[Nottingham] linux laptop with printing

[Alex Tibbles]

Hi there! I've not managed to make the domestic
arrangements necessary to attend a meeting (yet) but
was wondering if anyone had some advice.
My girlfriend has bought an IBM thinkpad R31. She
wants me help to put linux on it. I've found a bit of
stuff about it eg
http://www.xs4all.nl/~matto/tpr31.html,
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/M.Hansard/thinkpad-r31.htm,
http://www.systura.com/linux/thinkpadr31.html - the
most helpful of which recommends debian Woody to
install from.
Someone on this list (sorry, can't remember) said just
now that they were using an old thinkpad with linux.
Has anyone got distribution recommendations?

A 'big thing' for her is to be able to print pictures.
After James Siddle's problems i thought I might reveal
my lack of knowledge about such things and ask for
pointers. How do i find out whether a given printer
will work under linux (say debian, or redhat)? As far
as I can tell eg. HP do not release linux drivers.
I've found linuxprinting.org which will give me useful
info on specific printers under certain environments.

Is this right: there are several linux printing
daemons lpd, lpdng, cups etc. whether it works will
depend on the printer-daemon combination.
is one daemon 'the best'?

Has anyone any horror stories of printers that simply
dont work with linux. how do i spot a winprinter? any
recommendations for decent quality colour inkjets
which work well with linux?

thanks,
alex

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