How do I configure a wireless samsung printer?

Question

I bought a Samsung wireless printer and now I see that Linux support is really primitive. None of the major applications run on Linux, and even the only program referenced by the documentation (SetIP) isn't included in the linux driver and is nowhere to be found! Can I configure the printer without connecting it to a Windows or Mac?

Answer 1

I found the answer myself with the help of this post, as the documentation for the printer is really bad. Fortunately it is possible to configure the printer within Linux. The key to setting Samsung printers up is the web server they include, a software called SyncThru Web Service. As previouly mentioned, all other software is platform specific and won't run on linux.

My printer is a SL-C410W one, but these instructions should work for most Samsung models. There are a few ways to connect to and use the printer, I mention a few of them and give the steps to configure the printer:

Typical USB connection

Of course you can plug the printer and configure it like any other. For this, just download the Unified Linux Driver from Samsung web site, untar and run

$> sudo ./install.sh

then your printer should be auto-detected when adding it from in ubuntu Printers panel.

Network connection

The tricky part is to connect to the printer and configure it. There are a few options:

• Connect your PC to the printer directly via Ethernet
• Connect your PC to the printer directly via WiFi
• Connect the printer to a router via an Ethernet cable and make it available to your network (useful for configuration)
• Connect the printer to a router via an WiFi and make it available to your network (useful for configuration)

In any of these ways, after the printer itself is properly configured, you have to configure your Ubuntu. Just open Printers panel and add a network printer, it should be auto-detected.

Of the options just mentioned the first two are not very useful for configuration. The problem is this: the printer is not yet configured, plugging it to your ethernet port won't connect correctly (at least easily, because it requires a manual connection config), and to connect via WiFi you need the password, which you don't have. Pressing the printer's cancel button for 2 seconds should print the network information, but as the printer isn't yet connected it will only print useless data.

The easiest way to solve all this is to plug the printer to your router. After this, the router will give it an IP address, which you can find opening your router's page in the browser. Then, you can open SyncThru in the browser to configure the printer: just write the printer's IP address in the address bar of your browser and voilà. Besides, after connecting the printer to the router, pressing its "cancel" button will work as expected, printing a lot of information including the WiFi password.

To be able to actually configure the printer you'll have to log in. Look at the top-right corner, where you'll find a "connect" link. The default user/pass combination is admin/sec00000.