SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

nobodyuknow · 2020-01-21 21:13:29

When I created my Cinnamon system, I intentionally un-selected the option to create a print server, as this is a laptop used mainly in libraries where printing is not possible. So imagine my surprise when I continued to receive notifications that printers have been added or deleted. I looked for a Printers application to stop this nonsense, but I was unable to find it. I had turned off Bluetooth in Startup Applications.

Something else that makes no sense is that Bluetooth is included on my on-board wireless card, which I disabled because I use an ASUS USB AC55 B1 wireless adapter. I do not understand how Bluetooth is even getting power to run.

UPDATE1: I installed rfkill and added "rfkill block bluetooth" to /etc/rc.local. It occurred to me that someone in the library is screwing with my Bluetooth, something I never use. I looked in BIOS, but I could not find an option to disable Bluetooth. If I start Bluetooth Manager, I am informed that Bluetooth is not running.

UPDATE2: No, that did not stop the nonsense. This is really annoying. I noticed that the Bluetooth icon sometimes appears on the toolbar, though I can kill it manually.

By the way, this does not happen with Linux Mint.

Last edited by nobodyuknow (2020-02-01 16:32:50)

mmaglis · 2020-01-22 11:53:16

For someone to help, you need to provide specific information:

Basic hardware specification. E.g. laptop model, Bluetooth device models
Devuan version installed, with install options
List of running services and how you control your Bluetooth devices
Any modifications to default configuration of any software

Head_on_a_Stick · 2020-01-22 12:16:01

I've never owned a printer but you can use this command to list enabled services and toggle their state:

# sysv-rc-conf

Disable the "cups" service with:

# sysv-rc-conf cups off

EDIT: typo.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2020-01-22 12:16:17)

nobodyuknow · 2020-01-22 23:15:22

@mmaglis

I thought I made it clear that I was not using Bluetooth and wanted to keep it that way.

@Head_on_a_Stick

Never owned a printer? You and I live in entirely different worlds.

I had to install sysv-rc-conf, but then I had bash problems. I'll play with it.

ToxicExMachina · 2020-01-23 03:50:48

If you want to disable bluetooth at all just remove Bluez. You can also try to disable bluetooth in CMOS setup of your laptop.

Last edited by ToxicExMachina (2020-01-23 03:51:34)

fsmithred · 2020-01-23 13:13:44

Could avahi be the culprit here? It likes to connect to things for you.

nobodyuknow · 2020-01-23 19:39:43

Thanks for the help so far.

@ToxicExMachina

I removed bluez, which resulted in about five Bluetooth packages being removed. I'll use the laptop for a day or two and see if the notifications stop.

@fsmithred

avahi was developed by Lennart Poettering! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

I'll see what happens with bluez being uninstalled, but avahi might just have to go too.

mmaglis · 2020-01-24 08:55:15

nobodyuknow wrote:

@mmaglis
I thought I made it clear that I was not using Bluetooth and wanted to keep it that way.

What you made clear is that you did not want to use Bluetooth but did not succeed.
That is why I asked how you try to control/switch off your Bluetooth devices among other things.
My main point is that if you do not provide exact details of your setup, you can only expect vague suggestions.

If you want to permanently disable Bluetooth, you either do it by disabling (e.g. in BIOS) or removing the hardware or by removing Bluetooth kernel module, or by removing service packages like bluez and dependencies, or by reconfiguring your user-space utility that tries to control all the above.

Removing the bluez packages might work for you.
I suggest you monitor your system logs for attempts to activate or access the Bluetooth device.

nobodyuknow · 2020-01-25 18:36:07

@mmaglis I appreciate your suggestions. One of the first things I tried was disabling Bluetooth in BIOS, but there was no setting to do so. On my laptop, an HP ProBook, Bluetooth is handled by the wireless card. This is what made this exercise so frustrating, as I had already disabled that wireless card to use an ASUS USB wireless adapter. If the on-board card was disabled, how the heck was Bluetooth even running?

I looked at uninstalling avahi, but then I discovered that libavahi is something that Audacious, Brasero, Cinnamon, and many other packages depend upon. avahi seems like a mini-systemd.

The notifications continue to arrive, so uninstalling bluez is not the solution. I will look at avahi to see if I can configure it differently. I also will look at the system logs of my Linux Mint system, as maybe it has been doing this all along and I never knew it. This behavior only happens at one library I use.

Someone asked a related question on the avahi mailing list in December, but no one responded.
https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/ … 02528.html

This exercise made me understand just a little how much work Devuan developers must undertake to remove the insideous systemd (Darn you, Lennart Poettering!) from Debian. I for one appreciate what the community does.

