[OLPC_Boston] Printer help needed!

[XO community support volunteer]

On Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 11:56 AM, MacKenzie Sigalos
<msigalos at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:
> Dear Boston,
>
> Hello Laptop Hello World (formerly One For All) is running a pilot with the
> 4th grade students at the Cambridge Friends School. We've been having some
> issues with printing, and despite having sent out our tech team, we're still
> in need of assistance!
>
> The students created projects on the XO and they are trying to figure out
> how to establish a wireless connection to print them. We showed them how to
> save "Write" documents as txt files that they can open with Word. The
> package that they needed to read the .odt files (what "Write" files are
> usually saved as) on the Mac was not on their computers and not compatible
> with their OS version.
>
> We couldn't get the printer working directly with the XO.  They have an HP
> Photosmart C4500.  According to openprinting.org it should work perfectly
> with Linux.  We installed CUPS on two XOs, but we couldn't get the drivers
> working.  Kyoko, their Tech Director, mentioned that she had tried using a
> shared printer through the Mac that they have, but it didn't work.  She also
> mentioned that the school was willing to buy a new printer if it was easy to
> set up.
>
> If you have any advice or feedback, we would greatly appreciate your
> suggestions. The 4th grade teachers are at a standstill until we can figure
> this out!
>
> Thanks so much,
> Katelyn and MacKenzie
>
> --
>
> MacKenzie Sigalos
> Harvard University | Class of 2010
> msigalos at fas.harvard.edu
> 703.244.1983
>
> _______________________________________________
> OLPC_Boston mailing list
> OLPC_Boston at lists.laptop.org
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc_boston
>
>

Though I have not recently tested this out, the workaround suggested here:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Abiword shows that using Abiword on the XO
and saving it to view on a Mac, Windows, or Linux machine running its
own installed Abiword would work.

Abiword saves can be done as ".abw" files or test out saving as ".rtf
" files for use on other machines.

Testing could be done by either email the documents to the machine
attached to a printer, or using a USB stick for travel.

Hope this helps

Sandy
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