Importantly, none of the countless online tutorials cover these issues: This is fairly specific, but they were nuances that I noticed and liked about the old printer. This means allowing printing while it’s offline, where it will print when it finally comes online
On the client side, it should handle the printer being offline gracefully.The fewest possible modifications to the printer should be made.It should handle frequent hard power interruptions gracefully (i.e.It should boot as fast as possible - to be ready when the printer has started.The RPi should be on only when the printer is on.This is unlike in an office, where the printer is almost always online. My use case is for a home environment, where more often than not, the printer is off.
When put into perspective, that’s only slightly more than the cost of a Raspberry Pi! Granted, this project was more about making the most of equipment already at hand. Networking capability is also more or less a given, with the price point as low as $65-$70. I’ll start off by saying that nowadays, printers are so cheap that they’re essentially throw-away items.
The end result was a fast, AirPlay compatible, on-demand print server, with Windows clients connecting using LPR and *nix clients via IPP. With a spare Raspberry Pi lying around yet again, it was time to fix that. And while it certainly worked, being able to print only from one computer was a real pain in the ass! When our last one stopped working due to a drum failure, we were left with a single, USB-only Brother HL-2140 laser printer. One of the things you begin to truly appreciate is the convenience of a networked printer. Using a Raspberry Pi as a Print Server for the HL-2140