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This guide will tell you how to set up a printer under Red Hat Linux 6.0
I will assume you are using a parallel port printer.
First, in order to set up a printer, you will need to *shudder* recompile your kernel. Read Joey's kernel guide if you are new to recompiling your kernel. You will only need to uncomment one line in your .config file, which is:
CONFIG_PRINTER
You can also find this under "Character Devices" as "Parallel Printer Support" in 'make menuconfig'. Make sure you compile the Parallel Printer Support as a module (M).
Now that you've done that, (and rebooted) make sure your printer is hooked up correctly and issue the following command:
/sbin/insmod lp
Now if that worked, go into X and open an terminal window.
su to root, and type 'printtool'
Now. Click the "Add" button
Select "Local Printer" and then click "Ok"
If all went well, you should now be presented with a message similar to this:
Auto-detection found the following:
/www.lp0 : Detected
/www.lp1 : Not detected
/www.lp2 : Not detected
Click "Ok"
Now click on the button "Select" in the Input Filter row.
Select your printer type from the list, I have a Canon BJC 4000 series printer, so I chose "Canon BJC-600 and BJC-4000" from the list and clicked "Ok"
Now select "Ok" and your printer should be added to the list in 'printtool'
If not already started, highlight, "lpd" from the top menu and select "Restart lpd"
Highlight your printer and select "Tests" from the top menu. Click on "Print ASCII Test page" If all goes well, your printer should be printing a test page. Congratulations, you have now made your printer usable in linux. If you haven't already, go into 'setup' and 'System Startup Services' and make sure that "lpd" is checked off.
Note: A cool thing to do (as root) is type 'echo "blahblah" > /www.lp0' (or whatever your printer www.ce is) and it will go right to the printer.
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