Printer Configurations

Configure printer icon

All material presented are licensed under The GNU Free Documentation License.

  1. Prerequisite.
  2. Local Printers.
  3. Network Printers.
  4. Example Network Printer Setup.
  5. Frequently Asked Questions.
  6. References.

  1. Prerequisite

    1. Prior to purchasing the desired printer, check with openprinting.org to see if your printer is supported under Linux.
    2. A working linux computer is required.
    3. Install the following using apt-get or synaptics package manager:
      • CUPS.
      • cupsys-bsd for printing with lp in a terminal.
      • gtklp for printing from Gnome.
      If network printing with security is desired, a print server will need to be setup with user administration.

    Updated: 2006-11-17

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  2. Local Printers

    Local printers are printers connected to your computer directly. Either through a usb connection, a parallel port or a serial port.

    1. Assemble your physical printer.
    2. Do a test page before connecting to the computer.
    3. Install your printer drivers identified from openprinting.org. Choose apt-get or synaptics package manager on your desktop or laptop for this task.
    4. Connect the physical printer to the computer using either a parallel cable if it's a parallel printer or a usb cable if it is a usb printer. Reboot your computer or restart your printer services for the advance users.
    5. open a web browser and go to CUPS. i.e. http://localhost:631
    6. Select the Administration Tab and press Add Printer.
    7. Select the device connection type USB # x or LPT # x, where x is the port number.
    8. Enter the device uri
    9. Select the make of the printer and press continue.
    10. Select the model of the printer and press Add Printer. You will need to enter printer administrator and the administrator password at this point unless you belonged in lpadmin group.
    11. Press the Printers tab after a confirmation of printer setup.
    12. Press the Print Test Page to do a real test.

    Updated: 2006-11-17

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  3. Network Printers

    Because network printers are servers, administration should be carefully planned. In a larger firm, printer administration is a special headache because of wider impact. It involves user administrations, physical security, heterogeneous network environment, viruses etc. e.g. a cheque printer or a shared SAMBA printer between MS Windows® machines and Linux machines. Print server administration is beyond the scope of this discussion, please check out CUPS in reference section for details.

    The following refers to printers already administered or the printer is a standalone printer with locally spooled printer services.

    1. Assemble your physical printer.
    2. Do a test page before connecting to the network.
    3. Optional but recommended - setup your printer with a static IP address or better yet - a domain name. On some network, DHCP server may change the initially assigned IP address of your printer depending on leases and clients coming and going - resulting in a mysterious lost connection later on.
    4. Connect it to the network.
    5. Test your printer using a web browser and go to your printer's address. You should see your printer responding.
    6. Install your printer drivers identified from openprinting.org. Choose apt-get or synaptics package manager on your desktop or laptop for this task.
    7. open a web browser and go to CUPS. ie. http://localhost:631
    8. Select the Administration Tab and press Add Printer.
    9. Select the device connection type, for example:
      • AppSocket/HP JetDirect,
      • Internet Printing Protocol (http),
      • Internet Printing Protocol (ipp),
      • Windows Printer via SAMBA.
    10. Enter the device uri
    11. Select the make of the printer and press continue.
    12. Select the model of the printer and press Add Printer. You will need to enter printer administrator and the administrator password at this point unless you belonged in lpadmin group.
    13. Press the Printers tab after a confirmation of printer setup.
    14. Press the Print Test Page to do a real test.
    15. To setup the fax printer, repeat the above starting at add printer and enter the fax-uri and choose the fax driver instead.

    Updated: 2006-11-17

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  4. Example Network Printer Setup

    This example is base on HP 6310 OfficeJet All-in-One. It is a standalone network printer with local spooling and no user security.

