Printers

• Last modified: tis jan 10, 2023 10:51
• Sign: JN
• Tested on: Xubuntu 18.04
• Solved: No

Update Dec 2022

After a printer update by NRM-IT in 2022, I can no longer access the printers on NRM.

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There are several alternative ways of adding printers to a Linux computer. Most desktop managers will have GUI-software for adding printers which work pretty well. Other alternatives is to use cups (via a web browser), or to use command line (lp*, etc).

Example: Adding a printer in KÖL building using a GUI-tool

1. Start the GUI app for adding printers. I (JN) have the Gnome Print Manager App installed:

    $ system-config-printer
   

2. "Add" -> "Network Printer"

3. Select a printer near you. In the GUI, you will basically only see the brand, model, and IP. Unfortunately, there are often several printers with the same description (apart from the IP). So ask a colleague, or do trial and error (you can print test pages). For this example, I chose "TOSHIBA e-STUDIO5005AC (172.16.36.111)", and port number defaults to 9100. This printer has only the "AppSocket/HP JetDirect" protocol as choice for "Connection".

4. Then click "Forward" to select a driver in the next step. For the chosen printer, I did "Select printer form database", and selected the "recommended" driver.

5. Click "Forward", and give the printer a suitable name.

6. Print a test page and you are hopefully done!

Notes:

• Settings are stored (on *buntu) in /etc/cups/printers.conf.
• Useful link: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems
• Useful link: https://www.cups.org/doc/network.html

Protip: If you managed to find the IP of the printer near you, please put a note/sticker with the IP (and date) on the actual printer.

Some useful commands:

$ /usr/lib/cups/backend/snmp | less -S
$ avahi-browse -a | grep Printer
$ lpinfo -v | grep -P '://'
$ lpstat -s