I can't get my Dell 1815dn printer to install in Ubuntu 11.04 or Knoppix 4.0. Compaq Presario. 3000+ AMD Sempron. USB connection. I have my Dell drivers and utilities cd-rom. It has a Linux folder. I have been able to install with older releases of Ubuntu where it allowed me to tell it where the .ppd file is on the cd. There is a Linux driver on the cd but I can't find any info on how to use it. Yes, I've checked everywhere I can in Dell support. Can't get it to print as a CUPS printer in Knoppix. I've tried Knoppix because it is supposed to be better at hardware detection. But whatever I do it will not detect this printer. I have run google searches and searched different Linux forums but still can't find any help. Is there anyone out there that can help me?

Have you got cups installed in Ubuntu? There is an option in Cups to tell the system where the .pps file is. I'm not familiar with this printer, if it worked in older releases, it should work in current as well. To access Cups, open a web browser, and in the location bar, type http://localhost:631 and you should see the user Cups interface. If it is not running, or not installed, install it, and get it running.

Knoppix is very good at hardware detection, however it stops at peripherals. To make sure the printer is being seen, run the command 'lsusb' ( without the quotes ) and the printer should be there. It will look somthing like this:

This is my Brother usb printer. If you get something like this for your printer, then the system is seeing it, and you should be able to configure it through Cups.

Hope this helps.

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First off let me thank you for excellent reply. First off CUPS is running and I really like it's add printer dialog. However when I go to "Provide a PPD File:" and click on browse it brings up a "File Upload" window. No matter where I look I can't find the cdrom with the .ppd file. This version of Ubuntu doesn't see my cdrom drive. I installed Mount Manager and it shows my cdrom drive. It has a box for mount point. I click on the button to the right and it brings up "Choose mount point" window. I don't know what to do from here. I'm beginning to believe that Linux is beyond me and that I should stick with XP.

The cdrom needs to be mounted to the file system before you can access the files on the cdrom. A mount point is an empty directory where you access the files on the cd. I think Ubuntu provides a directory /media, you can use it. Once the CD is mounted you should be able to find the files on the CD there. I don't know if Ubuntu tries to 'automount' or not. By the message I would say not.

I can't test this on my Ubuntu system since its on a netbook and has no cdrom drive.

So, if you can get the mount dialog to show up, navigate to /media and ( I'm guessing ) click OK ( or what ever ) and see if you can access the files.

XP is slow painful death... it is worth the effort to learn linux, whether its Ubuntu or some other distro. Personally I like Slackware, it is straight forward, and rock solid. I was a long time Mandrake and then Mandriva user, until the Russians bought out Mandriva.

Which distro do yo feel is easiest for XP user to start out with?

It is truly a matter of opinion. A lot depends on what you know about hardware, operating systems, and your knowledge level for installation and maintenance.

If you have never installed XP, or any other OS, have been a user, then stick with one of the 'easier to install' systems. I would also suggest you stay with a well established one, that has a slower release cycle.

Ubuntu puts out releases about twice a year. For some reason, new users seem to think they need to 'upgrade' to the latest level. Usually these days there is little advantage in going through that pain. The new release gives them the latest kernel, which you don't need unless you have unsupported hardware. The latest release of applications is the other reason, before you upgrade, read the release notes to find out what is already known not to work. Apps are a little harder to find out what is new. The place to look is usually the apps web site. Often the new release is a few new features, unless you are in need of the feature, you are wasting your time. I have other reasons for not liking buntu, mostly the way they modify a linux system to 'make it easier for new users'. Their mods shield the user from learning things that will help in the long run. Community is another reason to select a distro. The better the community is, the better the support you can get, as you learn.

I went through this thought process a while ago, and decided on Slackware. It was also the first distro I ever tried. I was involved in education, teaching people how to install and maintain systems. We taught Windows first, just because there are a lot more micro$oft systems on PC's than anything else. Easy to install, hard to maintain. BTW anyone can put the known fixes on, no one except micro$oft knows the code, so a real bug is almost impossible to fix. Ever had a registry problem?

Linux. Easy to install, Ubuntu ( and its derivatives ). As I mentioned earlier, you won't learn much of value, unless you know how to ask good questions.

I used Mandriva for a lot of releases. Easy to install, even easier than Ubuntu. I found you had a choice if you wanted to use the 'built in tools' or not. Its called MCC ( Mandriva Control Center ). They are a set of gui tools to configure and control your system. Most work for simple tasks, but shield you from learning. I learned not to use them, and moved on (back to) Slackware.

Take a look at Debain. It is a old distro that changes very slowly. It has a very large community. Buntu, Mint are derivatives.

It is your choice, consider what you know, and what you want to learn; or not. Buntu and Mint are better if you do not want to learn much. I would tell you to stay away from Fedora. It is bleeding edge, lots of releases. It is put out by Red Hat, I suspect to test code. Red Hat is used mostly by companies that have money to buy support. Good for them, not so good for home users with next to zero budgets.

I hope this gives you some thoughts to consider.

Thanks again but I've found a distro that does what I want and need. One that is fairly easy for me to use. Puppy Linux seems to do it for me. Printer installed fairly easily. It saw my drives and it's easy to mount them. Lot's of set up wizards. I'm going to use Puppy for now. I may install Mint with Wubi and play around with it but for now I have what I need.

You are welcome, glad you found what works for you.