Sharing Printer across home network [solved]

[shaner]

aioshin,

 

I checked the box, to start cups when it boots up, is that what you mean? What about the cups-lpd thing? I don't have that checked? Should it be starting up at boot up? Thanks.

 

Shane

[polemicz]

Shaner, in MCC the second section down (below Software) is Sharing (on 2005). That's on the main menu. If you have cups and samba installed you should be fine. Go to sharing in MCC and it will walk you through and if you need packages installed it will tell you. For what you want to do you shouldn't need much in your smb.conf file and I'd not worry too much about it. First do the simple stuff and as you prefer GUI use MCC and if you want to tweak samba more (such as add more shares) use swat, ie localhost:901. But before you get too wrapped up in the intricasies of samba and cups try MCC. It is there on the left menu of the main MCC screen. Good luck.

[shaner]

Maybe we should define MCC. I'm using the MandrakeLinux Control Center 10.2 (Limited Edition 2005) That is what the window says at the top. On the left here are my options from top to bottom:

Software Management

Hardware

Network & Internet

System

Mount Points

Security

Boot

 

That is all I have. I really don't think we are talking about the same thing here because "sharing' is not here. I click on the little computer with a red circle on it. It is beside the Computer that opens a command line if I click on that, that is by a Ram head, that I don't know what is and that is by a desktop clearing button, that is beside the Star that says Menu on my tool bar at the bottom. What is your MCC? Because I either we are talking about two different MCC's or mine is really, lacking in features. Help! I really do appreciate the help, just continue being patient with me.

 

Shane

[shaner]

Is anyone here? Don't let me drown here. I have to re-boot in XP everytime my wife wants to print.

 

Shane

[polemicz]

Shaner, regarding MCC on the left you will notice pointers at the top and bottom to scroll to additional sub-menus). But looking at what your menu shows I think there are a number of utilities you have not installed. Make sure you have drakwizard (or whatever it's called). Go to software management, install software, and do a search for drak, you will see what packages can be installed. For some odd reason Mandriva does not automatically install all the utilities by default. Anyway I think it is drakwizard you are missing. Also make sure you have your system updated as a lot of these utilities have had updates. Fear not, we'll get this sorted out for you. Good luck.

[shaner]

Ok, we are on the same page using the MCC now. I ran through the Sharing setup. Was really easy. Now when I try and find the printer on the XP box, I only get some pdf-gen thing, and not my printer. Why isn't my printer in the list? I must be missing something any ideas?

 

Shane :mellow:

[polemicz]

Shaner, I'm not too clear on your setup. I gather that you have two systems: one XP and another a dual boot XP/Linux. The printer is on the dual boot. Is that correct? You are attempting to print from the XP, single boot, to the Linux on the dual boot box? You have set up Samba so the XP box can communicate with Linux?

 

I just have a lot of questions now. How are the two boxes connected? Do they go through a router or is it a direct connection?

 

If you have Samba set up a simple first would be to run smbclient -L <windows name>. If all is well you should see what is available on the XP box, you at least know Samba is functioning. If the printer is set as shared you will then need to add it in XP as a network printer. As long as Samba is working and the systems see each other XP should find the networked printer. You may need to install a driver for it.

 

I have on my network (through a router) two Linux only boxes, an XP/Linux dual boot, and a 2000Pro that all share a printer on a Mandrive2005 only box with no problems. So I'm sure we can easily get this sorted out. But first lets get some details on what you have going.

[shaner]

Ok here is the setup. I have two laptops networked with a router. Laptop A is only booting XP. Laptop B is dual booting XP/MDK and has the printer. In XP the network works fine, we can print across network without a problem. When B is in Linux, I can share files without a problem. A can see B, and B can see A and share files. A cannot see the printer, or print with it.

 

When I try the smbclient -L Rices - it says connection failed. When I use the smb4k I can connect to laptop A without a problem. On Laptop A I can connect to laptop B and see files, however no Printer, just a pdf-gen thing that doesn't do anything when printed to. The Printer has been installed on Laptop A before and printed directly to the printer, which should eliminate any driver issues.

 

In cups I had to set the printer up as a BJ20000 or something because it didn't have my Canon i560, could that cause laptop A to not see it because it is looking for a i560, or wouldn't that matter. I read that Laptop A would need to use it's own drivers, eliminating my cups setup here. (I would think.) I think I covered all you wanted to know, and ran through all necessary steps. I really appreciate your help.

