Sounds like the distro is removing the /dev/usb/lp* when printer is removed. See if it disappears when unplugged or do what you do when you take it to work. Same procedure (unplug, turn off, turn on, unplug other devices, or what ever). Now when you bring it home and plug in the notebook see if /dev/usb/lp0 is there. If not try creating one with the following command ' mknod /dev/usb/lp0 c 180 0 ' and see if that works. NOTE: mknod command requires root access to run.
If this is the issue I think it might be posiable to fix that.
Brian1
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