Setting up Printers

[Scott]

Is it just my imagination? Am I missing something? Or is (K)Ubuntu
very much lacking in documentation (official or otherwise) when it comes to
setting up printers?

I'd not paid any attention to it till recently, because I'd been without
a printer for two years.  I've since made up for lost time and acquired
two (both chosen because they are known to work well with Linux).

I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how to get them set up.

One of the printers is a HP 6840 Deskjet.  HP of course is famous for
the best overall compatibility with Linux.  I'd seen my printer among
those listed on http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net so that sealed the deal.

It's a great printer and it works very well under Windows... ;-)  I'm
still trying to get it to work under Linux.

The other printer is a Brother Multifunction 7820N and Brother has
drivers for Linux as well ( http://solutions.brother.com/linux/en_us/ ).
   So far this printer also works splendidly under Windows.  Linux is
still a work in progress....

Oh and after I went to the trouble to find HP's drivers online, I found
out that they are part of the default Ubuntu installation to begin with!
:-)  I was thrilled to see that, but puzzled by it.  Did HP send a
little $$ Canonicals way? :-)

Anyway, both printers now show up under "Printers" in GNOME, but when I
try to print, they response is as if they will, but then it just says
"paused" under the printer icon.  I try to restart and it just goes back
to paused again.

In KDE I can't get both to show up at once, because the HP uses CUPS and
the Brother uses lpr.  But when I try to print to either, the end result
is the same.  I get nowhere.

Both printers accept a print request under GNOME but the icons show 
"paused" afterwards and nothing happens.

In KDE I just get error messages when I try to print on either.

I'm told I can contact Brother for help because they do in fact truly 
support Linux, but I thought I'd mention both here anyway.

The HP on the other hand remains a problem, but since the drivers come 
with Ubuntu, I figure it can be easily solved.  I just can't figure out 
how to do that.

Your thoughts?

Thanks.


-- 
Scott
www.angrykeyboarder.com
© 2006 angrykeyboarder™ & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved