[GLLUG] JetDirect printer problem was GLLUG Digest, Vol 239, Issue 2

[John Winters]

I had a further thought as I was having my morning walk today.

A better and cheaper solution would be to use a Raspberry Pi rather than
your JetDirect box (although not actually cheaper as you've already got
the latter - but still much more functional).

Take 1 Raspberry Pi with WiFi - all current ones have WiFi.

Connect it to your local LAN over WiFi and then connect to your printer
with USB.  Let the auto-configuration bit set up the printer for you
automatically (which it can do because it can get the necessary
identification through USB).  This is much easier with Linux than
Windows because there are no drivers to download and install.

Once the printer is working from the RPi, go into the CUPS admin
interface on the Rpi and tick the "Share this printer to the LAN" box.

You'll then find that the printer is automatically configured and
available on every Linux or MacOS box which connects to your network.
There's absolutely nothing further to do.

Install Linux on a new system, connect it to your network and hey
presto, it will be able to print to that printer.  This is where the
advantages of CUPS start to really shine through.

If you need to print from Windows boxen as well, then install Samba on
the RPi and share the printer through that as well.  This is much
messier than the CUPS setup, but it can be done.

HTH
John

-- 
Xronos Scheduler - https://xronos.uk/
All your school's schedule information in on place.
Timetable, activities, homework, public events - the lot
Live demo at https://schedulerdemo.xronos.uk