Last edited by nobodyuknow (2020-01-25 18:52:07)

fsmithred · 2020-01-25 19:05:51

If you get rid of avahi-daemon, that should be enough. The library won't do anything.

If removing avahi-daemon wants to remove other things that you know you want, you can disable it with sysv-rc-conf (or update-rc.d if you like commands.)

mmaglis · 2020-01-25 19:28:20

How did you conclude these printers showing up are Bluetooth and not WiFi printers?
Without bluez installed, I do not think any user-space utility will pick up any bluetooth device.

Try reconfiguring avahi or uninstalling the

avahi-daemon

package or disabling the service..

nobodyuknow · 2020-01-25 22:34:10

I don't know whether the notifications are via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. I assumed Bluetooth because Wi-Fi works fine at all other locations -- and because I have zero experience with Bluetooth. I really hate Wi-Fi and wish I could use Ethernet, but libraries don't offer that option.

I uninstalled the avahi daemon, but I won't know if that was a solution until I return to that specific library in a few days.

How does one reconfigure avahi? I searched for a wiki, but I found nothing. There is no man page for avahi.

Soon I'm going to wipe the drive and reinstall Devuan. I'll immediately uninstall avahi-daemon, but retain Bluetooth (even though I don't use it), and bring the laptop back to the problem library to see what happens.

Last edited by nobodyuknow (2020-01-25 22:34:43)

mmaglis · 2020-01-26 10:47:00

It sounds like your avahi-daemon is picking up networked printers.

From the https://avahi.org

Avahi is a system which facilitates service discovery on a local network via the mDNS/DNS-SD protocol suite. This enables you to plug your laptop or computer into a network and instantly be able to view other people who you can chat with, find printers to print to or find files being shared. Compatible technology is found in Apple MacOS X (branded "Bonjour" and sometimes "Zeroconf").

On a GNU+Linux system look for

man avahi-daemon.conf
man avahi-daemon

The avahi configuration should be found under /etc/avahi directory.

It could be that your CUPS print server is picking avahi discovered printers and creates available print queues for you.
You have a couple of options to handle your issue:

disable or remove avahi-daemon, but then you will also loose other discovered services
reconfigure CUPS to not pick up any printers discovered by avahi

The CUPS configuration change, should be in the file /etc/cups/cups-browsed.conf

look for and change

BrowseRemoteProtocols dnssd cups

to

BrowseRemoteProtocols none

Alternatively or additionally you can add the following in the avahi-daemon.conf

use-ipv4=no
use-ipv6=no

but then I am not sure what avahi-daemon will be good at :-)

nobodyuknow · 2020-01-28 02:03:21

"instantly be able to view other people who you can chat with, find printers to print to or find files being shared."

None of the above are things I want, especially the first and third. I realize I'm in the minority, however. This particular library offers printing from personal laptops, something not always offered by libraries. The funny thing is that this library offers apps for printing from Windows and MacOS only, but given how similar avahi and bonjour are, I'm not surprised Devuan is able to communicate with the printers. I'll never understand why printers are added and deleted, when one would assume printers would be added only. The other library I use does not offer Wi-Fi printing, which explains a lot, I think.

Last edited by nobodyuknow (2020-01-28 02:05:18)

mmaglis · 2020-01-28 10:34:08

nobodyuknow wrote:

I realize I'm in the minority, however.

By not using avahi you are not in minority by far.
And in fact it does not matter. Everyone has individual needs and with free software and a system like Devuan GNU+Linux you can simply choose what runs in your computer and how.

nobodyuknow · 2020-02-01 16:32:30

Okay, it appears that avahi-daemon was the culprit, as after it was uninstalled, the notifications never reappeared. I looked at the man page for avahi-daemon, but damned if I could see a way to configure it short of uninstalling it. Thanks for everyone who responded. This was definitely a learning experience.

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#1 2020-01-21 21:13:29

SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#2 2020-01-22 11:53:16

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#3 2020-01-22 12:16:01

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#4 2020-01-22 23:15:22

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#5 2020-01-23 03:50:48

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#6 2020-01-23 13:13:44

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#7 2020-01-23 19:39:43

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#8 2020-01-24 08:55:15

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#9 2020-01-25 18:36:07

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#10 2020-01-25 19:05:51

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#11 2020-01-25 19:28:20

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#12 2020-01-25 22:34:10

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#13 2020-01-26 10:47:00

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#14 2020-01-28 02:03:21

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#15 2020-01-28 10:34:08

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

#16 2020-02-01 16:32:30

Re: SOLVED: Stop printers from being added - kill Bluetooth

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