Spin Ink

Recently, I setup a Samsung ML-2010 Monochrome laser printer. This printer actually said SuSE Linux on the box, so I had high hopes that it would be easy to setup. It also listed several other Linux distros with which it is compatible.When I turned the power on for the printer, SuSE Linux 10.1 presented me with a dialog asking me if I wanted to configure the new printer it had found. I said ‘YES’ to configure it. It then opens the YAST -> Hardware -> Printer -> Add New Printer dialog. Unfortunately this ML-2010 was not listed. So, I though I would tell it to use the PPD for the ML-2010 which comes on the driver CD. Unfortunately, I found that on 10.1, I received the following error message:

Checking file "./ML-2010spl2.ppd"
./ML-2010spl2.ppd: FAIL
**FAIL** REQUIRED DefaultImageableArea
REF: Page 102, section 5.15.
**FAIL** REQUIRED PageRegion
REF: Page 100, section 5.14.
**FAIL** BAD Product - not "(string)".
REF: Page 62, section 5.3.
WARN PCFileName longer than 8.3 in violation of PPD spec.
REF: Pages 61-62, section 5.3.
0 files passed

I have not contacted Samsung yet about the issue, but I will shortly. In the mean time, I decided to check the net and found that people were using the ML-1710 in the YAST -> Hardware -> Printer -> configuration, since the ML-2010 was not listed. I did this, and then printed the test page and it worked just fine. I then played around some and discovered that for quality setings it had 300 and 600DPI and it would just print a blank page if I set it to 300DPI.

Next, It was time to share the printer on the LAN. For this, I setup a CUPS server. The first step to setting up a CUPS server is making root(or any other user) a CUPS administrator. You can do this by typing the following in a root console:

lppasswd -g sys -a root

This will make root a member of the CUPS administrator group, sys. Next, you can visit

http://localhost:631/

Here, you should find your printer already listed. You can also setup the paper type and size etc., if you have not already done so.

Next, I wanted to setup my laptop, which is also running SuSE Linux 10.1, to be able to send print jobs to the CUPS server, which is hooked up to the desktop. To do this, I went to:

1. YAST -> Hardware -> Printer -> Add
2. select ‘Network Printers’
3. select ‘Print via CUPS Network Server’
4. select ‘CUPS Client-Only’
5. Enter the IP address or the hostname(if you have added it to /etc/hosts) of the machine runing the CUPS server.

Now you should be able print over the network from the client machine.