Using Print Release Printers from Linux

Introduction

The steps required to add a print release printer in Red Hat Enterprise style and Ubuntu/Debian style Linux are shown below. Make sure you know which distro you are using. The steps below have been tested on Scientific Linux 6.7, they should work on all Centos 5/6/7 and RHEL5/6/7 systems. They have also been tested on Ubuntu 14.04 so they may work on similar distributions such as Debian - but this has not been tested. If you are not sure which Linux distribution you are running try looking at the /etc/issue file, eg by doing

cat /etc/issue

A print release printer requires that you place your u-card on a card reader panel, it then logs you in as your UoB username and prints any jobs you have in the print release queue. There is only one queue name for everyone and you can pick up your printouts from any print release printer around the University. These instructions show you how to set up the Print_Release_B&W_Staff queue on a machine running some versions of Linux.

You must have Elevated User Rights (also known sudo access) or root access to the computer on which you intend to set up the print release printer.

Setting up a Printer Using the LPD Protocol

The LPD is the recommended protocol as it is simple to set up and avoids the authentication issues that may occur with the Samba (also known as SMB Windows Emulation) protocol. For print release, it is vital that the correct username is transmitted with the print request. The print release system will only release prints to the username it gets from the U-card used to log on to the system. So if you print from an account that has the correct UoB username then all should be well.

However, if you want to print from a system that does not use UoB usernames, eg an old server or a personal laptop, then you can 'hardwire' your UoB username into the printer setup. This means that all printing to that printer will only be retrievable by the owner of the username used to set up the printer. You now have to make a choice between

a general printer all users of the system can use as long as they are using their UoB usernames (multi user printer)
a 'personal' printer where all printing is attributed to one UoB username (single user printer)

If you want make life complicated, you can set up both kinds of queue if want as long as they have different names. There is no general solution for multi user printing on a computer which does not use UoB usernames, apart from setting up a queue for each user with the their UoB username hardwired into it.

Finally a word about drivers. Canon provide Linux drivers for their printers from their website, however, using simple test text and images, we found that generic postscript works as well as the Canon drivers. The generic PCL6 drivers produced unacceptable dithering in images. The steps to setup an LPD printer on Centos 5/6/7 and Ubuntu 14.04 are illustrated below.

LPD on RHEL5/6/7 and look-alikes.
LPD on Ubuntu 14.04 and look-alikes.

LPD on RHEL5/6/7 and look-alikes

Step 1

This section applies to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5/6/7 and clones such as Centos 5/6/7 and Scientific Linux 5/6/7. Firstly, start the printer configuration tool from a terminal window by typing the following.

sudo system-config-printer

After correctly entering your password, you should see something like the picture below. If you get a 'command not found' error, then you may need to install the printer configuration tool and the CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) package. To do this type:

sudo yum -y install system-config-printer cups

Then try the command again. I already have some printers set up, your window may be empty, and we're going to add a new printer.

If at any point, a window pops up asking if you want to reconfigure your firewall, choose 'Do it later'. If you choose the other option, then in my experience, bad things happen.

Step 2

Click on the 'New' button and you should get a window as below:

Step 3

Choose 'Network Printer' and you should get a screen like that below.

Choose 'LPD/LPR Host or Printer' and fill in the Host field as either is-print3.pcr.bris.ac.uk if you are setting up a multi user printer or username@is-print3.pcr.bris.ac.uk (inserting your username) if setting up a single user printer. The queue name is Print_Release_B&W_Staff then click 'forward'.

Step 4

Choose the 'Generic' driver then click 'Forward'.

Step 5

Choose the 'Postscript Printer' the highlighted recommended driver is fine, then click 'Forward'.

Step 6

Click the duplexer box to allow double sided printing then click 'Forward'.

Step 7

give the printer a meaningful name and description (which can be the same) and set the location eg room 3.41 in Physics.

Step 8

You can choose whether or not to send a test page.

Step 9

Before finishing you should check the properties of the printer, so right click on your new printer and select properties.

Step 10

Make sure the 'Printer Options' are set as above, click 'OK' and you're done!

LPD on Ubuntu 14.04 and look-alikes

Step 1

This section applies to Ubuntu 14.04 and lookalikes which may include Debian, but we have not tested this. Firstly, start the printer configuration tool from a terminal window by typing the following.

sudo system-config-printer

apt-get install system-config-printer cups

Then try the command again. I already have some printers set up, your window may be empty, and we're going to add a new printer.

If at any point, a window pops up asking if you want to reconfigure your firewall, choose 'Do it later'. If you choose the other option, then in my experience, bad things happen.