Small Linux Print Server

I would like to use an old machine as a print server.

At present I have an Ubuntu system installed, the CUPS and SANE servers
work well serving my XP laptops and other Linux system for printing and
scanning services, normally I don't load the ubuntu desktop as the CUPS
and SANE servers work without loggin on as a user.

What I am wondering is, what is the smallest Linux system I could instal
to just use the print server.

Geoff Lane

On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:01:37 +0100, Geoff Lane wrote:

> I would like to use an old machine as a print server.
>
> At present I have an Ubuntu system installed, the CUPS and SANE servers
> work well serving my XP laptops and other Linux system for printing and
> scanning services, normally I don't load the ubuntu desktop as the CUPS
> and SANE servers work without loggin on as a user.
>
> What I am wondering is, what is the smallest Linux system I could instal
> to just use the print server.

Why do you feel any need to dedicate a box as a "print server"? Put the
printer on the network and just continue to use it from the SANE and CUPS
Ubuntu machine.

Greg Russell wrote:

>> I would like to use an old machine as a print server.

> Why do you feel any need to dedicate a box as a "print server"? Put the
> printer on the network and just continue to use it from the SANE and CUPS
> Ubuntu machine.

Old and slow computer, AMD K6 350mhz, takes a fair old time to load the
ubuntu desktop, most of the time I just load it to the ubuntu log on screen.

I was looking for something that loads very quickly as I had been
considering purchasing a print server.

Geoff Lane

On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:53:09 +0100, Geoff Lane wrote:

>>> I would like to use an old machine as a print server.
>
>> Why do you feel any need to dedicate a box as a "print server"? Put the
>> printer on the network and just continue to use it from the SANE and
>> CUPS Ubuntu machine.
>
> Old and slow computer, AMD K6 350mhz, takes a fair old time to load the
> ubuntu desktop, most of the time I just load it to the ubuntu log on
> screen.

Huh? You don't need a "desktop", monitor or even a keyboard/mouse on a
server, just run it "init 3" and ssh to it as needed. We have a 133MHz
server that does a rather large number of useful things on one of our
networks.

> What I am wondering is, what is the smallest Linux system I could instal to
> just use the print server.

I'd recommend OpenWRT.
It's really aimed at small systems (e.g. little home-router boxes with
16MB or RAM and 4MB of flash), but can scale up.
Otherwise, I'd also recommend a basic Debian install: just don't install
any using X11.


Stefan

Geoff Lane wrote:
> I would like to use an old machine as a print server.
>
> At present I have an Ubuntu system installed, the CUPS and SANE servers
> work well serving my XP laptops and other Linux system for printing and
> scanning services, normally I don't load the ubuntu desktop as the CUPS
> and SANE servers work without loggin on as a user.
>
> What I am wondering is, what is the smallest Linux system I could instal
> to just use the print server.
>
> Geoff Lane

Damn Small Linux (DSL)

Is a good distro for such tasks. I think it's CUPS enabled.

Jurgen Haan wrote:

>> What I am wondering is, what is the smallest Linux system I could instal
>> to just use the print server.
>>
>> Geoff Lane
>
> Damn Small Linux (DSL)
>
> Is a good distro for such tasks. I think it's CUPS enabled.

I was looking at that one for a 'play', could be a good option.

Geoff Lane

Greg Russell wrote:

>> Old and slow computer, AMD K6 350mhz, takes a fair old time to load the
>> ubuntu desktop, most of the time I just load it to the ubuntu log on
>> screen.
>
> Huh? You don't need a "desktop", monitor or even a keyboard/mouse on a
> server, just run it "init 3" and ssh to it as needed.

I don't often switch on the monitor, the system is installed so
obviously has keyboard and mouse functions.

Not sure what I need to set to run it 'init 3' and ssh.

Geoff Lane

On 2008-04-07, Geoff Lane <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
> Greg Russell wrote:
>
>>> Old and slow computer, AMD K6 350mhz, takes a fair old time to load the
>>> ubuntu desktop, most of the time I just load it to the ubuntu log on
>>> screen.
>>
>> Huh? You don't need a "desktop", monitor or even a keyboard/mouse on a
>> server, just run it "init 3" and ssh to it as needed.
>
> I don't often switch on the monitor, the system is installed so
> obviously has keyboard and mouse functions.
>
> Not sure what I need to set to run it 'init 3' and ssh.
>
> Geoff Lane

He means to make runlevel 3 the default runlevel, which would have no
effect on a Debian or Ubuntu system. Instead, to remove the graphical
login screen, use the command "sudo apt-get remove gdm".