Final Thoughts

Printer interoperability is a main selling point in getting Windows and Linux to play nicely . It's one of those features that users just expect to work all the time. If you can leverage the printers you have, you'll be the big hero.

Both Windows and Linux do a great job in working with standards for printing. The main standards that are supported on both sides are LPR/LPD for older-style Unix printing, SMB printing for Windows/Samba, and IPP. As mentioned previously, Windows' IPP doesn't use the RFC compliant port of 631, it uses port 80, so be sure to compensate, as we've specified in the chapter.

Samba does a great job in setting up new printers and automatically allowing driver downloads when necessary. Windows does a great job in making it easy to search for printers in Active Directory.

In all, it's a match made in printer heaven.