Setting Up Simple Network

[Jestah]

I suppose first I'll tell you what I have:

- Cable modem
- WRT54GS router
- Old Dell Dimension (about 5 years old) I don't have the specs in front of me but will get them when I can
- MacBook Pro
- 3 Dell XPS m1710 laptops
- 1 Dell printer
- 1 HP printer
- 1 Canon i80 printer - paired via Bluetooth to the MBP

The Dell Dimension connects to the router with a physical cable. The laptops connect through WiFi. I'd like to hook up the Dell printer to the old Dell (or would the router be more appropriate?) and print there. I'd also like to be able to print to the HP and Canon printer from any computer but that's not a must.

I dual boot OS X and Ubuntu on the MBP, Ubuntu on the Dell Dimension, and Windows XP on the m1710 laptops although I may upgrade to Vista eventually.

Is there an easy way to do this? Also, is there an easy way to share files across all of these computers without uploading them to the web?

[deathadder]

Hi,

If you connect your Dell printer to your dimnension and then share it with SMB (http://tldp.org/HOWTO/SMB-HOWTO-9.html) you shouldn't have many problems. I'm sure you'll be able to find more 'specific' help either at the Ubuntu Wiki, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/, or forums, http://ubuntuforums.org/

To share files between the computers you can set up a Samba share: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpSamba

Hope that helps

[rdeschene2]

You mentioned you could connect the Dell printer to the router, so I assume it's a network printer. That would be the easiest way to set up that printer, and you wouldn't need to have the dimension running in order to print. Save a little on energy, heat, noise, etc.

[Jestah]

You mentioned you could connect the Dell printer to the router, so I assume it's a network printer. That would be the easiest way to set up that printer, and you wouldn't need to have the dimension running in order to print. Save a little on energy, heat, noise, etc.

That's essentially what I ended up doing.

My printer (Dell Laser Printer 1110) was a USB printer but my Linksys router didn't have a USB port so I connected an old AirPort Extreme to the router with an Ethernet cable, bridged the two, and set it up that way.

That has worked fine with my Windows and OS X machine but I've been unable to print from my Fedora machine. That hasn't been a problem until today.

Can someone explain how I go about accessing the printer?

I click System > Administration > Printing but can't figure out what to do.

I click Add Printer, it searches and I get a list of options but nothing that shows my Dell.

Any thoughts? Thank you.