Arch Linux

dhave

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

From: Outside the matrix.

Registered: 2005-05-15

Posts: 1,112

Wifi printer installation (mini-sermon for the choir)

I know this is preaching to the choir, but every now and then I'm just so impressed with Linux, and especially Arch, that my admiration wells up to the point that it must find expression.

I have a nice little wireless HP DeskJet 6980 printer. I bought an HP because I had read that their Linux support was decent compared to some other brands.

Using HP's method for adding the printer to the network went fine. No complaints.

Next, though, I had to install the printer for my wife's Windows XP machine. The regular printer install routine from the control panel didn't work, so I had to download a huge installation file (over 200Mb), decompress it using some proprietary method, then start answering questions from a series of dialog boxes. I of course chose, "Find my printer for me". Nearly five minutes later, nada. I did the routine again with the same results. I searched on the Web for 10 minutes or so until I found something about how to determine the printer's IP address and manually enter it. Only after doing this was I able to get the printer to work. Not SUCH big a deal, but not exactly Plug and Play. (I don't blame HP, by the way; I think the Windows installation routine was the problem here.)

To install the same wifi printer on Arch Linux, I did the following:

(1) # pacman -S hplip
(2) # hp-setup

I then had to answer one question, after which the utility promptly located the wireless printer on my network and asked me to confirm the location. That was it.

The entire process on Arch Linux, including the download and installation, probably took about 2 minutes.

I thought Linux was supposed to be the operating system that required you to scan the Internet looking for drivers, study documentation, ask zillions of questions, mess up a few times, then finally get it right after everyone else in the house has gone to bed.

Well, to be honest, that has been my experience more than once, but not in this case.

Linux ownz or whatever... (sorry, I'm 52 years old [see photo] and have no business trying to talk this way).

Last edited by dhave (2008-07-02 13:10:54)

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ralvez

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-12-06

Posts: 1,694

Website

Re: Wifi printer installation (mini-sermon for the choir)

It's funny but I have found the same thing as you. Whenever I help my wife with her Windows machine things look convoluted and unnecessarily complicated when I compare them to Linux.

At times I think that may be I've gotten so used to the Unix ways that Windows seems "out of touch" or may be Linux has progressed so much since I started using it (RedHat 6.0 I think) that all those things are almost plug-and-play now.

R.

Last edited by ralvez (2008-07-02 13:19:55)