trees to speed up lookups in large directories when creating filesystems:
sudo mke2fs -j -O dir_index /dev/hda1
Optimize directories.
e2fsck -fD /dev/hda1
man e2fsck:
-D Optimize directories in filesystem. This option causes e2fsck
to try to optimize all directories, either by reindexing them if
the filesystem supports directory indexing, or by sorting and
compressing directories for smaller directories, or for filesys‐
tems using traditional linear directories.
Use data=writeback and noatime when mounting ext3 partitions (/etc/fstab):
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,data=writeback,noatime 0 1
sudo tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/hda1
From man mount:
writeback
Data ordering is not preserved - data may be written into
the main file system after its metadata has been commit‐
ted to the journal. This is rumoured to be the highest-
throughput option. It guarantees internal file system
integrity, however it can allow old data to appear in
files after a crash and journal recovery.
noatime
Do not update inode access times on this file system
(e.g, for faster access on the news spool to speed up
news servers).
Choose an I/O scheduler wisely. Although CFQ should be the default, it does no harm to force it by passing elevator=cfq to kernel command line (by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst and running update-grub).
Check your current scheduler:
cat /sys/block/hda/queue/scheduler # or
dmesg | grep scheduler

From http://www.redhat.com/magazine/008jun05/features/schedulers/ :
The Completely Fair Queuing (CFQ) scheduler is the default algorthim in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. As the name implies, CFQ maintains a scalable per-process I/O queue and attempts to distribute the available I/O bandwidth equally among all I/O requests. CFQ is well suited for mid-to-large multi-processor systems and for systems which require balanced I/O performance over multiple LUNs and I/O controllers.

The Deadline elevator uses a deadline algorithm to minimize I/O latency for a given I/O request. The scheduler provides near real-time behavior and uses a round robin policy to attempt to be fair among multiple I/O requests and to avoid process starvation. Using five I/O queues, this scheduler will aggressively re-order requests to improve I/O performance.

The NOOP scheduler is a simple FIFO queue and uses the minimal amount of CPU/instructions per I/O to accomplish the basic merging and sorting functionality to complete the I/O. It assumes performance of the I/O has been or will be optimized at the block device (memory-disk) or with an intelligent HBA or externally attached controller.

The Anticipatory elevator introduces a controlled delay before dispatching the I/O to attempt to aggregate and/or re-order requests improving locality and reducing disk seek operations. This algorithm is intended to optimize systems with small or slow disk subsystems. One artifact of using the AS scheduler can be higher I/O latency.
Check that DMA is enabled.
dmesg | grep -i dma
Consider using readahead, prelink and preload. Prelink is generally a must. Readahead may cut boot times.
- Readahead allows the user to specify a set of files to be read into the page cache to accelerate first time loading of programs, typically during the boot sequence.
- The prelink package contains a utility which modifies ELF shared libraries and executables, so that far fewer relocations need to be resolved at runtime and thus programs come up faster.
- preload monitors applications that users run, and by analyzing this data, predicts what applications users might run, and fetches those binaries and their dependencies into memory for faster startup times.
sudo apt-get install readahead prelink preload
sudo sed -i 's/PRELINK=.*/PRELINK=yes/' /etc/default/prelink
pass 'profile' option to kernel with grub on next boot, so that readahead can be reprofiled
Enable concurrent boot.
sudo sed -i 's/CONCURRENCY=.*/CONCURRENCY=shell/' /etc/init.d/rc
Place the swap partition wisely. Sectors are generally numbered starting from the outside of the disk, so either try to place swap close to sector 0 (on the outside of the drive, where read/write speed may or may not be higher) or in the middle. Let me quote:
Modern disks have more sectors in outer than in inner tracks but nevertheless placing swap partitions at the outer rim of the disk is questionable. The usage pattern of swap partitions involves short transfers between head movements. Therefore increasing throughput is less important then reducing seek time. It is better to place swap partitions at around the middle of the disk (but notice that the disk lies to fdisk about its true geometry and does not tell about outer tracks being bigger than inner ones so what looks to be the middle of the disk in fdisk is not the physical middle).
Control swapping according to your memory resources.
Quoting:
- If you have a lot of memory and succeed in not using swap at all then set vm.swappiness to 0
- If your computer has little memory and needs to swap much set vm.swappiness to 100
- A good default in between is vm.swappiness=60
It is possible to turn off swapping in Xubuntu with 512 mb of memory or more and in Ubuntu (Gnome) with more than 512 mb of memory.
sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=0
sudo swapoff -a
sudo swapon -a
sudo su
echo 'vm.swappiness=0' >> /etc/sysctl.conf
Turn off IPv6:
sudo su
echo 'alias net-pf-10 off' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist_ipv6
check after reboot:
lsmod | grep ipv6
Also turn off ipv6 in Firefox/Iceweasel:
about:config
Turn off filesystem checking for foreign filesystems and for filesystems that don't need to be checked (this will considerably speed up boot):
edit /etc/fstab and set last number to 0 for filesystems that don't need checking, e.g.
UUID=x /media/sda7 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 0

