OS X 10.5 client and NON-OS X CUPS server: adding printers, solved

Question

OS X 10.5 client and NON-OS X CUPS server: adding printers, solved

Dear all,

I had trouble in adding printers under OS X 10.5, those printers are shared via a FreeBSD CUPS 1.2.10 server on the local network.

So I did the following:

- System Preferences;
- Print & Fax, right click on the leftmost part of the window, then "Reset printing system";
- Open Terminal;
- As admin via sudo or root edit the /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file and modify the first lines so they look like:

Browsing On
BrowseOrder allow,deny
BrowseAllow all
BrowseProtocols all
BrowseRemoteProtocols all
BrowsePoll hostname of_your_cupsserver:631
BrowsePort 631

- Save the file;
- Restart the client;
- Now you should be able to see/add the printers.

This is a quick and dirty fix, hope this helps.

Regards,

Alessandro

Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Oct 29, 2007 6:53 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 29, 2007 9:09 AM in response to Alessandro Dellavedova

This is somewhat helpful but not really knowing much about Unix how do I get to this file and edit it? Could be it is one of those, if you have to ask you should not do it kind of things too....

JPW

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Answer 2

Oct 29, 2007 9:46 AM in response to John Williams8

Hi John,

launch the Terminal application (inside the Applications/Utilies/ folder), then from the command prompt execute the following command:

sudo open -a /Applications/TextEdit.app /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

You will be prompted for your administrator password in order to be able to modify the file with TextEdit.

Modify the file according to my post, save it and restart the Mac. You should now be able to see the printers shared by your CUPS server.

Of course my post and this procedure are intended only for people that have printers shared from a Unix/Linux print server, and is of no help for people that are having troubles with local printers (USB/Firewire/Bluetooth).

All the best,

Alessandro

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Answer 3

Oct 29, 2007 10:15 AM in response to Alessandro Dellavedova

Actually your comments are very very helpful. The message I get is basically once the print queue is open it does not close and sends back the message "CUPS server not available". Does this mean that perhaps what was written into this document makes everyone's computer look for a CUPS server instead of using the local host? If so how would one write this to fix it? Of course I have no idea what I am saying but it seems like this is what is happening as the printers all seems to work with the USB connection.

John

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Answer 4

Oct 29, 2007 10:34 AM in response to John Williams8

John,

you should have read my first post with a bit more of attention. My post is intended only for people that have a non-OS X CUPS server (eg: Linux/FreeBSD) on their LAN, and they want to use the printers that are shared from that remote server under 10.5 .

It's a very specific scenario, and I don't think it's your case. So please revert the editing you made on the file or, simply, just reset the printing system (Warning: you will loose all your installed printers).

Alessandro

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Answer 5

Oct 29, 2007 10:49 AM in response to Alessandro Dellavedova

Another way is -

1 - open browser and type http://localhost:631/admin?op=config-server
2 - below the line "# Show shared printers on the local network" type "BrowseProtocols all"
3 - save changes enter your username + password and you should now see all the cups shared printers.

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Answer 6

Oct 29, 2007 10:53 AM in response to Alessandro Dellavedova

Alessandro,

I did read your post but since the topic was relevant I think you may have hit on part of a solution for many folks. I did not edit the document so it is not an issue for me. It is interesting though that there seems to be some remnant of this server based CUPS routine that is causing havoc on many systems. Just asking your opinion really as I have no basis for mine (i.e., I do not do this for a living).

John

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Answer 7

Oct 29, 2007 1:32 PM in response to John Williams8

Hi John,

my apologies for having misinterpreted your post. I think that Apple engineers really did a big mistake by omitting the keyword BrowseProtocol="all" in the print engine setup (cupsd.conf), since that keyword basically allows the cups-polld daemon, that is the piece of the local printing engine of OS X that can "ask" the LAN for the presence of printers, to ask for printers shared via CUPS/LDAP/SLP and so on.

I hope that this will be soon fixed in a minor release, since quite a lot of people (especially in the educational/research environments) heavily relies on a centralized CUPS server to manage tens or hundreds of printers (we do have 40+ printers, exported to more 400+ clients, both OS X and Windows).

BTW, this morning I was asking a little joke to my colleagues I said to them "300+ new features, an old one missing.. try to guess which one" 😉

All the best,

Alessandro

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Answer 8

WWJD

Level 6

15,830 points

Oct 29, 2007 1:39 PM in response to Christian Caterham

This is how I re-enabled my shared printers. The browser interface is easy to use.

Regards,

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Answer 9

w7ox

Level 4

2,407 points

Oct 29, 2007 1:40 PM in response to Alessandro Dellavedova

I just managed to get my Laserjet (networked on a Windows workgroup) to work.

Had to select the Windows option in the Add Printers dialog of System Preferences.

Not too bad: Took a week with my first Mac; this time only an hour -- Much of that spent looking for the Printer Setup Utility (which is no longer in Utilities).

Phil

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Answer 10

Oct 29, 2007 4:46 PM in response to Christian Caterham

You're the MAN, Christian! I can now print to my shared HP Deskjet 6540 printer connected to a Powermac 9500 running OS X Panther. Thanks.

Tom

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Answer 11

Oct 30, 2007 6:31 PM in response to Alessandro Dellavedova

Alessandro,
Great stuff, fought with this for 45 mins before finding the your post.

In 10.4 only line added was browsepoll IP:port and I got printers via VPN for our work network. In 10.5 this returned nothing.

You just made my evening. Thanks for posting this.

-Erich

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Answer 12

Oct 30, 2007 11:54 PM in response to Erich Wetzel

Hi Eric,

thank you for you kind words, I'm happy that my post helped you to fix your problem.

Do you think we should consider the question as "answered" ?

Have a nice day,

Alessandro

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Answer 13

Oct 31, 2007 6:01 AM in response to Alessandro Dellavedova

Alessandro,
Since I did not start the topic I don't think that I can give out answered points...
Is that possible? If you know how, let me know since you should get some as far as I am concerned.

Otherwise I think that you clearly stated what was needed, so answered might be sensible. I had a shared fax post that I put up the same way you did here and it wound up going on for pages and got way off topic.

Also, in looking deeper at the conversation you said that your solution applied to NON OS X servers.
Mine is a OS X 10.4.10 server and your solution gives me printers on my VPN'd client...

-Erich

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Answer 14

Oct 31, 2007 7:36 PM in response to Christian Caterham

Thank you so very much. What a handy solution!

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Answer 15

Oct 31, 2007 10:11 PM in response to WWJD

I still don't get how to reset my settings to enable me to use my shared printer.

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