 

Shane

[polemicz]

If you have the printer installed on Linux and set it to be shared via Samba it should be seen from XP. That XP sees PDF-Gen is good (this is a Samba share). I would say there is a Cups problem here. As a test try to print from Linux if you haven't already (don't recall if you mentioned whether you can print from Linux).

 

If Linux prints ok check your smb.conf (easy from localhost:901) and the printers section.

 

Good luck, hopefully someone here can get this worked out, I'll be gone until Monday.

 

One last thing,did you add the printer in XP on A (as network printer)? It needs to be added and XP should be able to browse for it.

Edited June 3, 2005 by polemicz

[shaner]

I can print from Linux on this printer. However I'm not happy with the settings. When printing from XP the doc's look much better. It is a canon i560. I have done some searching and found that this seems to be a problematic printer for Linux. I set it to the BJ7000 and it does print, and gets every right, just the printing comes out a little light. Everytime I print though it leaves the little green light blinking on top. I'm going to try and install the bjfilterpixus560i-x.x-x.i386.rpm bjfiltercups-x.x-x.i386.rpm, but I'm not sure what ones to install. You have to know what kernel, and I don't know what kernel I have. I don't know how to check either.

 

Shane

 

Thanks Polemicz - Hopefully by Monday this will be fixed.

[polemicz]

For your kernel enter in console uname -r.

 

Did you add the Linux printer on your XP box? Just to see how things are going, if you haven't done it, do the "add printer" thing, specifying a network printer. As Samba seems to be working fine it should find it and you can use your Canon drivers on XP. If XP doesn't see the network printer on Linux there must be a problem with Samba being set up to share printers.

 

Saw your other post on the printer and its drivers, good luck.

[FX]

Save yourself alot of trouble and just get a print server. I did and it connects to the router and its a breeze to setup.

[shaner]

That is the problem, when I try to specify the printer, there isn't one! That is what I don't understand. I ran through the setup and made sure that it is setup, made sure that the workgroup name is right, it is not showing up when I try and add a printer. I do the browse for the network printer, get onto the Mandrake computer, and click there isn't one there!

 

My other post on the printer, is because I'm thinking that because this printer is not really setup right on Linux even though it works, that this is my problem. I really don't know, and am just trying things now. I haven't had a lot of time in Linux lately anyway.

 

Samba seems to be working fine because I can see everything that I need to, however maybe a line is not right in the share thing. I'm going to search for swat and install it, so I can try the local:901 thing. Thanks for your help. I will just keep twiddling with things until something either clicks, or I really screw something up.

 

Shane

[shaner]

#Global Parameters

workgroup = Rices

netbios name = Samba

encrypt passwords = yes

printer admin=@adm

 

[global]

load printers = Yes

printing = cups

printcap name = cups

 

[homes]

read only = no

browseable = no

 

[everyone]

path = /data/everyone

read only = no

browseable = yes

 

[apps]

path = /data/apps

browseable = yes

valid users = @admins, root

write list = @admins, root

 

[printers]

comment = All Printers

path = /var/spool/samba/print

printer = IBMInfoP

browseable = No

public = Yes

guest ok = Yes

writable = No

printable = Yes

printer admin = @ntadmins, @adm

 

[print$]

comment = Printer Drivers Share

path = /var/lib/samba/printers

write list = @adm, shane, kathy, root

printer admin = shane, kathy

guest ok = Yes

hosts allow = 192.168.10.

(I edited this because I had changed this file.)

Ok, here is my smb.conf file. Maybe someone can see the problem here. I installed the swat thing, and tried it out, but I didn't see anywhere to configure anything. Maybe a couple of pointers there? I did manage to get logged on, and it was a bunch of documentation, but no where to configure things.

 

Shane

Edited June 7, 2005 by shaner

[polemicz]

Under the Samba banner are a number of boxes (global, shares, printers, etc). Clicking on one of them gets you to that configuration setting. I don't believe you need the printer=IBMInfoP line, which I assume is what your printer is called? What I would like to know is whether you can see the printer on Linux from the XP box when you add the printer. You do have to add the networked printer in order to print from XP to the linux box printer.

Also, in your smb.conf file workgroup, netbios name, etc need to be in the global section. You can easily fix that up in swat. But that you can access your stuff from XP probably means that isn't a problem.

But agasin what did XP see when you went to add the Linux printer?