[vox-tech] Brother HL-2170w laser printer (Ubuntu 8.10 + KDE 4 success story)

[Bill Kendrick]

I discovered that the Brother 2170w laser printer was $109 on Amazon,
with free shipping if you have Prime (which we do).  It has wired and
wireless connections, which I wanted, since I don't have any server set up
any more -- hence my current search for a NAS), and I've never had a laser
printer before.  (My prev. printer was an old HP Deskjet I got back in 1999
or so.)

I had heard this printer worked with Linux, but was a bit worried when
I cracked open the manual and saw all the steps you needed to do to
configure it under Windows and Mac OSX.

However, I'm very please to report it worked, out of the box, with almost
no setup.  I literally:

1. plugged it in (power and wired ethernet, since it lives right
next to my router, up on a shelf in the dining room)...

2. went to the printer's web-based administrative system (once I checked
my router to see which IP it got over DHCP), and set up a static IP...

3. went to KDE's "Printing" tool and said "Add New Printer."  It noticed the
printer, knew what model it was and what driver it needed.

"Print Test Page" worked perfectly.  Now I need to buy some paper. ;)

-- 
-bill!
"Tux Paint" - free children's drawing software for Windows / Mac OS X / Linux!
Download it today!  http://www.tuxpaint.org/