Clemson:Printing

From Linux 101, The beginner's guide to all things Linux.

1 Introduction
2 Printing with CUPS
3 Printing on Campus
4 Links

[edit] Introduction

There are many printers around Clemson campus set up by various departments or CCIT. Most of them are black & white HP LaserJet printers. Generally, any student or faculty member who can sign on to the Clemson Netware system can use them in Windows, although some are not publicly listed (usually those in offices, classrooms etc.). This article aims to explain how to use them in Linux.

[edit] Printing with CUPS

CUPS stands for Common UNIX Printing System. It consists of a daemon for processing print jobs, a web server, and a lot of good printer drivers. You distribution undoubtedly has some way of setting up CUPS and starting it when your computer boots. You can use cupsdconf to set up the daemon, also you can edit your /etc/cups/cupsd.conf for more options. There is a probably a printing administration tool that comes with your distribution, but if you can't find it or it's not there, you can use your web browser to administrate CUPS by going to http://localhost:631/ - this is CUPS' built in web server.

[edit] Printing on Campus

There are several "public" printers in different labs across campus. These printers are managed by CCIT, or the college or department that houses them. Different people manage printers in different ways.

Note: Before you try printing, make sure you have CUPS set up correctly on your machine. Do not print to printers that you do not have access to, and make sure to test your print configuration before printing any large jobs.

[edit] Computer Science printers

This is by far the easiest because you can just use the Computer Science department's print server at printhost.cs.clemson.edu. This is a standard LPD print queue, just add it as such in your CUPS configuration.

[edit] College of Engineering & Science (CES) printers

These are fairly easy to use because all the printers have IP printing enabled, they have fixed (static) IP addresses, and there are DNS addresses corresponding to their addresses. This includes most of the printers in the Math Sciences building (except the ones in Martin CCIT lab).

[edit] CCIT printers

CCIT has relied on Netware's printing system for a long time, and the Netware system Clemson uses does not work with the existing Linux Novell printing tools. Since CCIT doesn't have a traditional print server set up, Linux users must print directly to the printers themselves using IP printing (assuming it is enabled on the printer).

While most of the CCIT printers on campus now have IP printing enabled, they don't have DNS addresses or even fixed IP's for the printers. Thus, while it is not difficult to print to these printers if you know their addresses, it can be hard to find the printers' addresses. Once you find them, it's possible the printer's IP will change, and you'll have to find the new address. Luckily, some CUPS configuration tools have builtin utilities for scanning the printer ports of many machines on the network to see if there are any printers available. This is your best chance because CCIT estimates next summer before they get their printing system fixed.

[edit] Your department's printers

How you access the printers local to your department depends on how your department's printers are set up. Ask your deparment's system administrator, CCIT representative, or computer guru for more information.