Q I'm a teacher in a school and when I started to take care of the computers in the teachers' room they all ran Windows. Now I'm preparing to install Ubuntu on one of them, but the job is difficult because of one 'minor' detail - the printer! They have a PC running Windows Server, connected to a switch. The server is running exclusively to serve the printer. I'm running Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and I can't print. Ubuntu detects the printer, a Samsung CLP-500, and I have installed the drivers, but nothing prints. Do I have to use Samba?
A According to the OpenPrinting database at www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting, this printer needs the SpliX driver, available from http://splix.sourceforge.net. While this driver works well with some Samsung lasers (it's great with my mono laser), it is only reported as working 'partially' with the CLP-500. This appears to be because it is limited to 600dpi printing. Samsung also provides a Linux driver that you can download from http://short.zen.co.uk/?id=792 (the full URL is ridiculously long). SpliX is included with the current Ubuntu, so it's just a matter of installing it via Synaptic and then picking the right driver in the printer configuration tool. CUPS can talk to Windows printers - it uses the Samba client libraries, so you need Samba installed, but you do not have to configure it yourself. Ubuntu installs Samba by default, so there's nothing you need to do in this respect. All you need to do is install the SpliX package from Synaptics then run New Print in System > Administration > Printers and select the correct printer when asked.