I am trying to setup a windows ME machine to print via a printer attached to my Linux box. I am trying to do this using Samba. I can see the printer in my Network Neighborhood. After I have configured my printer to print via the network, if I try and print anyhting, I see the little spooler icon appear but nothing is sent to the printer. If I look at what was sent, it shows the file size to be 0. Now, the funny part. If I use a printer driver supplied in windows (Not the correct one for my printer), the print request is sent to the printer, and the job is printed but since the driver I am using is not the one used for my printer, the quality is lacking when it comes to graphics. The printer I am trying to connect to is an HP 930C. Has anyone seen this problem before?

Hi
As far as i remember, from my samba days, i had to do
same. It is not a problem, i think it's just the proper way
to do it. Feed the correct drivers to windows and it should
work fine.
But that was about 2 years back and i haven't got any
M$ machine in my network right now. Maybe samba has
evolved a bit since then and uses some other trick.
regards

The problem occurs when I feed windows the correct drivers. Then what is sent to the printer is an empty file so nothing prints.

Hmm strange indeed.
How did you set up your printer share in samba.
Maybe post that part and someone can point out
the problem. Is this linux box multiboot with windoze or
can you slap in a spare drive to see if this problem
happens to an all windoze network too? (yes i know
it's yuk but i dunno something better at the moment)
regards

this is a dual boot machine. If I have it print from windows to the windows print share, it works just fine. It only has problems in Linux. My printer setup from smb.conf is as follows:

[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
read only = No
guest ok = Yes
public = Yes
print ok = Yes
printable = Yes
browseable = Yes

[Deskjet_930]
path = /var/spool/samba
read only = No
public = Yes
printable = Yes
printer name = Deskjet_930
oplocks = No

I am not sure about this, but on a samba printout i still had
mine says

printing = BSD

on following pages things on printing in samba are better
explained and it's full of options
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba...k/ch07_01.html
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba...k/ch07_02.html

regards