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Ubuntu 11.10 & 11.04 To Support Apple AirPrint
kai_hiwatari writes "According to an email in the Ubuntu-Devel mailing list, AirPrint support is now available for Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot' and Ubutnu 11.04 'Natty Narwhal' as well — although it is in the testing phase for now. Developer Till Kamppeter sent an email to the mailing list inviting testers to test out his patch that enables AirPrint in Ubuntu."
...complaints about Unity
LOL @ Anonymous Coward before you...
No sig for the moment.
So click the drop down and select gnome. Or install XFCE or install LXDE. How about you man up, change to another DM or distro and STFU.
I did not like it at first but use it at home, my work laptop cannot provide 3d and dual monitor support so I use gnome there.
I've been doing this for months. Avahi can share any cups queue as an Airprint queue. I used this howto:
http://www.finnie.org/2010/11/13/airprint-and-linux/
There are also scripts that will autogenerate the Avahi service files for you. The only real new thing here might possibly be a better UI for doing this.
With the support for AirPrint, it will now be possible to use an Ubuntu system as a server to allow a printer, that is not compatible with AirPrint, to print using AirPrint.
So what is AirPrint? Is it software made by Apple which can somehow now run on Ubuntu to support printing over wifi? And how does an incompatible printer suddenly become compatible because of Ubuntu?
You just need a properly-configured service file for avahi. There are a couple of fields that are required for Airprint. For reference, here's the printer.service file I've been using. The URF and PDL text records, as well as the tag are needed to keep Airprint happy.
Samsung CLP-550 on %h
_ipp._tcp
_universal._sub._ipp._tcp
631
txtver=1
qtotal=1
rp=printers/CLP-550
ty=Samsung CLP-550 Printer
adminurl=http://colossus.local:631/printers/CLP-550
note=Samsung CLP-550
priority=0
product=virtual Printer
printer-state=3
printer-type=0x801046
Transparent=T
Binary=T
Fax=F
Color=T
Duplex=T
Staple=F
Copies=T
Collate=F
Punch=F
Bind=F
Sort=F
Scan=F
pdl=application/octet-stream,application/pdf,application/postscript,image/jpeg,image/png,image/urf
URF=W8,SRGB24,CP1,RS600
What does this allow that simply connecting to wifi and printing to a networked printer on the same wifi network can't do?
Basically, fewer drivers involved, a somewhat higher level abstraction for the printer.
The practical use is that from any iPad/Touch/iPhone device, they can discover and print to that print queue. So if you have any of those devices and are using a Linux box as a print server, this would be very handy...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"AirPrint" is just a fancy name for what is basically networked printing using the IPP protocol, with automatic discovery of available printers with zeroconf (using DNS-DS).
The linux solution uses Avahi for the zeroconf discovery part, and CUPS for the IPP printing service.
- CUPS can be a vanilla version, as long as the printer is supported.
- Avahi needs to be manually configured, in order to output the few extra data which is required for an iDevice to recognise it as a AirPrint and list it as a possible printing target.
Upstream merging shouldn't be too troublesome. Expect AirPort appearing in the next iteration of distros.
As mentionned elsewhere among the discussion, what would really be needed is a nice interface to help do this configuration. I suspect that openSUSE's YaST will do a nice job here, as usual.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
How long before they receive some legal love from Apple^h^h^h^h^h Steve?
You mean for developing a zeroconf implementation, with help from Apple engineers and referencing the open source implementation from Apple and the RFC Apple largely wrote? Or do you mean for integrating it with CUPS which is another open source project Apple currently funds and develops?
Apple wants the open source technologies they build their OS's on as widely adopted as possible because it makes their devices more useful, which sells more of them, which makes them more money. That's why Apple open sources things like bonjour in the first place.
So what is AirPrint?
"AirPrint" is just a fancy name for what is basically networked printing using the IPP protocol, with automatic discovery of available printers with zeroconf.
IPP is simply provided by regular CUPS versions under Linux (nothing new here).
As mentioned by others, the zeroconf is done by Avahi under linux and a couple of extra fields need to be provided, so an apple device can recognise an avahi-advertised printing queue as "AirPrint".
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
yeah, it is a shame. i was just thinking the other day 'what a shame osgeld dropped ubuntu around v9'.
you know, you could always either 'pick it back up' if it 'will help a bunch'...
DRIVERS KIDS, Drivers
Windows has let the proliferation of OEM drivers grow as a way to keep market share. I mean we had PCL, PS, and PDF printing almost a decade ago. But printers get dumber and dumber. I work with AS400 and the system outputs stock PCL... yet no printer under $500 talks that any more. Now that folks have iPads more powerful than their computer 5 years ago they think they should print... Without wires, or drivers. Imagine printing the same spool file to DIFFERENT printers!!! Woah!
I'd like to see some normal laser printers get AirPrint support.. Color printers are expensive to run.