Trimming down etch to ~100 MB

2007-05-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

The basic recepie:

sudo debootstrap etch etch/ ftp://ftp.ee.debian.org/debian
sudo chroot etch
apt-get install localepurge
apt-get --purge remove dselect aptitude dhcp3-client dhcp3-common info man-db manpages dmidecode laptop-detect
apt-get install grub initrd-tools linux-image-686 ssh python-minimal
mkdir /boot/grub; update-grub
apt-get clean
APT cache:
6.4M /var/cache/apt/pkgcache.bin
6.4M /var/cache/apt/srcpkgcache.bin
19M /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_etch_main_binary-i386_Packages
3.6M /var/lib/dpkg/info
internationalization:
6.9M /usr/share/i18n
4.9M /usr/lib/gconv
documentation:
8.2M /usr/share/doc
4.7M /usr/share/man
zoneinfo:
5.6M /usr/share/zoneinfo
kernel modules:
44M lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel
time for cleanup:

vi /etc/apt/sources.list, comment everything out. This will temporarily disable apt
apt-get update
rm /usr/share/i18n/{charmaps,locales}/*
rm -rf /usr/lib/gconv # or at least
for i in IBM INIS EBCDIC MAC ISO- ISO_ KOI JOHAB CP BIG5 EUC ECMA ARM ASM GEOR GOST GREEK LATIN NATS GB SJIS; do rm /usr/lib/gconv/${i}*; done
rm -rf /usr/share/{doc,man}/*
boot into the system and check what modules are actually in use with lsmod, remove the modules you don't need (e.g. who needs sound in a router? or even better, build your own kernel):
rm -rf /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/sound
rm -rf /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/isdn
rm -rf /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
rm -rf /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/media
rm -rf /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/scsi/pcmcia
version=2.6.18-4-686
depmod -a -F /boot/System.map-$version $version
update-initramfs -u # to check that nothing is broken
# other redundant modules:
/lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/net/{ax25,ipx,x25,ipv6,appletalk,atm,bluetooth,decnet,econet,irda}
/lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/fs/{reiserfs,smbfs,qnx4,xfs,befs,bfs,affs,afs,coda,cifs,freevxfs,hfs,hfsplus,hpfs,ocfs2,nfs,nfs_common,nfsd,ncpfs,ufs,udf}
# remove modules that you don't need from (spacehogs):
# /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/net
# /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/scsi
rm /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/scsi/sata*.ko
rm -rf /lib/modules/2.6.18-4-686/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx*

we are down to 97M now:
97M /
configure timezone, hosts, hostname, network interfaces, fstab, name resolver:

tzconfig
echo '127.0.0.1 localhost' > /etc/hosts # see http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_debian_etch_p3 for IPv6
echo 'my.hostname' > /etc/hostname
vi /etc/network/interfaces
iface lo inet loopback
...
vi /etc/fstab
#
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
vi /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver x.x.x.x

set root password or add an ordinary user and install sudo
passwd
disable IPv6 if you don't need it
boot target with Knoppix, tomsrtbt or whatever other rescue tools you have
create a parition for the new system, mkfs, mount and cd to target root
transfer the filesystem:
nc -lp 5555 | tar xf - # in target system
cd etch; sudo tar cf - . | nc target 5555
In target: chroot .; grub-install /dev/hda OR if you are unable to run grub from the target, create a grub floppy:

dd if=/boot/grub/stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512
dd if=/boot/grub/stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1
in grub shell:
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 ro
initrd /initrd.img
boot
when booted into target, run grub install
if proc is not mounted, grub will complain Could Not Find Device For /boot,
mount proc /proc
cp /proc/mounts /etc/mtab
grub-install /dev/hda

ready, reboot target
update-locale LC_ALL=C LANG=C
setup /etc/iftab
update-alternatives --set editor /usr/bin/vim.tiny
apt-get install sudo; visudo
# or user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL

Trimming down Woody

2005-02-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

During install:

rm -r /target/tmp/* after kernel and modules install, before installing base
cd /target/var/cache/apt/packages; rm * after packages are installed (be sure to do it on proper time)

I got debian woody down to 62 MB by:

only installed the base system, didn't run tasksel
only listing main and no source packages in apt.sources (every package repository wastes a lot of disk space, alternatively you can turn off package caches in /etc/apt.conf),
apt-get install localepurge; localepurge
apt-get clean
apt-get --purge remove man.* dhcp-client groff-base ipchains nano ppp.* tasksel base-config modconf
rm -r /usr/share/{doc*,man*,info,locale} /usr/doc /usr/lib/gconv # remove docs etc
using syslog to log to a remote host (alternative: use agressive log removal strategy)
building a custom static kernel (no modules, /lib/modules was a whopping 12 MB)

