Re: [vox] Windows really DOES suck! (Or maybe it's HP...)

["Mark K. Kim" <lugMAPSod@cbreak.org>]

You can use a postscript wrapper to share your printer as a postscript
printer over the network.  To all the other computers on your network,
your HP OfficeJet 4215 will look like a generic postscript printer.  On
the printer server, it'll receive the postscript print requests and use
Ghostscript to re-print the document to a local printer.  I used this
technique to share a Lexmark printer with a Linux box, and the technique
is archived at the following URL:

 http://lugod.org/mailinglists/archives/vox-tech/2004-03/msg00151.html

In your particular situation, you'll follow the steps I took except you
won't create the LPR printer; instead, you'll share the postscript printer
over Samba.  On the remote computer, you'll install a networked printer,
and use a postscript printer driver for it.

For the "postscript printer driver", you might want to use:

 http://tinyurl.com/e1r (generic potscript driver from Adobe)

but you might have some issues printing in color.  I think there are
better postscript drivers that can handle color, but I don't know any off
the top of my head.

I've gotten some comments that the technique doesn't work for some people.
I had to play around a bit to make it work so your mileage will
undoubtedly vary.

-Mark


On Sun, 22 Jan 2006, Richard Crawford wrote:

> I recently decided that I wanted to get one of those spiffy all-in-one
> printer/scanner/copier/fax machine devices.  After much research (and thanks
> to those who recommended hpoj.sourceforge.net) I settled on an HP OfficeJet
> 4215.  I connected it to my FC3 server, downloaded the HP-developed hplip
> drivers from Sourceforge and complied them into CUPS.  I need to install the
> latest release of the sane backends in order to get the scanner to work, but
> that's a project for a different day.
>
> So, my server talks to the printer just fine, as does my Kubuntu desktop and
> my Kubuntu laptop.  No additional configuration is necessary on any of these
> machines.
>
> On Windows, though, it's an entirely different story.  Even though I have the
> printer shared out via Samba and Windows can see the printer through Network
> Neighborhood, I cannot get the driver loaded.  The "Add Printer" function
> doesn't have this printer in its default driver list, and refuses to see it
> on the CD.  After hours of pain, I discovered that the driver that ships with
> the printer is NOT network-ready!  Another couple hours later, I discovered
> that I could use the driver for an entirely different printer to make the
> 4215 print over the network, but it's painfully slow.  I've set up our old HP
> 712C again, which is a reliable inkjet printer, but I'm hoping it's only a
> temporary solution.
>
> I'm pondering returning the machine at this point.  Anyone aware of any
> solutions to my dilemma?
>
> --
> Richard S. Crawford (http://www.mossroot.com)
> "That which does not kill me makes me stranger."
>     -Llewellyn, from Ozy & Millie
>

-- 
Mark K. Kim
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