I have a lexmark x5495 all in one, which is useless on linux and was wondering if I were to buy a stand alone linux supported print server that supported the x5495 if I could get the thing to print.
I've searched the net with no luck, everyone is talking about a software driven print server on a box in which all machines need drivers to support the printer. I was wondering if this could be used as a work around for the drivers issue.
My original plan was to set up this linux machine as a server to handle all internet traffic (dyndns, web cache, ftp, etc) and print serving. Although I haven't implemented it all yet I'm pretty sure the internet parts can be implemented without too much of a problem, but the print serving is impossible without a work around. Any thoughts on all of this mess.

regardless of how the printer is connected to everything else you still need drivers to be able to print to it. Unfortunately a lot of printer manufacturers have decided not to support standard printer languages such as PCL or PostScript. (Hint: Never buy a printer if it doesn't support one or both of the aforementioned printer languages)

If you have one of these printers then you are pretty much out of luck, unless the manufacturer provides a Linux driver specifically for your printer.

Thanks farslayer,
After I posted this I got to thinking about how it would work without the proprietary software and drivers. I was just hoping I was wrong and that somehow the hardware provided the necessary signals to push the data to the printer. I've never used a standalone print server and wasn't sure how they worked. I have noticed that they are quite a bit cheaper now days than they were ten years ago, when I looked at them back in those days I couldn't help thinking how these things should roll over and do tricks for the money they wanted for one.

For an all in one printer on Linux.. HP is probably your best bet. you can check the Linux printing. website for more info.. http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting

I tend to try and purchase printers with built in Ethernet interfaces.. getting them to function with Linux is as easy as falling off a log..