Linux and printers
 

Hi,

This is a two-part post. I have a new laser mono printer without much idea of how to install it using Linux: and my wife wants to use the printer for her Windows stuff. (I know, I know)

Now I've had an idea. I thought if I downloaded some version of Windows into its own partition on my hard drive, my wife could just come in and use Windows as she does now on her clumsy laptop. And there should be a way of me getting to print out my stuff without having to struggle with the printer. We can't afford two printers.

So I looked on the web. It seems that Windows has a habit of interfering with Linux whenever it gets a chance. Now I have two distros on my HDD and nothing else so it might be best if I started again with 3 clean partitions on an empty disc.

Am I making any sense here? I wouldn't mind starting from scratch if I have to. I'd certainly welcome help on this.

Hello and welcome to the forum :)

Let's first find out if your printer is compatible with Linux. Can you give us the brand and model (and model) number of your computer and printer?

I'm hoping you mean if you "installed" a legal version of Windows from a (genuine, not pirated) full retail DVD, not OEM (unless you have a recovery CD/DVD that came from your computer.) If so, then yes, you could do that. If your printer is compatible, then you could boot into Linux and use your the printer and she could boot into Windows and do the same. :)

That can happen but I don't think it's that common. I run a dual setup (Lubuntu and Windows Vista) on my desktop system and have had no problems, except for the clock (changing times) on rare occasions and a program on Windows that checks the status/health of the hard drive.

It's possible to install Windows after Linux but it might be easier to install Windows first.

Regards...

Multi-booting would cause some grief if not quite familiar with partitions and filesystems. I would suggest stick with Windows then run Linux within Virtualbox.

Welcome to the forum.
Some printers are easier to configure with Linux than others.
Also depending on which distros you are using, in my case my Brother printer is easier to setup
with Mint or Ubuntu. Although with a lot of help, I have it working with Slackware.

Hi,

My new printer is a Kyocera P2035d, a mono laser. My computer is a non-standard one: the board is an Asus M4A87TD, usb3; the bios is Ami 12/9/2010; the cpu is AMD Athlon 4 core 11x2 640; memory is 4gb; HDD is a Samsung SP2004C. Thats all the info I have to hand and I'm not sure I could find anymore. The computer is 4/5 years old I think.

Yes, if I go with Windows it will be a bona fide one.

I'm using Peppermintos and PcLinuxOS. I could easily change those to something more suited to my Kyocera.

I've heard of Virtual Box but am not quite sure what is is. After posting this, I'll get some info off the Web. I haven't used any Version of Windows for well over 10 years, since I found Linux was free.

Thanks for posting guys

I note that Kyocera offer a Linux driver for this model:

https://www.kyoceradocumentsolutions...035D._.EN.html

I also note that they list the following emulations available
so configuring the printer as a postscript printer should work without issue too.

Thank you, this information helps. Kudos to ferrari for finding a Linux driver for your printer. If you need help installing the driver and setting up the printer, just let us know. :)

Cool :cool:

With 4 GB's, I personally would go with Windows 7, although Windows 8.1 or 10 would work. I don't recommend 10 because of the privacy issues. Using a lightweight distribution of Linux, such as Lubuntu, might be beneficial as well. ;)

VirtualBox is a VM (virtual machine) that essentially allows you run an OS within an OS. However, I wouldn't recommend using this option with only 4 GB's of memory, unless you kept the memory usage of the virtual OS (presumably Linux) very low. Also, the last I remember, the video driver that VirtualBox uses for an OS is very basic, so if you do work that requires more graphical capabilities, you might want to install Linux and Windows directly to the hard drive. Also, I'm not entirely sure how well your printer will work using a VM (on the virtual or guest OS,) it may work fine or it may not. Here is some information as an example of how this would work. ;)

You're welcome :)

Regards...

I have a confession to make. I bought the Kyocera because I found that it did have the emulations I needed but I made a dogs breakfast of trying to download them. I've no doubt that the data is muddied up in my computer somewhere but I don't know where. Tar giz seemed quite difficult.

So I will need help with the configuration into a postscript printer. One of the great things about Linux is the help so freely available. Sort of a family, really.

It's not usually as hard as you think. Removing a printer configuration from CUPS can be done via its built-in web interface using your favourite browser

http://localhost:631/printers

From there, any existing printer configuration can be deleted or modified as required.

You should tell us how your Kyocera printer is connected (USB, Ethernet,...)

ferrari,

Oh dear, I followed the link and found that my printer was listed in CUPS. I read a bit about it on that site and very interesting it was too. However, when I selected the admin menu, and chose the 'delete printer' option I was sternly told that this was forbidden... I tried it twice with the same result.

My printer is connected with a USB cable. Rereading the posts has given me the idea that I should buy more memory. Would another 4gbs be enough?

You have to log in as root to make administrative changes in cups.

You know, all this is revealing my almost total lack of linux knowhow. How do I log in as root? I could find no way to do it on the 'local host' site given above and when I boot up PcLinuxOS from cold there is no way there either. I know the root password of course, but I have to sign in as User. No choice in the matter.

So I thought there must be a way in the administrative innards of PcLinuxOS to change the log in options but in about 2 hours of delving I couldn't find it. Forgive me please.

Without complicating things, normally CUPS would prompt you for an administrator account name and password, but that does depend on how it is configured (in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf), and the default settings may depend on the distro concerned. I'm not a peppermintos user, but your user account may need to be a member of the 'lpadmin' group first. See here

https://forum.peppermintos.com/index.php?topic=1485.0

Make sure you take the time to read the Peppermint User's Guide.

If you're happy to start over, remove /etc/cups/printers.conf like this
Provide your root password when prompted

Another way is to list any defined printers (by name) with
then delete the printer (config) with 'sudo lpadmin -x <name of printer>' eg to delete a printer named 'Kyocera' you'd do

[tony@localhost ~]$ sudo rm -f /etc/cups/printers.conf
bash: sudo: command not found
[tony@localhost ~]$
[tony@localhost ~]$ lpstat -a
lpstat: No destinations added.
[tony@localhost ~]$ lpstat -a Kyocera
lpstat: Invalid destination name in list "Kyocera"!
[tony@localhost ~]$ lpstat -a lpadmin -x Kyocera
lpstat: Invalid destination name in list "lpadmin"!
[tony@localhost ~]$ lpstat -a sudo lpadmin -x Kyocera
lpstat: Invalid destination name in list "sudo"!
[tony@localhost ~]$ sudo lpstat -a lpadmin -x Kyocera
bash: sudo: command not found
[tony@localhost ~]$

Well, I can't think of any other combinations!