I don't do a lot of printing (but I currently own four printers...). When I do print things on paper, I expect things to work. Unfortunately, none of the major brands of printers out there actually work on Linux over Samba network shares to Windows with any reasonable measure of consistency. It is, however, a reasonable expectation that such things work out-of-the-box. Trust me, I've tried and I give up. My current solution is to use the free version of this software:
VirtualHere USB over IP
I currently have to SSH into the Linux box, start up VirtualHere server, run the VirtualHere client on my Windows machine, attach the printer I want to connect "locally", and pray that it works without any issues. Unlike Samba, which didn't work at all, doing all of that generally works but sometimes I'll have to reinstall the printer drivers because attaching a device to a major OS is apparently too much to ask for.
Two of my printers come with a WiFi hub built-in (turned off, of course) and a slew of other options I won't ever need or use. So, printer manufacturers, I want printer drivers that print and work across Samba network shares from Linux to Windows. Think you could maybe, possibly, perhaps get the most basic bits of your technology working properly before you fiddle around with extra stuff? Is it so much to ask for a printer that, well, prints?
VirtualHere USB over IP
I currently have to SSH into the Linux box, start up VirtualHere server, run the VirtualHere client on my Windows machine, attach the printer I want to connect "locally", and pray that it works without any issues. Unlike Samba, which didn't work at all, doing all of that generally works but sometimes I'll have to reinstall the printer drivers because attaching a device to a major OS is apparently too much to ask for.
Two of my printers come with a WiFi hub built-in (turned off, of course) and a slew of other options I won't ever need or use. So, printer manufacturers, I want printer drivers that print and work across Samba network shares from Linux to Windows. Think you could maybe, possibly, perhaps get the most basic bits of your technology working properly before you fiddle around with extra stuff? Is it so much to ask for a printer that, well, prints?
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