I'm very new to Linux and have been testing/tinkering with a few distros for the past 18 months as time permits. I've decided to switch my daily computer from Windows to Linux so I've purchased ZorinOS Pro. I've managed to get most things to work , however I ran into a problem I'd rather get some guidance from rather than trying to dive in on my own and install a bunch of tools/apps that I don't understand to address the problem.
Printing and Scanning to a network AIO printer has been the most challenging task to get to work consistently. I have it working now but it took me countless hours to find the solution to the connectivity problems I had been experiencing. The only solution I found that sticks is to open ports on the firewall to allow Zorin to find the printer/scanner. I'm wondering if there is a better, more secure solution but the most pressing problem I need solved at the moment is described below.
I have an HP Color LaserJet M281fdw. I am able to print and scan from most apps without issue now that I've opened the firewall ports.
The problem I just encountered was printing from an application called MoneyDance. When I attempt to print it says "No print service found". Checking the user community for MoneyDance there are a couple old threads that mention it's necessary to install CUPS printing service/driver/whatever it is.
What is the best way to do this? The threads on MD's forum are 14 yrs old so I'm reluctant to follow any suggested sudo commands from that long ago.
I see there is a CUPS printing stack by OpenPrinting in the Snap Repository of the Software app. Is this what I need or is there a better solution/way to get this up and running?
CUPS should come preinstalled on Zorin 17. You can check that with the Commant apt list cups
hplip should come preinstalled, too. It is for HP Printers. You could install the graphical Interface to set it up. You can install it with sudo apt install hplip-gui
Thank you. I'm not at all familiar with Linux commands as I use them only when I find a solution to something involves using them. I determined CUPS was installed by going to http://localhost:631 - assuming the admin interface would come up if it were installed. It did. I installed the printer as well as the CUPS PDF Printer. It works now. It saves all print-to-pdf jobs in Home/PDF so I wish it would prompt for the save location each time.
I had tried hplip and got nowhere. It found my printer but said it needed a driver then it couldn't find the driver it needed. My printer is on the compatibility list. Funny thing is that it worked with the firewall turned off so apparently it wasn't a missing driver. I still have ports open on the firewall so that software can find the printer and scanner. I wish it would work without the need to open FW ports.
I just checked the FW GUI app and the FW was turned off and the rules I added were gone. I don't know how that happened.
Is moneydance installed as snap package? If it doesn't print you could remove the snap package and download the .deb file from the homepage of moneydance and then doubleclick on the downloaded .deb file to install the program.
So you'll probably have less problems to print from this app.
"... snap packages might have restrictions or require specific connections to enable functionalities like printing. To address this, users might need to ensure that the necessary permissions are granted, such as connecting to the CUPS control interface using snap connect moneydance:cups-control ."
