Printer support is possible in Linux by way of the CUPS subsystem. CUPS is a UNIX style
system whose acronym stands for:

Common Unix Printing System

CUPS is what is known as a 'Print Server' and needs to activated in order to function.
Once running it is necessary to install a printer driver.

Luckily most of the work is done automatically. Let's see how to our part.

Detecting a printer:

Open the Configuration menu and select the Start Cups and Printer.

A dialog box appears to start CUPS and install a printer. Click the Start box and wait.
It can take quite a while for your printer to be detected. During the detection
process it can appear that nothing is happening. Just wait a while.

If your printer is detected, another window will automatically appear showing an icon for the
printer and its name.







The name of this window is gnome-cups-manager and you can run the New Printer utility whenever
necessary to resolve a printing problem. To access it just go to the Utilities folder and look for it.

Now click the right mouse button over the detected printer icon and select the Make
default option. New icon appears with a check mark on the printer denoting it is now the default
printer.

Testing it out:

Don't use the auto test function of the printer utility, we'll go another route instead:

First go to the menu and find the 'Printer System Settings' and open it and in the screen that
opens choose CUPS.

Now open a text editor, Mousepad or Abiword. Write something and print.

If your printer has been correctly installed ...

Now is the time to make CUPS the permanent printing system. In Dreamlinux CUPS is not loaded when the
system starts. To make CUPS start automatically so that you don't have to install your printer the next time
you turn on the computer, do this:

Go to the utilities folder and look for the Services icon. Click this icon and in the following
screen navigate with the arrow keys on the keyboard and select 'cupsys' by pressing the space bar
placing an 'X' next to it to activate a system start.

Use the TAB key to move to the OK button and press ENTER.

Thats it.

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Problem - My printer isn't detected.

This system doesn't always work perfectly due to the vast number of printers that exist.
Your printer may be a very new one a very old one or one that is a brand that is not very
common. In this case you'll have to activate your printer manually directly in Linux
( not in Dreamlinux but in Linux itself, any version).

The first thing to try is installing more drivers.

Open a terminal session and type:

sudo apt-get install hplip cupsys-driver-gimpprint cupsys-driver-gutenprint

This installs more drivers making it more likely that your printer will be detected.

Repeat the steps at the beginning of the tutorial to see if your printer is
now detected.

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