Tutorial for how to wirelessly print from Linux (Centos6) to a Windows XP USB printer

Exactly.

Currently I'm using sneakernet (which, I admit, stinks).

From the little I understand of putting it "on the cloud", I'm just doing a fancier more persistent sneakernet.

Placing my documents on the net is NOT what I want; I simply want a printout from a Linux machine to a printer connected by USB cable to a networked Windows Home XP machine.

There 'must' be freely available software to do that. Right?

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:46:03 +0000, Bear replied:

Maybe I misunderstand.

This is what I want (sitting at the Linux PC): a) Open document b) Select the networked printer c) Print (to that networked printer)

This is how I 'understand' the cloud to work:

1) From Centos6 Linux, upload document to "the cloud" 2) Physically walk over to the WinXP Home PC 3) Perform steps a,b,c above on that Windows XP PC

If I understand the cloud correctly, it buys me absolutely nothing over sneakernet (for the purpose of printing a document).

But maybe I misunderstand?

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:37:17 -0500, Mark Warner replied:

Good news! I have cups.

This is what showed in my browser on Centos 6: CUPS 1.4.2 CUPS is the standards-based, open source printing system developed by Apple Inc. for Mac OS® X and other UNIX®-like operating systems.

I don't have a samba executable: $ which samba (returned nothing)

But, I do seem to have samba 'things': $ locate samba ... /etc/samba/smb.conf /usr/lib64/samba /usr/share/doc/man-pages-overrides-6.3.3/samba ... etc.

I suspect this is a key samba file: $ cat /etc/samba/smb.conf ... [printers] comment = All Printers path = /var/spool/samba browseable = no guest ok = no writable = no printable = yes ... etc.

So, I guess I need to learn what "cups" does and what "samba" does on Centos 6 so that I can print to a printer connected by USB to a Windows XP Home PC.

One thing I don't know how to do that may be related is to simply 'see' any shares on the Windows XP Home laptop - which I don't know how to do yet.

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:16:09 -0500, Mark Warner replied:

CentOS is pretty spartan when it comes to installing typical home applications - but it seems to be robust otherwise.

If what I need to do is learn CUPS and SAMBA, the good news is that both Linux freeware programs seem to be installed, by default:

$ firefox http://localhost:631 (reported: CUPS version 1.4.2) $ smbclient --version (reported: Version 3.5.10-125.el6)

If someone could just outline the printing sequence, that would help me understand what I need to learn.

This is what I "THINK" the sequence is:

1. On WinXP HOME, I 'share' the USB-connected printer (e.g., "my printer")
2. On Centos SAMBA, I (somehow) recognize that printer over my intranet
3. On Centos CUPS, I print a file to 'that' networked printer

Using the "locate" command (i.e., locate samba & locate cups), I see samba has /etc/samba/smb.conf file and cups has /etc/cups/cupsd.conf so I assume they are the configuration files I'll need to modify.

I wonder: Since what I want appears to be the most basic home network printing need, is there a good step-by-step tutorial already out there that you may know of that goes from Linux to Windows using cups & samba?

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:16:09 -0500, Mark Warner replied:

CentOS is pretty spartan when it comes to installing typical home applications - but it seems to be robust otherwise.

If what I need to do is learn CUPS and SAMBA, the good news is that both Linux freeware programs seem to be installed, by default:

$ firefox http://localhost:631 (reported: CUPS version 1.4.2) $ smbclient --version (reported: Version 3.5.10-125.el6)

If someone could just outline the printing sequence, that would help me understand what I need to learn.

This is what I "THINK" the sequence is:

1. On WinXP HOME, I 'share' the USB-connected printer (e.g., "my printer")
2. On Centos SAMBA, I (somehow) recognize that printer over my intranet
3. On Centos CUPS, I print a file to 'that' networked printer

Using the "locate" command (i.e., locate samba & locate cups), I see samba has /etc/samba/smb.conf file and cups has /etc/cups/cupsd.conf so I assume they are the configuration files I'll need to modify.

I wonder: Since what I want appears to be the most basic home network printing need, is there a good step-by-step tutorial already out there that you may know of that goes from Linux to Windows using cups & samba?

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:16:09 -0500, Mark Warner replied:

CentOS is pretty spartan when it comes to installing typical home applications - but it seems to be robust otherwise.

