The first solution was to use the HP LaserJet 1022NW but that seemed to be discontinued very soon after I sterted looking for it and have to give it up. The price tag was just over 200 GBP and it had proprietary Windows print drivers, however the for the Linux drivers you had to go to the HPLIP - HP Linux and Imaging Printing. But as I didn't manage to buy this printer I cannot tell you how the installation went so...
The next one I found was the Brother HL-2170W. It cost much less (140 GBP) and it also only had proprietary Windows drivers. These were installed first and I would recommend installing the network option with the printer connected to the router via a LAN (UTP) cable. This makes the installation easy, the wireless setup requires some automatic recognition protocols on the router and even though I have a pretty good router (Netgear DG834G) the wireless setup did not work.
You will get the Linux LPR drivers here, although if possible, use the CUPS system (Common Unix Printing System). After that the other big decision you have to make is whether to give the printer a fixed IP address or connect it via DHCP. I tried the latter but had problems with the Linux laptop as it did not recognize the printer's hostname on the router - use a fixed IP address and it worked like a charm (for me). I especially liked the CUPS printing console which is views through a browser calling localhost with the port 631.
I made the mistake of setting up the printer's TCP settings through DHCP. You can change it by calling the printer's IP address. I found it through my router and going to Attached Devices.
If you look through the printer settings you can get the printer to print out its settings by pressing and holding the power button. That should also tell you the IP address.
In the printer's console (don't forget to change the default password "access" to something else. Go to Network configuration - Configure TCP/IP. Then change the IP address to something that is outside the DHCP range and change boot method to "STATIC".
Go to your Linux machine (if you were not on it in the first place - and why the hell weren't you? Linux rocks) and call up http://localhost:631/ (or whatever port you use) and got to "Manage printers". Go to the printer in question and click "Modify printer", then "Continue" twice and then correct the device URI to the printer's new static IP address. Click "Continue" again, select the PPD file and that should be it.
1 comments:
Thanks for his post. It helped me track down the linux drivers for my new HL-2170W.
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