Printing

[BobbY]

I've had my Alpha 400 for a few days and I like it a lot. It's way better than my Palm TX for web browsing and email.

I had no problems getting it to connect to my WiFi network and browsing and email work fine.

My only real issue is printing. Using the Printer Manager, I was able to select my network printer (a Brother MFC-440, which uses CUPS for the driver), but Brother was not listed in the printer list and so far I've had no luck printing anything.

Is there a workaround, or some way to add printers that aren't listed?

My other question is I haven't been able to get the Alpha 400 to automatically log-in to my preferred wireless network. Is there any way to get the Alpha 400 to connect other than manually using the WiFi program?

Thanks!

[Trygve]

Have you checked Brother's support pages?

http://solutions.brother.com/linux/en_u ... #MFC-440CN

[BobbY]

I'll try that, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for--the problem is there are no Brother printers that show up in the list in the Alpha 400 CUPS print manager, just a few brands like Epson and HP, etc.

The Alpha 400 can see my printer and allows me to select it as a printer to add, but then it asks me who the manufacturer is and Brother doesn't show up on the list. It seems somewhat odd to me, since Brother has used used CUPS drivers for years now...

[Trygve]

The problem is that the people who made the distribution on the Alpha-400 shaved off just about anything the could get away with, to fit it into the FLASH with room to spare for user files.

I guess printer drivers was among the stuff they thought they could delete...

[BobbY]

Sure, I understand and don't have a problem with that as long as you can load additional drivers. It seems a bit pointless to have a print manager but not be able to add common printers.

But I don't have a clue what to do. The instructions on the CUPS pages which the Alpha 400 links to are totally generic and don't really take into account the limitations of the Alpha 400. It says you can provide you own PDD file for the printer, but I don't know what that is, where I would find it or how I could load it onto the Alpha 400.