Hey guys
Im trying to use my usb printer thats connected to my Buffalo linkstation network attached storage, that is connected to my linksys switch, now the linkstation (NAS) needs a username and password for access. I believe Ive gotten the printer set up but when I try to print a test page it just keeps running and never prints so I think it might be a username and password thing.
My questions are
One: how do I make the printer good to go at anytime I want to print ie without typing a username and password everytime.
Two: Can I make it ready for printing anytime at boot like with a script or something.
The location of the NAS is smb://hd-hlaned1/share/, I read in fedora 5 bible that you can permanently mount an smb share file by putting an entry in fstab is this what I would want to do?

I think that the printer will be another service than the NAS storage share.
Yes, you can include an smb share in your /etc/fstab file. The filesystem to use is either smbfs or cifs. man mount will give you all of the options you can use. One way to mount it is to have a credentials file which contains the username and password. This has the advantage where a process list won't reveal the password.
If this NAS device uses embedded Linux, it may also have cups. You'll probably need to read the fine manual for details. I really don't know how a NAS device would have drivers for an attached usb printer.

I was under the impression that plugging the printer into the NAS via usb just made the printer visible on the network and that all you needed was a path to the printer.
For example when I set up , and I only think I set up the printer because like I said I cant print a test page, the printer in the gui config I entered an IP address and port number and after a little trial and error with that it took me to the print test page dialog.

I took a look at their manual. Postscript printers are supported. There are certain printers that are supported. Otherwise you need to run their configuration program to add support for the printer. In the future they will have a web base configuration. For now, I think you will need to run it from a windows machine or using wine.
The manual also mentions which USB port to use if you are adding a printer. In any case, I think you may need to select the printer from a list even if it is supported.\

But this is really an RTFM situation. You can't expect others to have to read the manual for you.

"But this is really an RTFM situation. You can't expect others to have to read the manual for you."

No no I guess I didnt ask the question right I dont expect others to read the manual for me and I'm fine with a RTFM response I was just hoping someone could through a little light on the subject so I would know what key words to put into google or maybe a link to TFM. I dont know anything about networking or lans or anything really besides point and click and reinstalling, lots of knowlegde on that one
See I read that you could mount stuff that had username and password access when the system starts and I thought I could do that and when I clicked print the command would just go through, or that I could put the username and password in a script in say cups something
I know that postscript printers are supported and I chose my printer because it "just works" with linux.
I will set the NAS to use no password and set the whole thing up with winbloze if that does'nt work.

I was responding more to post#3. It does give instructions in the manual that instructs how to install drivers that aren't the ones already supported. In windows if you select the reconnect at login option, the share should alway be there for you to open. If the username and password is different then your own, then click on the underlined part about "connect as a different user". In Linux, you can either include the "username=" and "password=" options in an fstab entry, or you can create a credentials file that contains two lines.
Then use the "credentials=/path/to/your/credentials". It is good practice to make this file read-only by the ownder of the file. The reason for using a credentials file instead of using the "username=<value>" and "password=<value>" option is to prevent someone from looking up your password by reading /proc/<UID>/cmdline or by simply reading the /etc/fstab file.

You could also try using folders with the same username/passwords and groups on the NAS device as you have in windows. There probably should be a one-to-one coorespondence.

Good Luck!

Got it thanks for the help Nice info on the credentials file to, the more security the better.