Printer configuration for Linux

On the University's eduroam and UniOfCam wireless networks, you will not be able to see the Maths printers by default. By making a small change to the Linux cups configuration you will be able to see all available printers.

The precise commands may vary from one flavour of Linux to another, but the general procedure is to tell cups (the printing system) about our server, then restart cups so that the change registers.

Making Maths Printers Visible on Ubuntu 20.04

Start a command line terminal and then run these commands:

sudo sh -c 'echo BrowsePoll cups-serv.maths.cam.ac.uk:631 >> /etc/cups/cups-browsed.conf'
sudo service cups-browsed restart

Making Maths Printers Visible on Ubuntu 14.04 and 13.04

Start a command line terminal and then run these commands:

sudo sh -c 'echo BrowsePoll cups-serv.maths.cam.ac.uk:631/version=1.1 >> /etc/cups/cups-browsed.conf'
sudo service cups-browsed restart

Other versions of Linux

What happens if you try the above commands? If they don't work see whether your error is listed below before emailing help@maths.

"sudo: command not found" or "user is not in the sudoers file"

On Ubuntu the standard way to run a command as root is to prefix it with sudo. On other Linuxes this may not be configured by default. Type su to become root and run the above commands without the sudo.

"cups-browsed: unrecognised service"

On older Linuxes the service is called just cups and the config file is also different. Try these commands (again, without sudo if it doesn't work for you).

sudo sh -c 'echo BrowsePoll cups-serv.maths.cam.ac.uk:631/version=1.1 >> /etc/cups/cupsd.conf'
sudo service cups restart

"service: command not found"

sudo systemd restart cups-browsed or sudo /etc/init.d/cups-browsed restart