Linux Images (ROCK64)

[Trash_Can_Man]

IMO you should stay with either Armbian or any ayufan build with desktop, while dietpi is not a bad distro its based on armbian afaik but with extra scripts to trim it out a bit and automate, the problem is that dietpi is not properly documented by far and the "support" is slim at best...personally i had very VERY good results with the armbian builds in regards to desktop environments, while ayufan make his headless images super stable imo...so...going back to the begining id suggest to try again with Armbian and solve the CUPS problem, maybe ask for help on their forum? there are very smart and capable people over there (tho some are a bit harsh with newbies like me)
MAybe someone here can help with that printer problem too, what did you try? what errors did you get?

Thanks. I'll try Armbian again and get onto the CUPS forum, when I find it.
The problem with CUPS was that Canon is not listed as a manufacturer and ppd files don't seem to work with ARM devices. Linaro on the ASUS Tinker Board does include Canon plus many other manufacturers and it prints well using Gutenprint.  

Trying to make ARM SBCs work as a complete desktop replacement is a fascinating if at times, frustrating, project.

Probably not the case but a lot of modern printers have LAN/wifi and you can consider this cups-cloud-print "bridge", i use it on 2 raspis to connect to a samsung printer that dont have direct CUPS drivers either and works fantastic (if a bit slow to start but no artifacts/problems when printing), i know this forum is about rock64 but the principle is about the same, its old but it still works fine since CUPS didnt change much in the last few years...its kind of a nasty workaround but if it works.......