[Samba] Access 2003 printing?

[Daniel Kasak]

Derek Harkness wrote:

> Has anybody found a fix for the Access 2003 printing?  I've got a 
> couple of work arounds but neither is a good long term solution.

My solution was to replace Access ( XP in our case ) with Gtk2-Perl apps 
- reports are rendered direct to PDFs and opened in gpdf. You'd be 
surprised how well it works :)

If you want a quick workaround and you're using a CUPS printing backend 
on your Samba server, you can try using direct IPP printing ( without 
Samba in the middle ... sorry to anyone who is offended by this solution 
... I don't mean any harm ). There are plently of instructions around on 
how to do this, but you basically use the 'add new printer' wizard, and 
on the first step ( where it asks you for the share name or to click the 
browse button ), you select the bottom option ( print to a printer on 
the internet or your intranet ). Then enter the printer's path, in the 
format:

http://servername_or_ip_address/printers/printer_name_in_cups

so my 'laserjet4500' printer in cups is:

http://10.146.0.254/printers/laserjet4500

It works like a charm for us. Of course if you need to have Samba in the 
equation for some reason, then this option will not do at all. But if 
you just want to get your damned Access 2003 apps to print to your 
printer then it will work great.

One more possibility to try before all this is to check what drivers 
you're using. I don't know the exact problem you're having, and this 
might be completely unrelated, but Access refuses to print through PCL6 
drivers on any of our printers ( last time I tested this was through 
Samba, but now we're using direct IPP everywhere ). Downgrading to PCL5 
drivers got printing working for us.

-- 
Daniel Kasak
IT Developer
NUS Consulting Group
Level 5, 77 Pacific Highway
North Sydney, NSW, Australia 2060
T: (+61) 2 9922-7676 / F: (+61) 2 9922 7989
email: dkasak at nusconsulting.com.au
website: http://www.nusconsulting.com.au