Configuring Ubuntu Linux Printers
Despite preditions of the "paperless" office in the 1980's and 1990's we are still a long way from never having to print anything. It is quite common, therefore, to need to connect a printer to a computer system. With this in mind this chapter will be devoted to covering the the steps required to add printer access to an Ubuntu Linux system. Printers may be connected directly to an Ubuntu Linux system, accessible over a network or attached to a Windows system on the network.
As with many aspects of system administration Ubuntu Linux makes the installation of a printer straightforward and fast.
Installing a Directly Connected Printer
By far the easiest type of printer configuration is when the printer is attached directly to the system via a printer, serial or USB port. To configure a locally attached printer invoke the ???? dialog by selecting the System desktop menu and choosing Printing from the Administration menu. The resulting dialog will list any detected printers. Select the detected printer you wish to install and click the ???? button:
On the resulting screen select the printer manufacturer and choose the model from the list. Click on the ???? button to install the appropriate driver for the printer.
Once the driver is installed you are ready to try out the printer.