HOW TO SET UP PRINTING ON KNOPPIX

Be sure you are booted into KNOPPIX and sitting at the default KDE desktop.

1) Open up a terminal (the little "shell" icon on the panel).
2) Type 'su' to switch your user to root.
3) Run the following command to enable the CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) daemon: '/etc/init.d/cupsys start'.

It will print "Starting CUPSys: cupsd." And return you to the shell prompt.

Now, there are two methods of configuring a printer. Either through the KDE tool, or through CUPS's web interface. I recommend using the CUPS web interface, as it will be common over all Linux computers you encounter. Not all systems will have the KDE utility. Both methods are covered in this HOWTO.

KDE Printing Manager:

4) Start the KDE Printing Manager. KMenu->Settings->Printing Manager.
5) At the top, below the toolbar, is a menubar with "Add, Printer, Print Server, Print Manager," etc. Click on Add, and go down & select "Add Printer/Class..."
6) A wizard will pop up. Click Next, and you will be given a choice of what to install. If the student has a printer connected locally (either via the parallel port or USB), select Local Printer. To set up the LPD IP Printing, select "Remote LPD Queue". Alternatively, if they have a different setup (possibly printing to their roommate's printer via a SMB share, select that. I cannot guarantee that the following steps will work on methods other than LPD printing though. The local printer should be relatively simple.
6) You will be given a field to enter the Host IP & Printer Queue. Enter the appropriate host for the dorm you are in. Same IPs and Queue name as on the Windows LPR printing setup. Click Next.
7) Select the printer from the list. Select the manufacturer, HP. And the Model, LaserJet 5Si. Click Next. Leave the Driver as the "recommended" option. NOTE: If printing does not work, selecting a different driver from this menu might fix it. Click Next.
8) You may if you want print a test page. Click Next.
9) Leave the banner selection as No Banner. Same with the Printer Quota and Users.
10) For the "General Information" section, enter useful information. Name, Location and Description. Click Next, and Finish. You should now have a printer in the KDE Printing Manager.

CUPS Web interface:

4) Open a web browser (either Konqueror or Mozilla), and go to: http://localhost:631.
5) Click on Printers -> Add Printer.
6) Enter the Name, Location and Description.
7) From the drop-down list for the device, select "LPD/LPR Host or Printer". Optionally, if you're setting up a local printer, select the appropriate device (USB, Parallel, etc).
8) Enter the Device URI. For LPD printing, it will appear as the examples given. lpd://ip-address/queue. For example, lpd://129.210.8.101/Alameda-Q.
9) Select HP as the "Make". Select "HP LaserJet 5Si, CUPS + Gimp-Print as the Model.
10) It will tell you the printer has been added successfully, and you will be taken back to the Printer list.

You should now be able to open OpenOffice and print any needed documents.

Your installation instructions are very good for a Linux/Unix print server. Less so for a local or mixed Win/Linux network. The localhost:631 is a great source for documentation, but Kprinter is probably the easiest setup for most people in a stand-alone or local workgroup. It's a good idea to know about both and I believe that Gnome also has a Cups manager. In a workgroup you usually just need the host and the name of the printer to setup. When you see the shares in accessing samba, you should see the named printer.

Printer Drivers may also cause problems. Many drivers support foomatic (postscript) and also lpj (direct), but, some of the new drivers don't support foomatic... that can be a real problem as some programs insist on printing in postscript. There are ways to circumvent this, but it becomes a real pita.

Next time: Scanners, or, 'is sane really sane' %~D?