How do I use a USB printer port.

[granjohnfg]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100. There is no parallel or serial printer port, but there are two USB ports. When I first plugged in an HP Laserjet 5, it was recognized, but apparently was not auto-configured. I endeavored to configure it through printconf-gui, but did not see either of the usb ports listed. Where do I go to configure the printer correctly.

Another problem (at least I consider it one): the computer does not 'shutdown' when given the command, in that it has a message up that the computer must be manually powered down. Is there a way that I can make this automatic?

Another: my optical mouse is not recognized if it's already plugged in when I power up the system, but it is if I plug it in after the system has been booted. It is also using a usb port.

Thanks for any help!
john

[vorte[x]]

Hi granjohnfg,

About your printer issue, try using redhat-config-printer.

About your power off issue, this means power management is disabled. This is usually done at boot for a good reason (bios old/unsupported) however if you're sure it should work, try booting with the apm=on kernel argument (at grub hit e I believe then append that to the end and boot)

Hope that helps,
- V

[kongit]

I have a dell inspiron also. I don't have your printer but I can help you with the power.

For power you should flash the bios once to get it up to 22 then again to get it up to 26 you can find them here:

http://support.dell.com/FileLib/PreviousVersions.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&Category=1&OS=NAA&OSL=EN&SvcTag=&SysID=INS_PNT_P4_5100&DeviceID=5466&Type=BIOS

note you probably don't need to upgrade beyond 22 if you don't want to.

Then add acpi=on in the grub.conf in the right place or at startup like vorte[x] said. I believe acpi works better.