Boring But Useful Post: Printing to BYU Printers from Linux

BYU uses the Pharos print system around campus. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be direct Linux support for Pharos. But linuxers are in luck, because it is still possible to print to the campus printers.

On Ubuntu 9.10 I did the following:

  1. Opened http://localhost:631/ in Firefox (not Chrome—this didn’t work for some reason)
  2. Clicked “Adding Printers and Classes”
  3. Clicked “Add Printer”
  4. Entered my regular username and password when prompted
  5. On the “Add Printer” page, selected “LPD/LPR Host or Printer” and clicked “Continue”
  6. In the “Connection” field, entered “lpd://USERNAME@isis.byu.edu/CampusBW” where USERNAME is my Route Y login (NetID)
  7. Clicked “Continue”
  8. Entered a name of “CampusBW” and an appropriate description and location, then clicked “Continue” again
  9. From the list next to “Make:” I chose “Generic” and clicked “Continue”
  10. From the list next to “Model:” I chose “Generic Postscript Printer (en)” and clicked “Add Printer”
  11. I don’t know if this is strictly necessary, but I clicked the “Query Printer for Default Options” button on the next page. It may or may not have actually worked.
  12. Last of all, under the “Maintenance” dropdown I chose “Print Test Page”. Then when I swiped my card at the Pharos kiosk, the test page showed up, ready to print.

I hope somebody out there in the vast recesses of the Internet finds this information somehow useful.


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4 responses to “Boring But Useful Post: Printing to BYU Printers from Linux”

  1. stevenswall Avatar
    stevenswall

    I’m on Ubuntu 12.04 now, and will likely try this here at BYUI where we also use Pharos printing… Wish me luck, and thanks for posting, whether or not it still works.

  2. Jacob Avatar
    Jacob

    It’s helped me. Thanks!

  3. Devin Rasmussen Avatar
    Devin Rasmussen

    Thanks for this. Still works Jan 2016 with Ubuntu 14.04.

  4. Guilherme Avatar
    Guilherme

    Thanks a lot! Worked for me!
    (Linux Mint 17.3, BYU-Idaho, November 2016)

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