CUPS is hands down the way to go. The CUPS http port is actually 631.

If you're hooking the printer up directly to the Linux server (via printer
or usb port) you'll want to choose that option when you add your printer.
If the printer is going to be on your Netgear printserver, you'll want to
use a LPD/LPR Host or Printer. Device URI: lpd://hostname/queue, which for
a Netgear printserver will be more like lpd://192.168.1.30/p0 (If I recall
correctly, a netgear print server names it's queues p0, p1, etc. unless
you change it. Use the software Netgear provided to see your printservers
configuration)

Once you're past that, pick your drivers etc. Print a test page and cross
your fingers.

Samba can be a bit trickier, but it isn't hard. First you'll need to have
a printcap file. For cups, you're printcap is dead simple:
/etc/printcap:

Printer1:
Printer2:
Printer3:
Printer4:

Some people (like me) like to have their printcap called
/etc/printcap.cups, and sym link it to /etc/printcap.

For Samba, I'm going to assume that you have it configured and working,
I'm I'm just going to spew out lines you'll need to add. Commented lines
are optional.

[global]
# printer driver file = /etc/samba/printers.def
printcap name = /etc/printcap.cups
printing = cups

[printers]
# This is just a copy and paste from the default smb.conf incause your
# smb.conf doesn't have it.
comment = All Printers
path = /tmp
create mask = 0700
printable = Yes
browsable = No

[Printer1]
path = /tmp
read only = No
create mask = 0700
guest ok = Yes
printable = Yes
# You need to set your printer name only if the name you share your
# printer as is different from the name you gave it in your CUPS setup.
#printer name = Printer1
# These commands are optional. If you don't specify the commands,
# samba uses these defaults.
#print command = lpr -r -P'%p' %s
#lpq command = lpq -P'%p'
#lprm command = lprm -P'%p' %j
# If you want to server the printer drivers to windows clients, you'll
# need these lines, a share called printer$, and you'll have to do some
# more work.
#printer driver = Name Of Windows Printer Driver
#printer driver location = \\%h\printer$

#[printer$]
# path = /path/to/windows/drivers

Restart samba and you're up and printing. If you installed SWAT (Samba Web
Administration Tool) you can use that to easily setup samba and skip
editing the config file. To access SWAT, try http://linux-server:901/

The commented lines aren't needed, but you'll have to pick a driver every
time you install a printer. To avoid that, uncomment the printer driver
option and type in the exact name of the printer driver. As long that
printer driver is part of Windows, that should be enough. Just make sure
you get the name exactly as it's listed (to get the name, it's easiest to
install the printer on a windows machine with the driver you want to use
then check the name of the driver)

printer driver = HP Color LaserJet 5/5M PS

If the driver for your printer isn't included in Windows, you can serve
the driver off the samba machine. I've only done this a couple times, so
I'm not too helpful. But I can try...

First, you'll need to find the inf file that contains printer informaiton.
In Windows XP, it's c:\windows\system32\inf\ntprint.inf. Linux likes to
see this as a binary file, so you may need to open the file in notepad,
and copy and paste it into vim or something. Anyway...

Once you have the inf file on the Linux machine, use the make_printerdef
command to make a samba printer definition.

make_printerdef ntprint.inf "HP Color LaserJet 5/5M PS"

Now this should result in the creation of a printers.def file that you can
put into /etc/samba (Uncomment printer driver file under [global] and edit
to suit) If you look at the printers.def file it should tell you the
files(s) you need to copy to your linux server. In the case of my HP
printer, I just need a file called HPCLJ5V2.PPD. You put the driver files
in the path you specified for the printer$ share, and you should be off
and running.

I don't have any official documentation to point you to. This is all
cobbled together from my notes. I'm sure that all this is actually
documented now if you look hard enough. :)


Andrew S. Zbikowski | http://www.ringworld.org
 A password is like your underwear; Change it
 frequently, don't share it with others, and
     don't ask to borrow someone else's.




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