[Samba] Samba bidirectional printing support

[Paul Gienger]

> trying to install Canon s900 printer but canon printer monitor on win 
> PC is not working saying there's no bidirectional connection between win

That is probably the Canon app not wanting to work with a networked 
printer.  Those style apps are designed to work on a local machine with 
a local printer.  You could try to create a virtual LPR port and set the 
server to print in raw mode, but that probably won't get you over the hump.

> So, am i right that it is impossible to use modern printers via samba?

No, you're wrong.  It may be very difficult or impossible to use 
printers whose driver writers expect that printer to be attached to USB 
or parallel ports and cannot function over the network, but this will 
only hinder the advanced properties, perhaps such as ink sensing and 
what not.  Pull virtually any network aware printer off of the shelf 
today, install the drivers on your server and client and you'll be just 
fine.  Naturally this works better if the printer talks PostScript or 
any open printing language, but even without, many companies make valid 
unix drivers for network printers.

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Paul Gienger                    Office: 701-281-1884
Applied Engineering Inc.
Systems Architect               Fax:    701-281-1322
URL: www.ae-solutions.com       mailto: pgienger at ae-solutions.com