Re: Sharing Linux printer with Mac

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@mesanetworks.net>]

On Sat, Jan 21, 2006 at 01:36:26AM -0500, Chinook wrote:
> P4 with Debian Etch (testing), kernel 2.6.12-1-686,
> Gnome desktop and USB attached printer and scanner
> 
> PMac G5 running OS X Tiger (10.4.4)
> ......................................................................................
> 
> I've got my AppleTalk/zeroconf LAN setup working for file sharing -  
> with netatalk and task-howl on the Linux box. 
> 
> 
> When I had my printer connected to my Mac I could print to it from the 
> Linux box with just CUPS whether the Mac AppleTalk connection with the 
> Linux box was active or not.   Then I decided I wanted more desk space 
> around my Mac and moved the printer to my Linux box.  Now I can print 
> from my Linux box, but I can't seem to figure out how to print to it 
> from my Mac :-P 
> 
> 
> For once I'm finding the printer setup on my Mac the more difficult :-(  
> I've tried it outside the AppleTalk connection by simply supplying an 
> address of 192.168.2.69:631 and though the printer definition is 
> accepted, actual printing says the printer is busy.  I've also tried it 
> with the AppleTalk connection up, again supplying the same address, with 
> the same results.  I've also tried variations of addresses without 
> success. 
> 
> 
> I'm sure I'm tripping over the obvious but what???  Is there a way to 
> specify the Linux printer from my Mac outside AppleTalk?  Or if I need 
> to through AppleTalk, do I need to further edit my Linux netatalk setup 
> - maybe the papd.conf??? 
> 
> 
> If I do need to (somehow) use the Linux printer with AppleTalk, there is 
> another lesser question.  How do I ensure that the howl tools 
> (mDNSResponder for advertising) start at login like afpd and atalkd.  

Actually, afpd and atalkd are started at boot-up, which occurs before any
login on a traditional UNIX system. All the boot-up scripts are stored in
/etc/init.d on a Debian machine. They are invoked via soft-links in the
in the several run-level directories /etc/rc[S0-6].d There is a lot of
picky detail, which is well documented at www.debian.org. You can initiate
anything by writing a shell script and installing it and links to it. Be
sure to implement three commands, at least: start, stop, restart


> Following is the mDNSBrowse info if it's any help.
> 
> I'm keeping notes on the detail steps in order to share the setup with 
> anyone else they might help,  so if you want to see the detail steps 
> I've taken so far I can send along the text file or put it up on my 
> dotMac account for download. 
> 

I, for one, am interested is learning how to get a printer on a Mac shared
to a Linux box. I thought it would be easy, but I failed.

-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon@mesanetworks.net