Shared Printers

OpenRG includes a print server that allows printers attached to OpenRG via the USB connection to be shared by all computers on the LAN. Such a printer appears on the network map, and can be managed using the WBM.

Figure 6.40: Printer on Network Map

You can access the printer settings directly by clicking the printer icon on the network map. The 'Printer' screen appears (see figure 6.41), where you can view information about your printer, as well as view a list of print jobs (when in queue).

Figure 6.41: Printer Settings

Alternatively, access the 'Print Server' screen by clicking the 'Shared Printers' tab under the 'Local Network' screen:

Figure 6.42: Print Server

This screen enables you to configure your print server with the following options:

Enabled

Check or un-check this box to enable or disable this feature.

Spool to Disk

Select this option to allow print jobs to be written to a disk before printing.

Allow Guest Access

Allow network users that have not logged in with a username and password to use the shared printer.

LPD Support

Enable the LPD protocol.

IPP Support

Enable the IPP protocol.

Microsoft Shared Printing Support

Enable the Samba protocol.

Printers

This table displays OpenRG's printers, their status and print job information.

OpenRG provides three protocols for computers to connect to its printers:

1. Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) (see section 6.5.2)
   The recommended protocol is IPP, offering fast installation and ease of use.

2. Microsoft Shared Printing (Samba) (see section 6.5.3)
   The Samba protocol allows the administrator to upload Windows print drivers to OpenRG, enabling all Windows-based LAN hosts to connect to the network printer with a single click. It is advised that this protocol be set up by a technical administrator.

3. Line Printer Daemon (LPD) (see section 6.5.4)
   LPD is a legacy network printing protocol, which should only be used for printing from computers that do not support IPP.

The following table compares the specifications of these three protocols:

Specification	IPP	Samba	LPD
Installation	Easy	Easy	Difficult
Driver upload	None	Supported	None
Supported clients	Windows, Unix, Mac	Windows, Mac	Windows, Unix, Mac
Job feedback and control	Print queue monitor and management console	Print queue monitor and management console	Management console only
Printer control	Print queue monitor	None	None
Access controls	Print and administrator	Print permission only	None

Important Note For Mac Users:
When connecting a print server to a Mac computer, you must verify that the printer connected to the board is supported by Mac OS as a network printer. Supported printers are marked with an "X" in the following URL: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301175#hpdrivers.

The scenarios in this chapter have been tested with Mac OS version 10.4.4.