Connecting the Asus Eee to printers on my network is as easy as clicking the Printers button, entering the network path, and choosing a few other options. Here is how it works:
Installing Network Printer Drivers
1. In the Settings tab of the desktop, click Printers.
2. In the Add a printer dialog box, choose Network Printer, and then click Next.
3. In the Set Printer Attributes dialog box, choose Windows as the Network Type, and then click Browse.
4. In the Browse dialog box, open the Windows Network nodes until you find the printer you want. In my case, I opened:
+ Everyone (the name of our network group).
+ Ralph (the name of my desktop computer running Windows 2000).
5. When the Enter Network Password dialog appears, enter:
- User - the user name that you normally log in with. On my desktop, that's administrator
- Password - the password you log in with onto that computer.
- Domain - ignore this.
- Click OK.
6. You can now access shared printers on the networked computer. In my case, the computer has an HP LaserJet 1320 that I set up with both PCL and PostScript drivers. I first selected hplaserjet, and then clicked OK.
7. Back in the Set Printer Attributes dialog box, change the printer name to something more descriptive, and then click Next.
8. In the Set Printer Model dialog box, choose the Manufacturer and Model. While Microsoft boasts billions of device drivers for Windows, the truth is that most devices share drivers. Thus, a single PCL driver works with all HP LaserJets and a single PostScript driver works with all PostScript devices. I also set the Eee to work with my HP PhotoSmart P1100, which Vista cannot print to.
In my case, the Asus Eee had a driver specific to the HP 1320 laser printer, so I selected that. Later, when I repeated this procedure, I selected the generic PostScript driver for the HP 1320 running in PostScript mode. It works just fine.
Click Next.
9. In Print Test Page dialog box, choose Yes, and then click Finish. Hopefully a printed page will emerge from the networked printer -- as it did for me.
Printer Properties
Now you can go back to the Printers dialog box (click the Printers button), and then click Properties. In the Output tab, I choose Duplex printing - Long Edge (save paper!). Check out the Advanced tab for items like resolution.
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