Is there a fast way to add a network printer like an HP to an Ubuntu Linux system?
If you’re talking about a printer with something like HP’s JetPrint system, it should be super easy to add it to your Ubuntu Linux box if they’re both on the same network and the printer is configured properly. Indeed, the whole point of network printers is that they’re easy to add to your network and computers, right, so having it be complicated would be a bad thing.
Problem is, printers have always been the annoying neighbor that no-one talks about and even with the best of computer systems, it can be far more difficult to find and add a printer than it should be. Worse, there’s not a single consistent language that all printers speak so even the seemingly simple task of your computer asking a printer what capabilities it has can prove quite daunting. Sometimes it just goes wrong too, as in my daughter’s computer: she sent a three paragraph printout to our printer and it spat out about 90 pages, each with 10-30 characters of gibberish.
Luckily almost all the modern HP printers have powerful network capabilities and odds are good that when you go to the “add printer” area, it’ll already be available. Let’s find out!
To start, go to System Settings (probably a button with a gear icon on your toolbar or Ubuntu Dock. It shows these very Mac/Windows-like icons and options:
Not quite the same icons for each function, but still, pretty easy to navigate! Click on “Printers” to check your printer configuration and add your new HP printer.
As you can see, our HP 577 MFP is already listed, even without being added manually simply because it’s a network-savvy printer. Done, right? Well…. sort of. Right click on the printer icon and choose “Properties” and let’s make sure it’s configured correctly.
For the HP 577MFP, here’s what the system has identified:
Pretty accurate, actually. This is where you can change the name of the printer if you want: I will admit that “HP 577-MFP @ Dave’s MBP II” is a bit clumsy. It’s also a good practice to click the “Print Test Page” to make sure it works and prints properly. If it doesn’t, there are good printer troubleshooting tips on the Ubuntu Wiki.
I also recommend you check the “Printer Options” page too, to ensure that it’s consistent with the features and capabilities of your specific printer. The HP-577 has these general features:
In terms of saving you money, there’s nothing more important than minimizing your color ink usage if you’re printing content that doesn’t need to be in color. Receipts, coupons, documents, grayscale works just as well and can save you quite a bit of money in the long term. In fact, you can actually configure the printer to only print Grayscale so you never use color:
That should get you up and running with your printer on your Linux system. Congrats and good luck. Oh, and you can save even more money by printing as infrequently as possible. Just saying…