Where to from here??

[Daniel Mons]

Hi Dave,

Ensure when you reply to the list you click "reply to all", otherwise
emails go directly to the individual, and not to the entire list.

The Wassermans wrote:
> Thank you Daniel for your fulsome and soothing advice.
>  
> Thank you also all the other respondents to my plea for help.  This is a
> wonderful community.
>  
> The printer concerned is a Lexmark X1195.  I installed it and Ubuntu
> correctly identified the machine and found the driver.  After next . .
> next  process it told me that the printer is installed and ready.  But
> it won't print the test page!
>  
> Somewhere within the website I read that USB hardware may need special
> installation treatment?  I have since noticed that my USB speakers are
> not working.  Although the system see's my memory stick without a
> problem.  Maybe I am just spoilt by "plug and play"?

I always reference the Linux Printing Database in times like these:
http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=Lexmark

Sadly your printer is listed under the "paperweight" section.  This
typically means that the printer manufacturer uses a
non-standard/proprietary print language (ie: Not generic PCL or PS
[PostScript]).  Although if it's a relatively new printer, it might not
be fully supported just yet.

Remember however that MacOSX uses the same print engine as Linux (they
both use CUPS - "Common UNIX Printing System").  If you are feeling
adventurous, head to the Lexmark website, download and extract the
MacOSX driver.  In there you should find a "PPD" file, which you can
then tell Ubuntu's print manager to use as it's driver for your printer.

http://downloads.lexmark.com/cgi-perl/downloads.cgi?category=Drivers&ccs=15:1:0:521:0:0&searchLang=en&os_group=Mac%20OS%20X

If in the future you are looking to change to another printer, I
whole-heartedly recommend going through the Linux printing database and
choosing a printer that's fully supported.  My brand of choice for
printing is HP, as they have gone out of their way to support the free
software community by open sourcing all of their print drivers under
sensible licenses, and supporting the most common print systems (such as
CUPS).



>  
> I'll try WINE.  (I like red!)
> I am also going to have a look at a couple of FLOSS financial
> applications to see if I can find something suitable.
> I'll stick to the vanilla Ubuntu as suggested - at least until I better
> understand its mentality.

My finacee is a accounts payable person and professional book keeper as
well.  She's tried a few out including KMyMoney2 and GNUCash, but
eventually settled on Grisbi as her personal favourite.

http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/index-home.html
http://www.gnucash.org/
http://www.grisbi.org/

There are plenty of others out there as well.

-Dan