Re: detecting printer connected to the network

On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 5:28 AM, David <bouncingcats@gmail.com> wrote:

Did you do any internet search before asking here? I searched "Canon Pixma MX870 linux" and found these links:

http://support-sg.canon-asia.com/contents/SG/EN/0100272302.html
https://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showproduct.php/product/4447
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=143349

Reading those it looks like a specific printer driver must be installed before CUPS setup. Not every printer needs that, so perhaps that is why it is not mentioned in the wiki page you read.

Thanks for the reply David. The first link in your reply http://support-sg.canon-asia.com/contents/SG/EN/0100272302.html provides links to download the drivers. However, according to http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/printers_multifunction/pixma_mx_series/pixma_mx870#DriversAndSoftware , this printer does not need any driver for Linux or it may have already been included in the OS.

Anyway, through trial and error, I was able to set up the printer without downloading any special drivers. The trick is to use "LPD/LPR Host or Printer" option while setting up the printer.

I thought others might benefit from my experience and provided step by step instructions at http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/2014/06/setting-up-canon-pixma-mx870-printer-on.html .

thanks

Kamaraju S. Kusumanchi

http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/