I have my desktop loaded with Ubuntu 8.04
well I think that is the version. I have this
connected to my printer, my questions is what
do I need to do on Ubuntu to allow me to print
from my laptop connected by wireless. I know
on Windows I have to share because it is working
on the same machine while running XP. Now I
want to convert the PC to Ubuntu. Along with that
question do I need to load Samba onto the Ubuntu
to allow me to export a disk section or another
hard disk installed inside the desktop.


I just installed a printer from my daughter's Vista laptop and it detected my
Ubuntu desktop and I just went ahead and installed the driver in Windows for my
Brother laser. I printed a test page and it printed fine. It took less than one
minute to install.

I did not have to do anything in Linux. It was all handled on the Windows end. I
have Samba installed in Ubuntu, but the printer is not shared on my Linux end.
The irony is that the printer in question is a network printer physically
attached to a print server and on a different floor from my Ubuntu desktop. It
has its own ip address, but it would not install through ipp. So a print message
is relayed from her computer in the same room as the printer through my Ubuntu
desktop two floors down to the network print server which is feet from her.
However, when I typed the ip address into Vista it could not detect the printer
directly. In other words, my Linux computer is working better as a print server
than going directly. I don't pretend to understand the mysteries of Vista. It
just worked.

I don't suggest that XP will do it as easily, but it seems that it is not hard
to do and that Windows XP should be able to detect a printer physically attached
to an Ubuntu installation without lots of Samba configuration. My daughter is
home from university for the weekend and has her own laser printer, so it is not
worth my time to get it set up properly. I was just amazed at the simplicity
with which it was done.