Hi all,
I am continuing my quest to move a Linux only environment. Today I tackled the task of adding my mobile printer. I couldn’t believe how easy it was compared to windows. It was it almost happened magically.
After adding the printer I ran an lpstat -a command and saw the following;
glrider@glrider-linux:~$ lpstat -a
CUPS-BRF-Printer accepting requests since Sun 25 May 2025 03:06:09 PM
HP_OfficeJet_250_Mobile_Series_38D9D8 accepting requests since Sun 25 May 2025 03:05:57 PM
HP_OfficeJet_250_Mobile_Series_38D9D8_USB accepting requests since Sun 25 May 2025 03:05:22 PM
The CUPS printer was because I forgot to turn on the HP printer (I have since deleted the CUPS printer).
So I was left with the two HP printers and I wondered what the difference was. I printed to the USB printer and it printed immediately. At this point I was connected via USB because that is what the instructions I followed told me to do. I printed to the printer without the _USB and it also printed but printed landscaped, instead of portrait. Okay strange, but whatever for now. Ultimately I want to print wirelessly, so i disconnected the USB cable from the computer and tired to print to the _USB printer and found out it no longer existed. I tried printing to the printer without the _USB and it printed fine.
It wasn’t until I was writing this topic that it occurred to me that the USB printer only shows up if the cable is connected. I reconnected the cable and viola, lpstat -a shows both printers again.
So at this point I have a two questions.
Is there a way to shorten the name of the printer or create an alias so I don’t have to type such a long name when printing something. I tried to go to printer details and retype over the name, but that added another printer instead of renaming the existing one.
How do I control whether the printer prints landscape or portrait by default.