If what I need to do is learn CUPS and SAMBA, the good news is that both Linux freeware programs seem to be installed, by default:

$ firefox http://localhost:631 (reported: CUPS version 1.4.2) $ smbclient --version (reported: Version 3.5.10-125.el6)

If someone could just outline the printing sequence, that would help me understand what I need to learn.

This is what I "THINK" the sequence is:

1. On WinXP HOME, I 'share' the USB-connected printer (e.g., "my printer")
2. On Centos SAMBA, I (somehow) recognize that printer over my intranet
3. On Centos CUPS, I print a file to 'that' networked printer

Using the "locate" command (i.e., locate samba & locate cups), I see samba has /etc/samba/smb.conf file and cups has /etc/cups/cupsd.conf so I assume they are the configuration files I'll need to modify.

I wonder: Since what I want appears to be the most basic home network printing need, is there a good step-by-step tutorial already out there that you may know of that goes from Linux to Windows using cups & samba?

I set mine up ages ago, can't really remember the details, except it took about 10 minutes. Make sure the windows is sharing the printer, or Linux will not find it. Depending on the printer, you might have to download a "driver" for it. I did, for my old Samsung laser. Cups and Samba also needs to be installed. This will probably help:

[]'s

-- Don't be evil - Google 2004 We have a new policy - Google 2012

The article^1 I cited earlier System/ Admin/ Printing (or system-config printing)

Server/ New/ Printer Network Printer/ Windows Printer via SAMBA

... and so forth.

Connecting CentOS to a Windows Printer

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:43:45 -0500, Mark Warner replied:

Thanks for the advice pointing me in the right direction.

I'll set up Samba to share a file first - and then - I'll try to get it to share a printer.

If I can 'see' the files and printer from Linux - then I'll move on to setting up CUPS.

Thanks!

On Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:59:51 -0200, Shadow replied:

That is a nice reference, along with this other suggested reference:

Connecting CentOS to a Windows Printer

I'm reading them as we speak.

"Ann R." wrote in news:k7e32u$d11$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

I was able to print!

In the end, it was easy - once I knew how!

1. On Windows XP HOME, you have to set up file & printer sharing & share the printer making note of the machine name, the workgroup (whatever that is), and the printer name.

1. On Centos 6, you must open up the firewall to Samba traffic. System > Administration > Firewall & open up [x]Samba & [x]Samba Client

2. On Centos 6, you then create a new printer. System > Administration > Printing and selected Server > New > Printer

1. Then you select your Windows printer on the network: Devices > Network Printer > Windows Printer via SAMBA > Browse... (at this point you select the printer which fills out the URL below) smb://workgroupname/winxppcname/printername

2. Now add the driver on Centos for that type of printer: Choose Driver > printer_brand > printer_model > driver_type

1. Print a test page and make the new printer the default printer by right clicking on the printer in the Samba SMB browser.

Voila!

On Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:55:03 -0500, Mark Warner replied:

The thing I had not expected was that I didn't ever mess with CUPS or with SAMBA per se.

I mean, all I did with CUPS was verify that it was installed. Likewise, I didn't overtly touch any of the SAMBA configuration files.

On Centos, all I did with Samba was open up the default firewall to it: System > Administration > Firewall [x]Samba [x]Samba Client

And, the only other thing I did was run the Linux printer setup commands:

1. System > Administration > Printing a. Up came "Printer configuration - localhost", showing local printers.
2. Server > New > Printer b. Up came the "New Printer" "Select Device" "Enter Device URI" GUI.
3. Devices > Network Printer > Windows Printer via SAMBA > Browse... c. Up came the "SMB Browser" where I could see all the Windows printers
4. Clicking on the desired Windows printer filled out this URI d. smb://Workgroup/Windows_PC_name/Printer_connected_to_Windows_PC
5. Up came the "Change Driver" form where it asked to "Choose Driver" e. Choose Driver > printer_brand > printer_model > driver_type
6. The option I chose was "(o) Select Printer From Database"
7. And then I searched for my manufacturer, make, and model in the list. f. There were 9 (confusing) choices, so I simply took the first one
8. And then I printed a test page over the network - which worked fine!

If that Linux network-printer setup process actually edited the smb.conf file or the cups.conf file, it was transparent to me, the user.