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Table of Contents
Setting up Printers on Unix or Linux
Printing on the department-run Unix and Linux systems is covered elsewhere. These instructions refer to self-managed systems, and are better used for static machines on the wired network (rather than, for example, laptops on wireless).
Wired network linux printing
The simplest way to use the Physics print queues is to use CUPS print software on your Unix/Linux system. This is the default print system for most current Linux distributions.
GNOME Setup
To set up CUPS in GNOME, go to System → Administration → Printing
In the menu go to Server → Settings….
Under basic settings check Show printers shared by other systems. Close out of basic settings (click OK) and then reopen it and click Advanced….
Under Browse Servers click Add and type cups.physics.umn.edu (not cups.spa.umn.edu as illustrated above!). Hit enter and click OK and then OK again to close the basic settings. The Printer configuration window should now begin displaying all of the physics print queues.
Command Line Setup
Find your cupsd.conf configuration file (usually it's /etc/cups/cupsd.conf) and add a line:
BrowsePoll cups.physics.umn.edu
This line should replace any other BrowsePoll line inserted from earlier versions of these instructions.
After restarting the cups service on your computer (eg /etc/init.d/cups restart), all the network print queues should be available to you automatically.
If using CUPS, check for print queues using the command line tools such as “lpc” and “lpq”. Send print jobs using the “lpr” command. The graphical printer configuration tools provided with most linux systems are unlikely to work correctly.
For systems which lack CUPS, you can send print jobs using the lpr/lpd protocol through our print server, lpr.spa.umn.edu, which will accept print jobs from any system registered in the Physics network. Please refer to the man pages on your system for exact details on how to set up printing.
Do not depend on sending data directly to printers (hostnames or IP addresses), as they may be changed or access control may be enforced. The only supported way of printing is through the CUPS or lpd queues documented here!