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 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.

My problem is that the printer is attached to the
Ubuntu machine, not the Windows machine. I wouldn't
have a problem if it were the other way around. I
believe there is a Linux tool to allow this but don't
know which one.

My problem is that the printer is attached to the
Ubuntu machine, not the Windows machine. I wouldn't
have a problem if it were the other way around. I
believe there is a Linux tool to allow this but don't
know which one.


You missed my point which was that I did not have to do anything in Linux for
Windows Vista to find my printers. One is attached physically to my Ubuntu
desktop and the other is a network printer attached to a print server. Neither
is a attached to a Windows machine. When Vista searched for printers, it found
both the attached one and the print server and I never intended to share either
one. However, my daughter wanted the laser attached to the print server. It
would have been just as easy to install the HP photo printer attached to Ubuntu
8.10, since both turned up when Vista searched. As it was, Vista could not find
the print server using its static ip address and, this is the kicker, it found
it as a printer attached to ubuntu-desktop (which it wasn't). I thought that it
was worth a try so I set it up as an attached printer anyway and it worked.

My point was: a) I have not tried to share either printer in Ubuntu, but Windows
Vista detected them anyway
b) I did not have to do anything on the Ubuntu machine to make them available to
Windows. That just happened naturally.

This was a Windows Vista laptop (not XP) and it may be better than XP at
detecting printer shares, but it was able to do it without any problem, despite
my not intending to share these printers through Ubuntu.

I have no Vista experience beyond helping my daughter from time to time. I have
a couple of XP machines in the house, but don't personally use them. I plan to
try to install on one of the XP machines the printer that is attached to my
Ubuntu desktop and see how it goes. If it went as easily as it did with Vista
then I would be surprised as Windows is not always predictable, in my
experience.

omehow I missed part of that, I looked to me like
the printer was attached to the Windows PC only. I will
try again, I may have missed something, it would seem that
if I can see the printer on the Ubuntu machine then I should
be able to print through it.

I think the difference is that one printer is attached to a print
server with its own ip and the other is attached to ubuntu and needs to
have an ip that windows can find, assigned to the printer