Adding Printer to RHEL

Adding a printer to a RHEL-installed machine can be done by remote or if you are locally at the machine. Doing so requires sudo access to the machine, and if possible, always add the printer via the print server.

Connecting to the machine

• Connecting remotely through Putty

• Load up Putty and enter the FQDN of the machine in the "Host Name" blank and hit "Open". You don't need to change any other settings (unless you are using a version of Putty before v.055, in which case you need to click the SSH button under "Protocol"). If you get a prompt about adding (or changing) the RSA host key, say Yes.

• Connecting remotely from another Unix machine

• At a prompt, use the "ssh" command and the FQDN to connect to the machine. For example:

  ssh grendel.ece.ncsu.edu

• If you get a message about the RSA key having changed, see Editing your RSA Host Key File.

• Locally at the machine

• Hit CTRL+ALT+F1 to enter a text interface (TUI). Log in as normal. CTRL+ALT+F7 will return to the graphical interface (GUI) once you are done.

Changing to Root

Once you are logged into the machine, you must enter a root shell to be able to make the necessary changes. To do so, enter "sudo su -" at the prompt. You will be prompted to enter your unity password. If successful, you will then be acting as root.

MAKE ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES BEYOND THE ONES THAT ARE DESCRIBED BELOW

Adding the Printer

• Starting the tool

• As root, run the following command:

  system-config-printer-tui

• This will start the TUI version of the printer config tool. See Figure 1 below to see what the tool will look like.

• Within the printer config tool you must use TAB to move between fields and ENTER to make choices.

• Choosing the queue type

• TAB to "NEW" and hit ENTER. This will open up a window for choosing the type of queue you wish to create.
  • See Figure 2. As an example, we are adding the printer ARCTICWOLF to a computer. The first blank in this window is the name of the queue you are adding. Use the name of the printer for for the queue name.
  • Hit TAB once and use the down-arrow key to highlight "UNIX Print Queue LPD".
  • Hit TAB one more time to highlight "NEXT" and hit ENTER.

• Setting up the queue

• A new window will open for designating the print server and queue. See Figure 3.
  • In the first blank, enter "eceprint.ece.ncsu.edu".
  • In the second blank, enter the name of the queue for the printer. For nearly all printers, this should just be the name of the printer. In rare cases the queue name is different than the printer name. Check the print server or ask Dan, Patrick, or Brian if you are unsure.
  • TAB to "NEXT" and hit ENTER.

• Designating the printer driver

• The next window is for choosing the printer driver that the new queue will use
  • Use the Up and Down arrow keys to scroll through the list and SpaceBar to expand selections
  • Once you have found the driver you wish to use, highlight it, then TAB to "NEXT" and hit ENTER.

• Finish and save

• You'll now see a summary screen, as shown in Figure 4. TAB to "Finish" and hit ENTER.
  • You'll return to the screen shown in Figure 1. Add additional printers as necessary.
  • To set a printer as default, highlight the printer, then TAB to "Default" and hit ENTER.

• When you are finished, TAB to "Exit" and hit ENTER.
  • You'll get a msg saying that changes must be saved. Say YES and wait for the config tool to exit back to the command prompt.

• Exit from the root shell.
• You should now be able to print to the default printer with the command lpr "filename". If there are multiple printers added to the machine, you can choose to print to a particular printer with the command lpr -Pprintername "filename".

Gallery - Click on a picture to see in full-size

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  Printer Config Tool

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  Choosing queue type

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  Inputting server and queue

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  Summary screen