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Just thought i'd ask, before i pull all my hair out...

I gave up trying to get my printer (lexmark z33 usb) working in
slackware/kde, so i thought it would be easier to use it via smb with the
printer attached to another windows xp machine on the network.

However, whenever i try to set up the printer, i get a "SMB Backend not
supported" error.

I have samba installed and running. Also i've verified smbclient exists.

What do i need to do to be able to print to a windows shared printer?

Thanks,

--
-alex49201

alex49201 wrote:
>
> Just thought i'd ask, before i pull all my hair out...
>
> I gave up trying to get my printer (lexmark z33 usb) working in
> slackware/kde, so i thought it would be easier to use it via smb with the
> printer attached to another windows xp machine on the network.
>
> However, whenever i try to set up the printer, i get a "SMB Backend not
> supported" error.
>
> I have samba installed and running. Also i've verified smbclient exists.
>
> What do i need to do to be able to print to a windows shared printer?
>
Most books about Samba say it is not possible to print from Linux to
Windblows. However, this is not really true. XP is a whole different OS,
also. I don't remember the particulars, but it involves printing a test
page from Windblows to find out what files it uses to print, coping
these files to the Linux box and making a reference to these drivers in
the smb.conf file. Page 149 of "Sams Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours"
makes a reference to this procedure, but the edition I have is kind of
old and does not cover Windblows XP.

There area few other news groups that would probably be a better place
for you to find an answer: linux.samba and comp.protocols.smb

Good luck,
--
jamess
Slackware Linux... The choice of professionals.

run your file to print thru gs to get it formatted correctly for the
printer then send it to the printer with the following command

smbclient '\\hostname\printshare' -Nc 'print filename.out'

i run a script to convert the postscript to something appropriate for
the printer and submit command. whenever i want to print from an
application i just save to file as postscript then run the script against it

hope this helps

john

alex49201 wrote:
> Just thought i'd ask, before i pull all my hair out...
>
> I gave up trying to get my printer (lexmark z33 usb) working in
> slackware/kde, so i thought it would be easier to use it via smb with the
> printer attached to another windows xp machine on the network.
>
> However, whenever i try to set up the printer, i get a "SMB Backend not
> supported" error.
>
> I have samba installed and running. Also i've verified smbclient exists.
>
> What do i need to do to be able to print to a windows shared printer?
>
> Thanks,
>

James Stafford wrote:
> alex49201 wrote:
>
>>Just thought i'd ask, before i pull all my hair out...
>>
>>I gave up trying to get my printer (lexmark z33 usb) working in
>>slackware/kde, so i thought it would be easier to use it via smb with the
>>printer attached to another windows xp machine on the network.
>>
>>However, whenever i try to set up the printer, i get a "SMB Backend not
>>supported" error.
>>
>>I have samba installed and running. Also i've verified smbclient exists.
>>
>>What do i need to do to be able to print to a windows shared printer?
>>
>
> Most books about Samba say it is not possible to print from Linux to
> Windblows.

Which books? I'd like to know, so I can avoid them. "Using SAMBA" (by Robert
Eckstein, David Collier-Brown & Peter Kelly, (c) O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN
1-56592-449-5), while it doesn't explicitly supply a script for printing on
Windows-hosted printers, /does/ document how to use the smbclient program to
print on a Windows system.

FWIW, /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs/SMB-HOWTO chapter 10 (" Sharing A Windows Printer
With Linux Machines") provides a script that I've successfully used between
Linux and my Windows 98 desktop (the Win98 has my inkjet printer).


> However, this is not really true. XP is a whole different OS,
> also. I don't remember the particulars, but it involves printing a test
> page from Windblows to find out what files it uses to print, coping
> these files to the Linux box and making a reference to these drivers in
> the smb.conf file.

That has nothing to do with printing from Linux to Windows. What that does is
permit Windows clients to install the proper printer drivers to print to a
Linux-hosted printer, or to a Windows-hosted printer routed through Samba.

In that case, the Windows client has two choices: to install the driver from
it's install media (i.e. from the Windows install CDROM), or to install the
driver from the Samba host. In a Windows-to-Windows network, the server is a
Windows machine that /already/ has the Windows device driver for the printer
that the Windows client machine wants to print to. The procedure you quote
above permits Samba to act the same as a Windows server that provides a
printer to a Windows client, not a Samba server trying to print on a
Windows-hosted printer.

> Page 149 of "Sams Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours"
> makes a reference to this procedure, but the edition I have is kind of
> old and does not cover Windblows XP.

The Sams book probably has a section on Windows NT; Windows XP is WinNT 5.0,
and can be treated as a WinNT system for the purposes of Samba configuration
and use.

> There area few other news groups that would probably be a better place
> for you to find an answer: linux.samba and comp.protocols.smb
>
> Good luck,


--
Lew Pitcher

Master Codewright and JOAT-in-training
Registered Linux User #112576 (http://counter.li.org/)
Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing.

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 21:51:37 -0400, Lew Pitcher wrote:
> James Stafford wrote:

>> Page 149 of "Sams Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours"
>> makes a reference to this procedure, but the edition I have is kind of
>> old and does not cover Windblows XP.
>
> The Sams book probably has a section on Windows NT; Windows XP is WinNT

Jup, try "echo %os%" or "set |find /i nt" in a `cmd.exe' prompt.

> 5.0,

s/5.0/5.1/

Windows 2000 would be 5.0
(Probably the `ver' command will return it (not sure.))

> and can be treated as a WinNT system for the purposes of Samba configuration
> and use.

Yes, as for just about anything else as well.

[...]

--
-Menno.

alex49201 wrote:
> Just thought i'd ask, before i pull all my hair out...
>
> I gave up trying to get my printer (lexmark z33 usb) working in
> slackware/kde, so i thought it would be easier to use it via smb with the
> printer attached to another windows xp machine on the network.
>
> However, whenever i try to set up the printer, i get a "SMB Backend not
> supported" error.
>
> I have samba installed and running. Also i've verified smbclient exists.
>
> What do i need to do to be able to print to a windows shared printer?
>
> Thanks,

I'm not printing Linux->Win but I use the smbprint script that should be
on your box already. There are a few of them for different needs.

/usr/doc/samba-2.2.8a/examples/printing/smbprint
/usr/doc/samba-2.2.8a/examples/printing/smbprint.newer
/usr/doc/samba-2.2.8a/examples/printing/smbprint.old
/usr/doc/samba-2.2.8a/examples/printing/smbprint.safer
/usr/doc/samba-2.2.8a/examples/printing/smbprint.sysv

HP-P1000 PhotoSmart

Prints graphics, text and pictures just fine.

The script uses the smbclient command as mentioned. I use a stripped
down old custom version of this script. Basically a 1 liner.

#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/smbclient "//server/hp1000" mypass -U myacc -N -P -c "print -"

Netscape print command is /usr/bin/smbprint %f as an example.