Re: [gentoo-user] Sharing printers via Cups

[Michael]

On Tuesday, 9 February 2021 00:59:01 GMT Dan Egli wrote:
> On 2/8/2021 5:01 PM, Michael wrote:
> > On Monday, 8 February 2021 19:08:11 GMT Dan Egli wrote:
> >> On 2/8/2021 2:14 AM, Wols Lists wrote:
> >>> This is typical. In my linux setup, the printer is always busy. Stuff
> >>> still prints fine, though.
> >>
> >> Mine won't print. Says the printer is busy, and nothing else happens. It
> >> just sits there. Let me give better names because even I can get
> >> confused. So, we have three machines. Win10 Home = IRIS, Linux Server =
> >> Athena, Linux Workstation = Janus
> >>
> >> If I print directly from Iris, it obviously works fine. If I print from
> >> Athena it works fine. If I print from Janus, it never goes anywhere.
> >>
> >>>> How can I set this up correctly? To describe exactly what I'm trying to
> >>>> do, let's just use four computers in this example. A is the central
> >>>> print server. B is the windows client with the printer. C and D are
> >>>> linux machines. What I want is if either C or D print something, they
> >>>> both send it to A, and then A sends it to B.
> >>>
> >>> I'd try moving the printer to A, or configuring C & D to print directly
> >>> to B. I dunno how you set up smbprint, but that should send straight to
> >>> a shared printer on B no problem.
> >>
> >> Unfortunately, moving the printer is a no-go right now, for various
> >> reasons. Otherwise I'd just move it to be a network printer. The printer
> >> itself is designed to be network capable. But Iris is technically not MY
> >> Computer, and the printer isn't technically MINE either. They belong to
> >> someone else in the house, and I simply have permission to use them.  So
> >> my only two options are 1) Configure EVERYTHING to print to Iris. That's
> >> doable I suppose, but really not what I want, or B) Use Athena as a
> >> central print server just as it already acts as a central file server.
> >> That is FAR more preferable because then if something changes instead of
> >> updating EVERY computer I update ONE.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Dan Egli
> >
> > Some ideas:

[snip ...]

> > 2. Last time I set up a Windows XP as a printer-server, I
> > installed-enabled
> > Unix Print Service Windows Component (really an LPD/LPR service).  Then
> > Linux PCs were able to print directly to it.  No need to configure SMB
> > and what not, just for printing.  This randomly selected article
> > describes the principle:
> >
> > https://support.printmanager.com/hc/en-us/articles/202835449-Linux-printin
> > g-via-the-Windows-Print-Server-
>
> Actually tried that. Got LPD installed, sent a test page. Test page
> appeared in the Windows Queue, then disappeared without any
> acknowledgement from the printer.

This would need some troubleshooting/configuring on the Windows end.  It's a 
long time ago I tried this and don't recall what I had configured to allow 
clients to print via the Windows PC.  It was relatively simple and lightweight 
though, unlike Samba which I wouldn't bother with just for printing.


> I finally got it working in samba mode
> so I'm good with that. And that, again, would skip the whole point of
> having a central print server. :)

Not really.  Athena would remain the CUPS server for itself and any Linux or 
additional OS clients, sending jobs over IPP:// to the Windows print server 
running on the Windows PC.


> > 3. If the current setup is the right thing for you, increase CUPS log
> > verbosity and check the logs on Athena to find out what it isn't happy
> > with
> > when Janus sends a print job to it.  First check the CUPS driver and
> > printing protocol is the same on Janus as on Athena and the CUPS' config
> > on Athena allows inbound connections from your LAN, or your Janus' IP
> > address.
> I can check on those. Thanks. I do notice one thing strange. Maybe a
> cups bug. In the web interface when I created the printer in Athena, I
> checked the box to say it was a shared printer. But when I look at the
> status it says "not shared".

Hmm ... what follows the commented line:

# Restrict access to the server...
<Location />
Order Deny,Allow
... ?

in the '/etc/cups/cupsd.conf' of Athena?

Similarly, check the "hosts allow" directive in the Samba configuration to 
include Janus' IP address.