How to print over a network with a HP Photosmart C8180, OS. Win7, Fedora & Slackware

Speedy624 · 07-10-2012, 01:42 PM

I have a wireless printer (HP Photosmart C8180) that we share across 1 PC & 2 laptops, it is always connected to my pc but have to connect it to the laptops when printing from them.

We use Win7, Fedora 16 and Slackware 13.37 across the 3 systems.

I want to connect the printer to my router wirelessly and have jobs sent to the printer without the need of a cable.

I'm not too worried about Win7 but is this possible on Fedora 16 and Slackware? If so, how do i go about setting this up on both OSs?

ReaperX7 · 07-10-2012, 08:31 PM

HP's hplip package should be able to detect networked printers upon setup. Make sure this is installed on both Slackware (should be installed by default) and Fedora (unknown but may require a download).

Once you confirm both machines have it, run "hp-setup" from both machines and it should start the configuration utility, and allow you to setup everything. Have it look up the printer's IP address, select the model, and the driver should load.

frankbell · 07-10-2012, 08:48 PM

I have an HP printer on a wired network connection and I've connected to it with at least half a dozen Linux distros in just the way that ReaperX7 described.

If you are using a GUI and have the HPLIP GUI (hp-toolbox) installed, you may be able to use that in lieu of the hp-setup command.

When hp-toolbox and hp-setup have encountered difficulties, I have used hp-setup -i [ip address] with great success.

I would recommend giving the printer a fixed ip address; it makes life much easier. The HP docs should explain how to do that.

kingbeowulf · 07-11-2012, 12:02 AM

The big caveats with HPLIP and HP network printers, I have found, is that you may have to update HPLIP (from the Slack 13.37 version), download and install a propriety binary plugin via hp-plugin, run hp-setup as root inside X so that HPLIP can configure CUPS, and, most important, specify the IP address since Bonjour etc scanning for printers usually doesn't work. My HP M12121NF MFP was a bit cranky to get running - no doubt due to the added network scanning and fax features.

The often odd interaction between HPLIP and CUPS usually takes me by surprise.

Otherwise, piece of cake.