Other things to consider:

strip all binaries

What I did to setup and secure the box after install:

echo -e 'map! jj \033' > /root/.exrc # make vi more carpal-friendly
firewall: transfered the firewall scripts from another box
disabled inetd (you can't remove it as net-base depends on it):
$ update-rc.d inetd stop 20 2 3 4 5 .
(and edit /etc/inetd.conf to be sure everything is OK when it is accidenally started)
apt-get install wget ssh sudo
DNS serving: compiled ucspi-tcp, daemontools, djbdns and zonenotify in another box and installed these, also compiled and installed dnsmasq from testing.
disable root login via ssh and create a sudo user with all privileges, avoid su from now on

Using Compaq Deskpro DP2000 6233MMX as a router

2005-02-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

To enable keyboardless operation, you have to enable server mode in the BIOS.

download Computer Setup/VP and PC Diagnostics from http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Deskpro/us/locate/4_71.html
create the required disks in DOS or Windows
set the password jumper on the motherboard to enabled position.
enter BIOS setup with the disks just created (note that you only need disks #2 and #3)
choose Security Management
enable Power-on Password and then enable Network server mode
now you can remove the keyboard

Note that you have to enter the password to enable the keyboard. There will generally be no password prompt, just type the letters in and press [enter], if you get it right you'll be able to use the keyboard again.

Installing Debian on a secondary hard disk

2005-02-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

The recommended way of installing Debian from an already running system is debootstrap (that I personally use most of the time). FAI is also a good option. However, if you need a quick way to launch full setup from a blank drive and you have a running Linux system, the following steps are the way to go:

Assumptions: /dev/hdc is the empty drive.

fdisk /dev/hdc and create a throw-away Linux partition (say, 100MB), don't forget to make the partition active
mke2fs /dev/hdc1
mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt
cd /mnt
copy the kernel and inital ram disk from a Debian archive:
wget ftp://ftp.ee.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/current/{bf2.4/linux.bin,images-1.44/bf2.4/root.bin}
for grub:

grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/hdc
echo "(hd0) /dev/hdc" > /mnt/boot/grub/device.map
echo "title Woody install
root (hd0,0)
kernel /linux.bin
initrd /root.bin
boot" > /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/hdc # reinstall grub with right settings
if grub fails, but you get the grub shell at boot time, enter the lines from step 6.3. manually from grub shell (you don't obviously need title).

for lilo:

cp /boot/{map,boot.b} /mnt/boot/
echo "
disk=/dev/hdc bios=0x80
boot=/dev/hdc
map=/mnt/boot/map
install=/mnt/boot/boot.b
image=/mnt/linux.bin
label=woodysetup
initrd=/mnt/root.bin
" > /mnt/boot/lilo.conf
lilo -C /mnt/boot/lilo.conf

put hdb into a new box (as hda), Debian stable install will start upon boot
note that you can safely erase/remove the partition that contains the boot files

Good luck, and leave me comments.

Migration from OpenBSD to Linux

2005-02-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

I had an old OpenBSD 3.4 box lying around, but as it had only a 150 MB hard disk, it was quite useless. I needed to build a firewall and as Debian woody fits nicely in that space, I migrated the box to Debian.

My setup:
wd0 - a 150 MB disk
wd0a - the 150 MB OpenBSD partition

Here's how:

get the linux kernel and Debian setup initial ramdisk images:
$ mkdir /lin; cd /lin
$ wget ftp://ftp.ee.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/disks-i386/current/{bf2.4/linux.bin,images-1.44/bf2.4/root.bin}
install grub into the boot block of the hard disk (THIS WILL DESTROY THE OPENBSD BOOTLOADER AND MAY RENDER YOUR DISK UNBOOTABLE):
cd /tmp
wget ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-5-stable/All/grub-*
tar jxf grub-*
mv share/grub/i386-freebsd/ /grub
dd if=/grub/stage1 of=/dev/wd0 bs=512 count=1
dd if=/grub/stage2 of=/dev/wd0 bs=512 skip=1
reboot, you will land into the grub shell,
grub> root (hd0,1,a)
grub> kernel /lin/linux.bin
grub> initrd /lin/root.bin
grub> boot
Debian setup will start

Leave me comments and remember -- use the instructions at your own risk.

How to get an Epson EPL-5900L working in Debian

2005-02-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

No plug'n'play here. Neither gs-gpl nor gs-esp work. You have to patch and use gs-afpl from non-free. gs-gpl v. 8.15 should work when it is released.

Here's the general routine:

apt-get install foomatic-bin foomatic-filters cupsys alien dpkg-dev
apt-get source gs-afpl (valid for gs-afpl-8.14, 8.15 should Just Work(TM) )
cd gs-afpl-8.14/src
wget -o `mktemp` -O - http://voxel.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/epsonepl/ghostscript-8.00-ijs-ht.patch | patch
cd ..; dpkg-make
cd ..; dpkg -i gs-afpl_8.14-3_i386.deb
dpkg-reconfigure foomatic-filters, choose gs_afpl
wget http://voxel.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/epsonepl/epsoneplijs-0.4.0-1.fc2.i386.rpm
alien epsoneplijs-0.4.0-1.fc2.i386.rpm
dpkg -i epsoneplijs_0.4.0-2_i386.deb
if you want, you can save epsoneplijs_0.4.0-2_i386.deb and gs-afpl_8.14-3_i386.deb for later use