Friday, December 10, 2010

Printing in NUS SoC

Printing in the School of Computing

Printing in SoC has long been a nightmare for users of "unsupported systems" like us. Fortunately, the most difficult part is actually *figuring out* how to get printing working on Linux, and since we already have, the steps you need to take to enable printing on your Linuxbox is relatively simple, especially if you're using a fairly recent and popular distro.

Here are detailed steps for recent versions of Ubuntu and OpenSUSE. They should be fairly similar in comparable distros.

Printing in Ubuntu

Since around the time of Hardy, everything you need to print to the SoC printers is available out-the-box on an Ubuntu system. To start printing, you simply need to configure a printer as follows:

Step 1

Make sure you are either connected to PEAP or to SoCVPN.

Go to System > Administration > Printing, key in your password, and hit the "New" button on the window that appears.

Step 2

Select Network Printer > Windows Printer via Samba on the left-hand column.

On the right, enter the following in the textfield under "SMB Printer"

nusstu/nts27.comp.nus.edu.sg/psts-dx

You can replace 'psts-dx' above with the name of whatever target printer you desire to add.

Check "Set authentication details now" and key in your NUSNET credentials.

You can hit "verify" to see if your connection is successful. Hit "Forward" when you're done.

Step 3

Select the printer manufacturer here. For the COM1 printers, pick "Lexmark". Then hit "Forward".

Step 4

Select the printer model here. For the COM1 printers, pick "T642".

Step 5

Optionally Key in some meta information for your new printer.

Hit "Apply" and you're done!!

Print a test page to boost your ego.

Printing in Kubuntu

IdyllicTux has a Video Tutorial on printing on Kubuntu. Steps are highly similar to those for Ubuntu.

Printing in OpenSUSE

This is based on the KDE version. Steps for OpenSUSE Gnome should be similar.

Step 1

Make sure you are either connected to PEAP or to SoCVPN.

Bring up the Yast Administrator Settings Panel (Application > System > Administrator Settings) and select "Printer"

In the window that opens, make sure "Printer configurations" is selected on the left-hand panel, then click "Add" near the bottom-center.

Step 2

Click "Connection Wizard" at the top-right.

In the page that results, Select "Print via Server Machine > Microsoft Windows/SAMBA (SMB/CIFS)" on the left-hand panel.

On the right, key in

  • "nts27.comp.nus.edu.sg" for Server (NetBIOS Host Name)
  • Your target printer name for Printer (Share Name), eg. psts-dx
  • "nusstu" for Workgroup (Domain Name)
  • Your NUSNET credentials under "Authenticate As"
  • The printer manufacturer - "Lexmark" for the COM1 printers on the last drop-down.

Test the connection if you like. Hit "ok" when you're done.

Step 3

Under "Assign Driver", look for and select the driver for the target printer. For the COM1 printers, select the entry beginning with "Lexmark T642".

If you cannot find this in the list, you may need to install a driver package. Click "Add Driver" to do so. The following page should appear:

Check off the driver packages you would like to install. "cups-drivers" should contain the T642 driver for the COM1 printers, so check it if you haven't. Hit "ok" to install the driver packages.

You will be returned to the original page once you're done, and you should now find your driver in the list. Select it and hit "ok".

You're done!! Print a test page to boost your ego.

A word on changing password

The Yast printer configuration tool is a little unwieldy, and shockingly does not appear to have a direct way of changing your authentication password. When you change your NUSNET password, simply delete your existing printing configurations and re-add them following the steps above.

Posted via email from Troy's posterous

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