I switched from Vista to Slackware 12.0 a few months ago and loved every minute of it, but i never found a way to use my Dell 922 AIO Printer. I tried using CUPS but they didn't have drive for it. Then I tried using Virtual Box but it seems that when I try to install the driver it can't pick it up that it is connected??? I am using XP pro on Virtual box and Virtual Box picks it up that it is connected as you can see here http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h.../snapshot7.png
Can you help me solving the problem or suggesting another way to use my Printer

BTW if you know driver that will work with this printer please say so.

I would also be interested in a solution using VirtualBox (stupid Lexmark...), so if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them (same problem as BULPulse -- it isn't detected in Windows within VirtualBox but is detected by VirtualBox). However, if someone finds a way to get BULPulse's Dell printer working natively in Linux instead of through VirtualBox you can safely ignore my post (it's not that important for me and I don't want to hijack the thread).

I'm wondering if this is possible even theoretically. To use a VM to run a printer which isn't supported by the host OS, or to use wine for this ? Unfortunately, I don't think there's any solution, I know I've looked for one for a long time. So, I'd also be interested if anyone actually has a solution ... other than throwing the printer out the window and buying a newer better one (which is what I did, I didn't really throw it out the window, I put it in the attic, maybe it'll be supported well one day).

Yah...this doesn't look so good for you.

From what I found so far people have made these printers to work some in VM and some using CUPS but I can't so far anyway the driver for Lexmark z600 will work for Dell 922 AIO (and many other Dell/Lexmark printers) but the drivers are for RedHat and i don't know how i can make them work for Slackware?? any suggestions??

You can convert the RPMs to Slackware installable tgz packages using alien (and others, but this one is best). So, if you know whatever drivers you have will work, then convert and install the RPMs, and report back with problems you have.

There aren't any. No rpms, debs, bins, tgzs, nothing. It says on the site they don't support linux.

If the driver for z600 will work, have you tried installing it ?
Like it says here:
http://openprinting.org/show_printer...rk-Z600_Series

I will try it as soon as i get some free time

Well i tried it but all it did was to load paper so not what i had in mind but at least it did something, i don't know why it didn't work but some claim that it works for them. Maybe i didn't do something so if someone else tried it it might work for them. Thats all i can say

Well, that's definitely a good sign, that means some communication is happening between the printer and drivers. How did you try printing ? Have you tried using 'lp' or 'lpr' to print a file ? Maybe even try it as root.

I am still learning to use Slackware as this is my first experience of Linux and i don't know what you just said but the way i tried to print a page was going to localhost:631 and clicking on print test page.

I successfully got my (Lexmark) USB printer working in Windows 2000 running in VirtualBox. Nifty, now it's no longer a complete paperweight.

I had to add the following line to my /etc/fstab:
devgid=106 corresponds to the group "vboxusers" (which I think was automatically created by VirtualBox), and therefore only users in that group can print. You can of course create a new group (called "usbusers" or some such thing, or use the plugdev group) and use that (any group containing your user will do, but make sure it excludes users you don't want printing from VirtualBox). To find the group id, check the number beside the appropriate group in /etc/group. MAKE SURE to change this value to the appropriate one, since the group ids in your system will be different than mine.

Before I did this, my printer was listed if I right-clicked on the USB icon in the statusbar in VirtualBox, but was grayed out. Now, it's actually clickable. I installed the printer using the Lexmark drivers (though you should use whatever drivers you would use on Windows appropriate for your printer) and it works perfectly. Unfortunately for me I had to replace the ink cartridges because I had left the (unusable) printer dormant ever since installing Linux and they had dried up, but it is now working nonetheless. The "Add Hardware Wizard" couldn't find the appropriate drivers (because Lexmark ships their drivers separately) and I couldn't find the CD, so I just downloaded them from their website -- you should be able to do the same for any printer brand.

Note that before you boot into VirtualBox you may have to add the USB printer's info in the USB Settings dialog (while the guest OS is NOT running) -- you can get that info from running `VBoxManage list usbhost` (as root?).

If you need more help (or a better explanation) just ask.

What is the model of the printer?

It's a Lexmark Z23 (it has just about the crappiest Linux drivers in the world, which would only print one page at a time [ie I'd have to restart the print job for each page] in black and white only). http://openprinting.org/show_printer...um=Lexmark-Z23 lists it as a paperweight.

The procedure should work for any printer though (ie it will allow you to install the printer just as you would in native Windows). I have another (network) printer, but it's more of a hassle to print with (it's nowhere near my computer and I have to go get the prints), but now if I need to print something out I can start up VirtualBox (if not already started) and print through my printer, which is located right next to my PC. Very convenient. And, since I often use MS Word under VirtualBox (and sometimes under WINE, depending on the complexity of the document), VirtualBox would already be open and I could just click the "Print" button. Very nice.