View source for Enable iOS AirPrint with any printer supported by CUPS

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=Introduction=

AirPrint is a wireless printing technology for iOS devices.
<br>This HowTo will explain how to enable AirPrint on any printer that is supported by CUPS. 
<br>The idea behind is that avahi sends announcements which make iOS think that the printer is AirPrint compatible. 
<br>Of course this works only for iOS versions that support AirPrint. 


= Sofware: =
* Debian Linux Wheezy
* CUPS 1.5.3


= Hardware =
* Epson Stylus Photo PX 720WD 


= Installation =

First we need to install some packages. 

 # apt-get install cups-pdf avahi-daemon python-cups cups-driver-gutenprint
 # apt-get install foomatic-db foomatic-db-engine foomatic-filters

If you have a HP printer you should also install hplip 
 # apt-get install hplip


= Configuration =

Edit the CUPS' config file 
 nano /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
after the line "Listen /var/run/cups/cups.sock" paste this 
 Listen IP-OF-YOUR-CUPS-SERVER:631
 PreserveJobHistory		No 
 FileDevice Yes 
 ServerAlias *

And replace:
 # Restrict access to the server...
 <Location />
   Order allow,deny
 </Location>
 
 # Restrict access to the admin pages...
 <Location /admin>
   Order allow,deny
 </Location>
 
 # Restrict access to configuration files...
 <Location /admin/conf>
   AuthType Default
   Require user @SYSTEM
   Order allow,deny
 </Location>

With following: 
 # Restrict access to the server...
 <Location />
   Order allow,deny
   allow @LOCAL
 </Location>
 
 # Restrict access to the admin pages...
 <Location /admin>
   Order allow,deny
   allow @LOCAL
 </Location>
 
 # Restrict access to configuration files...
 <Location /admin/conf>
   AuthType Basic
   Require user @SYSTEM
   Order allow,deny
   allow @LOCAL
 </Location>

Create new mime files - This is needed for iOS 6 to recognize CUPS print shares!
 # echo "image/urf urf string(0,UNIRAST<00>)" > /usr/share/cups/mime/airprint.types
 # echo "image/urf application/pdf 100 pdftoraster" > /usr/share/cups/mime/airprint.convs

Restart CUPS:
 /etc/init.d/cups restart

Open the local CUPS page in a web browser: 
 http://IP-OF-YOUR-CUPS-SERVER:631

If you have a network printer (LAN,WiFi, JetDirect), turn it on. If your printer is USB only, connect it to your CUPS server.
<br>Go to "Administration" and click on "Add Printer". 
<br>When asked for credentials use 
 login: root
 password: root's password

CUPS will start looking for your printer. Select it, click next, allow sharing, and click next again. 
<br>On the next page you must select the "driver". Usually there are several possibilities. 
<br>If unsure, go to http://www.openprinting.org and see which PPD works best with you printer. 
<br>For HP printers always go with hpcups. Finish the installation. 
<br>Now go to "Printer" in the bottom right of the page, press the "Maintenance" drop-down menu and select "Print Test Page" to make sure it works properly.
<br>With the aid of Timothy J Fontaine's python script, we can generate avahi announcements that will make iOS think that our printer is AirPrint capable. 
<br>All you need to do is:

 # /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon start
 # mkdir /opt/airprint 
 # cd /opt/airprint
 # wget -O airprint-generate.py --no-check-certificate https://raw.github.com/tjfontaine/airprint-generate/master/airprint-generate.py
 # chmod +x airprint-generate.py 
 # ./airprint-generate.py -d /etc/avahi/services
 # /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon restart
 # ls /etc/avahi/services/

You should see something like "AirPrint-Name-of-your-printer". 
<br>Just in case I attached the script to this post. 

On the iOS side there's nothing you really need to configure. 
<br>Just go to an app that supports printing, for example mail or goodreader and select print. 
<br>Everything works out of the box.

= Links =

The original howto which first appeared on the Arch Linux ARM wiki: http://archlinuxarm.org/support/guides/applications/cups-apple-airprint 




That's all folks.
<br>
[[User:YazzY|Marcin]]


[[Category: Alphabetized|Printing]]

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