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From: Colin Brough on 22 Jan 2008 16:24
Does anyone have any experience of using a printer attached to a NAS
in a mixed Linux/Windows network?

I currently have both my printers connected to my Linux box; both are
USB connected. The Windows laptops that are also used in the house (by
others!) can both use them fine remotely - as long as the Linux box is
switched on!!

If I were to obtain a NAS - which I'm thinking about for the storage
principally - am I likely to be able from the Linux box to access the
printer attached to the NAS?

To give a concrete example, the Buffalo Linkstation range:

http://www.buffalo-technology.com/products/network-storage/linkstation/linkstation-live/

The manual says:

If a USB printer is plugged into your LinkStation, you can
easily add the printer to any Windows PC on your network.
Follow these steps for each PC that you want to be able to
access the printer.

(then there step by step Windows printer setup instructions; the
remote printer name is in the form "\\LinkStation_Name" (where the
name is set in the earlier NAS setup process).) Intriguingly the
Linkstation's Printer name cannot be changed from "lp" (short for
LinkStation Printer, apparently!!).

Cheers

Colin

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From: Big and Blue on 22 Jan 2008 19:06
Colin Brough wrote:
> Does anyone have any experience of using a printer attached to a NAS
> in a mixed Linux/Windows network?

No. I do have a printer on the network that is use by multiple systems
(Linux, MS Windows and MacOS) with no problem at all, but that's because it
has a network port (it even has wireless, which I don't actually use). It's
an hp6980.

But, from the system viewpoint I'd expect it to be similar.

> If I were to obtain a NAS - which I'm thinking about for the storage
> principally - am I likely to be able from the Linux box to access the
> printer attached to the NAS?

Yes - they usually use port 9100 or IPP printing protocols. They main
issue, I think, with these is whether you can get any of the feedback you
would normally get over USB (things like Ink cartridge status).

> Intriguingly the
> Linkstation's Printer name cannot be changed from "lp" (short for
> LinkStation Printer, apparently!!).

More likely short for "line printer". lp has been the default entry for
Unix printing since SysV started doing it (IIRC).


--
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From: chris on 23 Jan 2008 04:55
Colin Brough wrote:
> If I were to obtain a NAS - which I'm thinking about for the storage
> principally - am I likely to be able from the Linux box to access the
> printer attached to the NAS?

It /should/ if it works as a proper printer server, although some
functionality will be lost like, feedback from the printer being out of
paper.

I did wonder about this too in the past, but got a new networked
multifunction device instead which works natively via ethernet.

> To give a concrete example, the Buffalo Linkstation range:
>
> http://www.buffalo-technology.com/products/network-storage/linkstation/linkstation-live/


Did you see this bit?

Built-in Print Server to Print Files from Anywhere on your Network.
(Works where your printer is PostScript compatible and does not require
bi-directional communication.)

It may be worth dropping Buffalo a line asking them about it...
From: Big and Blue on 23 Jan 2008 17:38
Colin Brough wrote:
>
> To give a concrete example, the Buffalo Linkstation range:
>
> http://www.buffalo-technology.com/products/network-storage/linkstation/linkstation-live/

Oh - I forgot. That runs Linux. You can hack it to turn it into a
Linux server, should you wish (while still being a file and print server).

http://buffalo.nas-central.org/index.php/Main_Page

--
Just because I've written it doesn't mean that
either you or I have to believe it.
From: Colin Brough on 24 Jan 2008 06:32
On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:38:28 +0000, Big and Blue wrote:
> Colin Brough wrote:
>>
>> To give a concrete example, the Buffalo Linkstation range:
>>
>> http://www.buffalo-technology.com/products/network-storage/linkstation/linkstation-live/
>
> Oh - I forgot. That runs Linux. You can hack it to turn it into a
> Linux server, should you wish (while still being a file and print server).
>
> http://buffalo.nas-central.org/index.php/Main_Page

Neat.

Thanks for this, and the other replies in the thread.

Cheers

Colin

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