as root, run lsusb

# lsusb Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04b8:0813 Seiko Epson Corp. Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

The line ending with “Seiko Epson Corp.” indicates that my printer is detected. your information will vary depeding on manufacturer and model.

CUPS is short for commun uniox printing system. The exact method for doing this changes by distro. You may already have it installed.

Point a browser to http://localhost:631 click the “Printers” Link at the top Click “Add Printer” At this point you will be promted for a username and password. Give it your root username and password.

The “Add new printer” page asks for some desctiptive information. Here's an example: Name: Epson Location: USB Description: Epson Stylus CX6600

Select USB Printer #1 (detected Printer name) Click continue Select your Printer's Maufacturer from the list Click Continue Select your Printer's model name from the list. If your Printer's model is not in the list try: #Make sure that foomatic is installed #Make sure that gimp-print is installed #Select a Printer model that is close to the one you have

You should now have a printer listed on the Printers page. To test your printer, click the “Print test page” button.