    1. Assemble your physical printer.
    2. Do a test page before connecting to the network.
    3. Optional but recommended - setup your printer with a static IP address or better yet - a domain name. For this example, say it was 192.168.15.135. On some network, DHCP server may change the initially assigned IP address of your printer depending on leases and clients coming and going - resulting in a mysterious lost connection later on.
    4. Connect it to the network.
    5. Test your printer using a web browser and go to your printer's IP address. You should see your printer responding.
    6. Install hpijs-ppds, hplip, hplip-data either through apt-get or synaptics package manager on your desktop or laptop.
    7. Open a root terminal (sudo,su etc.) and run 
      # hp-makeuri 192.168.15.135
      Make a note of the CUPS uri.
    8. open a web browser and go to CUPS. http://localhost:631
    9. Select the Administration Tab and press Add Printer.
    10. Select the device connection type AppSocket/HP JetDirect.
    11. Enter the CUPS uri
    12. Select the make of the printer HP and press continue.
    13. Select the model of the printer HP OfficeJet 6300 Foomatic/hpijs (recommended) - HPLIP 1.6.10 (en) and press Add Printer. You will need to enter root and the root password at this point unless you belonged in lpadmin group.
    14. Press the Printers tab after a confirmation of printer setup.
    15. Press the Print Test Page to do a real test.
    16. To setup the fax printer, repeat the above starting at add printer and enter the HP Fax-uri and choose the HP FAX -HPLIP 1.6.10 (en) instead.
    17. Faxing with this HP printer only works with HPLIP Toolbox's sendfax utility. It encapsulates the printer data in fax information prior to sending to this printer.
    18. Install Xane to test scanning. No additional configuration is required.

    This example was tested under Debian Linux Etch, hpijs 2.6.10+2.6.10-2, hplip 1.6.10-2, cups 1.2.7-1, foomatic-db/db-hpijs 20061031-1, Xane 0.991, sane 1.0.18-3.

    Updated: 2006-12-27

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  5. Frequently Asked Questions

    1. Printer test successful but Mozilla Firefox won't print12

      For Firefox users with version 1.5+, install gtklp and restart your print services. Okay, less advance users can just reboot.

      For Firefox users with version 1.5-, do the following:

      1. from the Firefox File menu, choose Print,
      2. select a print queue in the Print dialog box. e.g. Postscript/queue_name,
      3. press Properties,
      4. Print Command setup:
        • To do a basic print, enter the following Print Command and press OK. 
          lpr ${MOZ_PRINTER_NAME:+'-P'}${MOZ_PRINTER_NAME}
        • For graphical printing, enter the following and press OK.
          /usr/bin/gtklp
        • KDE users will need to enter 
          kprinter --stdin

      For Opera users:

      1. Select File, Print.
      2. Choose the tab on the right Printer Program
      3. enter 
        gtklp
        for Printer Program type and 
        -stdin
        for the Parameter type.

    2. Printing is too big

      Check the printer resolution. If you are set to 600dpi and the printer support 300dpi it will printer too big to fit the page.

    3. Background not Printing in Mozilla Firefox/Iceweasel

      Select File->Page Setup and check Printer background (background & images).

    4. Printer test successful but how do I print from a terminal.

      3 From a terminal/shell 
      $ lp <filename>

    Updated: 2006-12-27

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  6. References

    • OpenPrinting from the Free Standards Group on all printers and drivers.
    • HPLIP - HP Linux Imaging and Printing on HP specific printers.
    • CUPS - Common Unix Printing Systems, printing/spooling layer in Linux/Unix using Internet Printing Protocol (IPP)
    • DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol configuration depends on your router, server in your locally administered network. Read more in wiki.
    • SAMBA - Not only does it provide file and print services for various Microsoft Windows® clients but can also integrate with a Windows Server domain, either as a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) or as a Domain Member. It can also be part of an Active Directory domain. Print sharing for windows clients is one of its functions.
    • CERT - a computer security website where common posting of vulnerability can be found.
    • 1Setting Up Mozilla/FireFox Printing - LINUX from Cornel Centre for Material Research Computing Facility.
    • 2Printing in Debian (Firefox and Opera, too) by machiner 2005-05-25 from www.debiantutorial.org
    • 3Debian and Windows Shared Printing mini-HOWTO from www.docmirror.net.
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