Printer setup is semi-broken and too dumbed-down :( [SOLVED]

[jamespaige]

I am trying to set up a printer for the first time in Linux Mint, but the printer setup tool apears to be too dumbed-down to even be usable. Maybe somebody can tell me what I am doing wrong or suggest some workarounds.

I am on a network with a large number of network printers. Most of them are laserjets. 9 of them are Laserjet 4250s. I am trying to set up a specific one of them. I already know what host name it is supposed to be using, which is lab-printer (resolves to 192.168.1.202)

I open the Printers screen. Then I click the "+" icon to Add A New Printer.
I click on "Network". Now I see a long lost of printers that have been autodetected. I see no hostnames, no IP addresses, so I have no way of knowing which of the 9 Laserjet 4250's I am looking at.

If I click on any of these printers, I get a printer entry of type "Local Raw Printer" with IP Address "localhost". I cannot edit the IP address.

If I go back to the Add A New Printer window, there is a box labelled "Address:" and if I type in lab-printer or 192.168.1.202 I get a printer that is named the same as whatever printer I clicked last in the list of printers, and the ip address is always "localhost" no matter what I typed. I can't find any options that allow me to edit the IP address of an already-existing printer.

What the heck am I doing wrong? Am I missing something here? Or is the printer config on Linux Mint really this terrible?

[altair4]

The printer utility is dumbed down and it's more than semi-broken but it not be Mint's fault. It be Gnome3's fault.

I don't know if it will get you any further in your quest but use the old utility instead. From a terminal run:

Code: Select all

system-config-printer

[jamespaige]

Aha! Thank you! system-config-printer does the trick.

So this one is gnome3's fault, huh? I have usually been happy with most of gnome's decisions over the years, but every once in a while they just throw in some idea that is so terrible that I don't even know what to think. Oh, well, I am sure it will get fixed eventually. Thank you for the workaround!

[altair4]

Actually, you got a lot further with Gnome3's printer utility than most folks do. What should have happened is you get stopped with this error message:

FirewallD is not running. Network printer detection needs services mdns, ipp, ipp-client and samba-client enabled on firewall. I don't think there is an installed firewall.

There's only one problem. There is no such thing as a FirewallD daemon in Mint, Ubuntu, or Debian. It's from RedHat. I think there was a lack of adult supervision in Gnomelandia3 on this one

[electroken]

So if I read the previous posts correctly, this is a problem with Mint which uses gnome 3. Does that mean in I have installed Mint mate I will be using gnome 2 and it will work correctly to install a printer?
No one seems to say that it will solve the problem or that by switching to mate from cinnamin will do it too.

I know that in previous versions of Mint and Ubuntu installing a printer was not too bad to do and most of the time I was able to do it unless I had some kind of problem with my network.

Now it seems we took a step backward and got rid a a gui which will lead us novices through the process to install a printer. Installing printers seems to be the most nasty job in computers and I have to say that Apple has had that right for many years. (Although to accomplish that, Apple makes its users buy apple only printers at a much higher price - not the way I want to go.)

I hope we can fix this issue soon before we lose even more new converts from the evil umpire.

[catweazel]

I think there was a lack of adult supervision in Gnomelandia3

HA! That explains why Gnome3 looks more and more like a Fisher-Price toy with every update.

[altair4]

So if I read the previous posts correctly, this is a problem with Mint which uses gnome 3. Does that mean in I have installed Mint mate I will be using gnome 2 and it will work correctly to install a printer?
No one seems to say that it will solve the problem or that by switching to mate from cinnamin will do it too.

I know that in previous versions of Mint and Ubuntu installing a printer was not too bad to do and most of the time I was able to do it unless I had some kind of problem with my network.

Now it seems we took a step backward and got rid a a gui which will lead us novices through the process to install a printer. Installing printers seems to be the most nasty job in computers and I have to say that Apple has had that right for many years. (Although to accomplish that, Apple makes its users buy apple only printers at a much higher price - not the way I want to go.)

I hope we can fix this issue soon before we lose even more new converts from the evil umpire.

** You can install MATE but then you will have other issues.
** Cinnamon contains the correct package to install the printer - it's just not in the Menu
** I agree that the Gnome3 gui has less function than the Gnome2 gui but it is consistent with Gnome's new Orwellian motto:
"If we reduce function the desktop becomes more functional"
** Apple does not require you to to buy an Apple only printer - in fact I don't think there is such a thing.