On Thu, 26 Nov 2020 09:46:25 +0100, Michael Logies wrote:
Do a google search for: printing android windows
First article:
https://www.howtogeek.com/165778/eve...one-or-tablet/
Everything You Need to Know About Printing From Your Android Phone or
Tablet
Hi Michael Logies,
I thank you very much for your purposefully helpful advice!
o Not only for me, but for _everyone_ who wishes to do the same thing.
I've been able to print - but not yet without using the Internet:
o Nor, yet, for free https://i.postimg.cc/DZJprj3b/printing08.jpg
All of us should be able to freely print from Android to our printer (IMHO)
o But I haven't yet found a solution that works given the requirements of
.... unlimited free printing on my own LAN to an Ethernet'd printer ...
You'd think that would be an _easy_ problem set to resolve...
o But it's not (or it's not yet since we haven't found a solution).
I'm still digging into the many proposed solutions I've found, so I haven't
exhausted the "easy" solutions yet though - but I have exhausted the
tutorials on the net - where I haven't found a single cite that is
"Everything you need to know about printing from Android" on your own LAN.
Bear in mind _most_ of these tutorials assume _different_ conditions
o Some use the Internet (e.g., most payware seems to be doing that)
o Some assume a CUPS server (usually on Linux, but maybe on Windows)
o Most assume Wi-Fi (and/or Wi-Fi Direct)
etc.
I haven't seen any tutorials that use the fact Windows can print to the
Ethernet'd printer (meaning Windows has the necessary printer drivers);
but that "may" be the solution (perhaps via its SMB/CIFS or CUPS server).
Notice that if the problem were easy to solve - I wouldn't be asking.
This problem may certainly turn out to be easy to solve (as many problems
are); but it's not easy to _find_ the solution to this problem on the net.
Rest assured, you can trust that I've scoured the Internet for a tutorial.
In fact, I read that exact tutorial days ago & even posted it he
o https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/nTAYljkvVl4/m/NsnpkXBoBwAJ
Here is a quote of my one-line summary of that specific article.
"This article pretty much says it can't be done for free without using the
Google cloud to print from your Android phone to a printer on your own LAN:
o Everything You Need to Know About Printing From Your Android Phone or Tablet
https://www.howtogeek.com/165778/everything-you-need-to-know-about-printing-from-your-android-phone-or-tablet/
Bear in mind we can _easily_ solve the problem by relaxing the constraints:
a. If we want to _pay_ for printing, that will work
b. If we want to use the cloud for printing, that will work
c. If we purchase a new Wi-Fi printer, that will work
But I'm trying to find a solution that works for an Ethernet'd printer.
o Keeping everything on my own LAN, and for free
In summary, nobody yet seems to have solved this problem and documented the
solution that I can find - although I can't imagine that almost anyone with
Android and an Ethernet'd printer wouldn't _benefit_ from the solution.
Since I need to dig deeper, I have to figure out _how_ printing actually
works, e.g., does Android need the printer drivers or not?
And why do we need something called a "printer server" anyway?
If people on this newsgroup know how printing normally works, that would be
helpful because then I'd know better where to focus on solving the
problems.
Is this "printer flow" correct, for example, for Windows?
1. The document to be printed is open in an editor on Windows.
2. The editor's "File Print" sends the file to a "printer driver"
(what format is that in? I don't know.)
3. The printer driver reassembles the format into a printer format.
4. The printer driver sends that printer-format-file over the LAN
(the network is just a printer IP address, and a port, I guess???)
5. The printer prints
Notice I don't mention a "print server" in that process; but everything I
read on Linux solutions seems to require a "CUPS print server"????
So is _this_ how printing works on Linux?
1. The document is open in an editor on Linux
2. That editor has a "file print" which sends it to a CUPS server???
3. The CUPS server acts as a universal printer driver????
4. The CUPS server sends a printer-format file to the printer over the LAN
(the network is just the printer IP address and port 631 for CUPS???)
Note that I bring up Linux simply because Android is kind of sort of Linux.
o https://i.postimg.cc/6qRSK6WY/printing11.jpg
These linx-based solutions all seem to use port 631 for some reason:
o https://i.postimg.cc/9fMnMYX4/printing12.jpg
Unfortunately, I never needed to understand the print process on Windows
(or Linux) simply because it just worked with a printer driver.
But if I'm going to be the first person to solve this problem (that we know
of), then I'm gonna have to figure out where exactly the problem lies.
a. In the printer driver?
b. In the printer server?
c. On the network?
Dunno yet.
o Does anyone?