Making a Print Server

[fangbite]

I have a few questions regarding something my family has been planning for awhile. In our house there are some 8+ computers (running windowsxp, windows2000, mandrake10OE, fedora core 2)hooked together with a peer-to-peer network (ethernet). There are two printers which we often share on the network but it had gotten tideous to keep turning on two different computers just to print something. Finally I convinced my dad to let me make a print server. At first I tried RedHat 9.0 but I couldn't get the computer to be recognized on the network. After hours of tedious and mindnumbing work I installed windows 98 on the machine and did it that way. Although it works, I'm worried that the windows 98 box is a security risk to our network which is always connected to the internet (cable modem).

I was hoping someone could tell me the answer to two simple questions.

1)What linux would be best for the sole purpose of being a print server (the computer has 233mhz cpu and 48mb of ram)?

2)What do I need to make the windows and linux machines see the printers on the printserver?

 

Any help is much appreciated.

[SwiftDeath]

Any linux distro would be suitable. Most have CUPS built in.

 

For a distro, I'd recommend one you have expierence with and that you like. I tried Mandrake and Fedora as print servers and they both did superb jobs. (I couldn't get shared printer that easily on Fedora yet though).

 

At first I tried RedHat 9.0 but I couldn't get the computer to be recognized on the network

 

I dunno what you mean by that, do you mean the Windows Network? Or NFS? Or just by pinging it?

To get it on the windows network, you must set up Samba. It allows *nix computer to commmunicate on the WIndows Networking Protocol.

[liquidzoo]

Why is the Print server always on the net? Just curious.

 

Also, if you're using a Linux distro to do print sharing, I think you have to enable samba sharing.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to install my printer on my laptop (the XP side) when it's connected to my desktop (mdk 10.1). It sees the printer, but won't find the drivers for it.