I suppose this is all fine if you know there is a "printers app".
Perhaps I didn't know because I had already rejected Ubuntu for some
other reason... despite having used Ubuntu experimentally a year
earlier. I did do some research on printer drivers and did encounter
something the was supposedly able to install drivers for rather generic
laser printers (as I recall). Anyhow it didn't work for me. Talking to
a Windows network to get to the printer seemed to be a real stumbling block.
Since that time my old Brother printer failed and I bought a new one
which is network attachable. Installing that might be much easier or
(perhaps) a totally new challenge I don't need. Anyhow I'm very happy
with my chosen solution which is to keep the Windows financial machine
totally off the broader "wild west" network. I get a familiar screen,
keyboard and mouse and it can print to anything I own with no drama.
Chuck Norcutt
On 12/4/2014 12:32 AM, Scott Gomez wrote:
Thanks for the info Chuck.
I'm quite surprised to hear you couldn't get printers from either of those
manufacturers installed just using the printers app. In Ubuntu, and most
other distributions, selecting the "Printers" app and then clicking "Add"
will walk you through installing many, many printers. I know that for HP
and Brother printers, that means almost all of models as both have
committed to supporting Linux. Along the way the app asks questions about
what make and model, and in most cases will locate the correct driver for
you and install it from the appropriate distribution's repository.
Not saying this was the case with you, but one of the more difficult things
I had to learn when first beginning with Linux was to dump the "Windows
way". Most of the time, I have found, there's no reason to assume that one
must go hunting for some manufacturer's driver. Often the appropriate
driver is already available on the machine or in the repository. If it is
available, the OS can usually sleuth it out.
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 4:07 PM, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:
Yes, it would be more secure using a wire and that was my ultimate plan.
However, when I was trying to figure all of this out and get a test version
working I was in my Florida place where I only do wireless due to the
difficulty of hiding wires that needed to run about 40 feet from the router.
The printers were a Brother laser printer and two HP inkjets... one just a
printer and the other an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier. I'm sure I
could have gotten at least the Brother working but it required finding,
downloading and installing the driver. Something I didn't know how to do
and wasn't willing to learn for the distribution de jour.
I finally decided to solve the security problem in a totally different
way. It was unclear if my old Dell XP laptop would really be able to run
64-bit Windows 7. Both Dell and Microsoft made it sound doubtful. But I
bit the bullet and bought a copy. As it turns out it works just fine
despite a couple of mysterious error messages during install.
Long story short I decided that the solution to a secure Windows financial
transaction machine was for it to never visit any website other than the 4
financial websites where it was expected to make transactions. It knows of
and visits no other sites. The 4 financial sites are its total universe
and it's only active when it needs to be. It does that just fine and also
knows how to print to any of my 3 printers.
Chuck Norcutt
On 12/3/2014 2:19 PM, Scott Gomez wrote:
Just out of curiosity, wouldn't making a more secure machine for financial
transactions have been better run over a wire than wirelessly? And, from
further curiosity, what was the printer? I've had very little trouble, for
some years now, making most any printer work with Linux. There are some
notable exceptions, but many fewer over time.
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