Hello all.
I have a Windows XP desktop with an Epson Stylus printer, a desktop running Linux Mandrake 9.1 and a Linux Mandrake 9.1 server.

How do I get the server and the linux desktop to print to the Windows Printer?

Thank!!

Help please?

Do you have Samba set up?

I have samba running at the linux server.

In GNOME:

System Settings --> Printing

Click tab: New

Go forward a bit then when it has a selection for locally connected choose Queue Type: NEtwroked Windows (SMB) then find it on the network

Have you considered making the printer a network printer and printing with the Windoze machine through to CUPS??? It's my understanding that CUPS has good workability with Windoze boxes and printers...

I use Mandrake (8.2,... haven't upgraded yet), and eventually, I'll be using my Mandrake Linux box as a server for both internet connection and printing to my connected Win XPee laptop (a work machine that I am mandated to use).

I have a very similar configuration as you, jkliment. I have Mandrake 9.1 and I also have an Epson Stylus printer. It took me quite a while, but I got my printer to work.

Getting the printer to work is actually pretty easy. It just has to be shared normally on XP and you have to add UNIX printing support. You can do that by using the Add Windows Components (or something like that) tab from the Add/Remove Programs thing in your control panel.

The real challenge I had was getting Samba working. Once you get it up and running, the PrinterDrake in the Mandrake Control Centre should autodetect your printer.

If you need some hints to get Samba working, let me know and I'll tell you what I did.

Thanks very much for your help.
This is why Linux keeps growing, the community gets involved and help each other.
I installed the unix support on the XP box, but am having troubles setting up the samba share for this printer.
How do I config the smb.conf so it knows that the printer share is actually in another machine?
The ip of the server is 192.168.13.216 and the ip of the XP machine is 192.168.13.222

thanks

Here is the [global] section of my smb.conf file. Unless you're doing file sharing, it should be all you need there.

[global]
workgroup= MSHOME
netbios name = darnux
os level = 65
server string = Darcy-mdk
interfaces = 192.168.1.102/255.255.255.0
security = share
encrypt passwords = yes
update encrypted = yes
null passwords = yes
preferred master = true
wins support = yes
remote announce = 192.168.1.100/MSHOME
guest account = momdad
valid users = darcy momdad
hosts allow = 192.168.1.
load printers = yes
printing = cups
printcap name = cups

Workgroup is the name of my workgroup.

Netbios name is the name of that linux box on the network.

Server string is just like the description of the computer on XP.

Interfaces is the mandrake box's ip address with the subnet mask.

I'm note sure if OS Level is needed, but it has to do with winning browse master elections (this could be more complicated since you have two linux boxes. I edited some registry settings on my two Windows computers so that they don't participate in browse master elections).

Remote announce has the ip address of the windows box that has the printer.

momdad is the username used on the xp box. darcy is the username on the mandrake box. I had to add momdad as a user on the linux box. That needs to be done so that you can run smbpasswd, which you need so that the username and password on the xp box match the username and password on the mandrake computer. The XP machine doesn't use a password, so I used the null password line above.

Hosts allow allows all computers that will be on my local network to access my computer (for file sharing).

The last 3 lines are for printing with CUPS.

I think you'll need to do this setup on both linux boxes, but I'm not sure about that. Maybe you could try it on the server first and then the other machine could access the printer through the server. You might have to make one machine the browse master (with a higher os level, or by eliminating os level from the other machine's smb.conf maybe) but still have both machines set up as samba servers (that is what I think is most probable). Maybe someone else knows better.

You'll likely need to add the users and run smbpasswd on box linux boxes if you end up running samba servers on both.

Just in case you're interested, this is the format to share a directory on the mandrake box. I haven't yet figured out how to share a directory that has spaces in the name.

[test]
path = /home/darcy/test/
guest ok = yes
read only = no

Good luck!