It will scan for both printers that are plugged directly into the computer and those that are visible on the local area network. To fix it, no surprise, click on the green “ Add a Printer…” button. On the left side, near the bottom, is “ Printers“. Make sure you’re logged in to your administrative account on the Linux system so you have permissions to add new devices and go to Settings. If you’re lucky, you won’t need to identify this and your printer will be immediately recognized when the Linux system scans for printers, but that did not work in my case, so knowing how to obtain the information is definitely helpful. Armed with this information, I can have any device or computer on my network communicate directly with the printer, including a Linux system. I’ve highlighted the key information, which is the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the printer. That’s exactly what I did with my HP, which produced the following: All network printers have a screen with settings and configuration information that can typically be printed out onto a test sheet.

The first step doesn’t involve your computer at all, actually, just your printer. Let me show you how I proceeded… IDENTIFY NETWORK PRINTER IP ADDRESS I recently needed to add an HP network printer to my own Ubuntu Linux system, and saw that the Linux system simply didn’t see it so couldn’t add it. If you have a $90 printer from the local office supply store, that might be sufficient for your text printouts, but most modern printers have a lot more to offer than 70’s era ASCII text printing. Why? Because CUPS is Common Unix Printing System and it means that the system has decided it’s a generic printer with no features or advanced capabilities. In the Linux world, you know you haven’t gotten it right if all you’re offered is the dreaded CUPS printer. Shortcuts: Identify IP | Add Network Printer | Configure Network Printer The result is that we – or our admins – have to manually choose drivers or specify what cool features are included with the printer, like two-sided printing, color, multiple paper trays, etc. Network printers seem to be the hardest to get properly configured because not every device advertises its presence, identity, and capabilities in the same way.

While adding a printer to a Mac, PC, or Linux system is way easier than it used to be, there are still some hoops you might have to jump through to get it all working.

How to print two sided on mac