[Solved] 11.10 doesn't see my USB printer

[David Shochat]

On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 4:47 PM, Ioannis Vranos
<ioannis.vranos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Also I think there shouldn't be any menu.lst file. That was from GRUB 1.
>
Yes, I think you are right that menu.lst is for GRUB 1. And
/etc/default/grub is for GRUB 2. So since I have the former and not
the latter, I clearly have GRUB 1. Interesting. This is obviously a
system that has been updated to Oneric (11.10). If someone were to
install Oneiric from scratch (from an ISO) rather than update, would
he/she be given GRUB 2?

Ok, I think I found the answer in:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

---------------------------------
Upgrading to GRUB 2 From GRUB
Upgrading to GRUB 2 from GRUB (legacy) in Ubuntu 9.10 or earlier
versions is relatively easy. Importantly, the upgrade offers a process
to ensure   GRUB 2 will work on your machine before the user commits
to a full conversion. Note however that the developers made a decision
to not use an automatic update to GRUB 2 as the default on upgrade
installs. Users who upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 may continue to use GRUB if
desired.
---------------------------------

That "developers made a decision" bit I think explains everything.
I've been upgrading since my first Ubuntu release (Dapper).
I haven't read the rest in detail, but I think I read something to the
effect that I would have gotten the behavior I wanted and expected, if
I HAD been using GRUB 2, namely that it would pick up on all available
kernels automatically. And it means that what you had said was correct
(FOR GRUB 2).
To get back on topic, problems like this one (11.10 breaking printer
detection) are a pain, but after it's all over, you've learned so much
that you never would have if thing had gone smoothly. For me, 11.10
has been a most un-smooth upgrade.
-- David