Very Computer

I want to set up a dedicated high-performance Linux/Samba server to
handle print queues for our LAN. My workstations are all NT 4. The NOS
has been NW5, but we are moving rapidly towards Linux. The LAN is Cisco
switched FastEthernet. We have a mix of new HP 8000 Series color
printers, older HP 3 and 4 black & white laser printers and some newer
Epson 1520 color printers, all with LAN cards in them.  We print a lot
of of very large color files with multiple copies which require vast
amounts of disk space for the queues.

It seems that TCP/IP printing under NT is the natural solution for this,
but I haven't been able to find any information on setting up a Linux
and / or Samba queue server.

I assume this possible, but what do I need to do to get it going?

Thanks for any assistance.

Quote:> It seems that TCP/IP printing under NT is the natural solution for this,
> but I haven't been able to find any information on setting up a Linux
> and / or Samba queue server.

> I assume this possible, but what do I need to do to get it going?

It is possible. I suggest to read the Linux Printing Howto - there is a
section for remote printing. Make sure that printing from Linux to the
remote printers work. After that you have to modify your smb.conf.

Here's my example:
I have a apple printer with integated Ethernet.

in /etc/printcap
Apple|remote printer on appleps:\       <= Just the name
        :sd=/var/spool/lpd/test:\       <= the spool directory
        :rm=appleps:\                   <= the remote printer, defined in                                    <=
/etc/hosts
        :rp=raw:\                       <= name of the queue in appleps
        :bk:sh:mx#0:                    <= mx#0 means no limit for jobs

in smb.conf
section global
load printers = yes                     <= automagically loads printers
                                        <=defined in printcap
[printers]
        comment = All Printers
        path = /tmp
        create mask = 0700
        print ok = yes
        browseable = No
        printing = BSD

I'll be out of office for a while so if you need more infos send a mail
to:

CU

Hans

[Posted and mailed]

Quote:> I want to set up a dedicated high-performance Linux/Samba server to
> handle print queues for our LAN. My workstations are all NT 4. The NOS
> has been NW5, but we are moving rapidly towards Linux. The LAN is Cisco
> switched FastEthernet. We have a mix of new HP 8000 Series color
> printers, older HP 3 and 4 black & white laser printers and some newer
> Epson 1520 color printers, all with LAN cards in them.  We print a lot
> of of very large color files with multiple copies which require vast
> amounts of disk space for the queues.

> It seems that TCP/IP printing under NT is the natural solution for this,
> but I haven't been able to find any information on setting up a Linux
> and / or Samba queue server.

> I assume this possible, but what do I need to do to get it going?

It certainly is possible. You can read the Linux Printing and Printing
Usage HOWTOs (http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX-3.html) to learn
something about setting up the printers, and any documentation you like
on Samba if you want to use Windows networking protocols for printer
sharing (check http://www.samba.org and
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba/ for online Samba documentation).
Understanding Ghostscript (http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost) may also be
important if you want to share the non-PostScript printers as PostScript
models. You might also want to consider a book, either on general office
networking or on Samba specifically. I've got several suggestions listed
at http://www.rodsbooks.com/~books/books-network.html.

--

http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux networking & WordPerfect for Linux