IP Network Printing
 

I've been doing a lot of reading about CUPS from the SuSE Portal and from the SuSE Admin Guide. But, I haven't been able to figure out a simple way to print yet.

In Windows, I start the Add Printer Wizard, Select a Local Printer and then create a new TCP/IP port by inputting the IP address of my printer. I tell it the model of printer and I'm set to go.

Is there something in SuSE that is escaping me? I know CUPS is supposed to be simpler to use than the old Unix methods. But, I can't seem to get the concept down of what they are asking me to do.

Have you successfully added a printer to the CUPS config yet then?

I dont know how YAST does it but it must be somewhere close to Mandrake. How far have you got and how much of an overview of CUPS have you understood?

What is your printer make/model?
what SuSE do you run?

As I said I dont run Suse but run Mandrake which uses cups in just the same way. My printer is an Epson Stylus Color 670 but that makes little difference due to the wealth of driver Cups has available to it. For instance my other machine has a Canon BJC250 attached.

I'm using SuSE 9.3.

I'm trying to connect to an HP LaserJet 5Si that has a static ip address. No print server or print spooler. I noted in my earlier post how I print to it in Windows XP/2000.

I have never set up a printer in CUPS yet.

Okay,

When connecting to the printer through cups a print spool will be created on the local machine and that machine can in turn act as a print server if preferred. As setting up a printer on any linux machine with cups causes this process to be repeated, you have the option of connecting to the printer either directly or via another machine. Its kind of on a par with having a network printer shared from one Windows machine to another.

Anyway, are you familiar with the Suse utility known as YAST?
This provides many GUI tools that takes the pain away from trying to connect to a printer, ie. config files etc..
Just doing a quick google for "suse yast cups network printer" (not in speech marks when typed into google) returned this link: http://www-uxsup.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/d....p.config.html

This gives an indication of what YAST looks like for you and also explains the protocols that will be involved. I would imagine at a guess the ipp will probably be supported on your printer so when setting it up in YAST, the final details of it would look something like ipp://<PRINTER IP ADDRESS> but that is just an educated guess.

Any further problems, lmk

The Phantom

Thanks for the help. I figured out the solution.

When I went to Add a printer, I selected "Print Directly to a Network Printer". Then "Direct TCP Port Printing". It asks for the "Host name of the printer server:".

Unfortunately, in this and the next configuration screens, the mouse works fine but the keyboard will not input into the text boxes. I was forced into typing my input into a text program and using cut and paste to enter the information into YaST. It appears that YaST in SuSE 9.3 has a severe bug. I've seen it on two machines so far.

Anyway, printing works. I just think the first time I tried it, the input bug on the YaST screens caused me some confusion.