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Guide: Make almost any printer AirPrint compatible with a Raspberry Pi in 20 minutes!

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Got a printer kicking around that you wish had AirPrint? Maybe it’s one you’ve had for several years, or maybe it’s a cheaper one you recently picked up and wished it had support for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. In any case, if you’ve got yourself a Raspberry Pi, have 20 minutes to spare and a tiny bit of experience with SSH, you can get your printer working natively in AirPrint in a flash!

It doesn’t matter whether your printer connects via USB, Ethernet or Wi-Fi – this trick will still work. I’ll guide you through the process!

Step 1: Ensure your Raspberry Pi is up to date.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but you’ll find yourself installing out of date software if you don’t keep your Pi’s sources up to date. Open up a VNC connection with your Pi and then open Terminal. Run the following:

sudo apt-get update

then

sudo apt-get upgrade

If there are any upgrades listed, type Y and press Enter to continue installing updates. Once that’s done, you can start installing your device.

Step 2: (If you’re connecting via USB) Connect your printer with its USB cable.

If you printer normally connects via USB, now would be a good time to connect it to your Pi’s USB port. If you’re currently connecting your printer via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, run straight to step 3. Don’t panic about unplugging it from about PC that it was connected to before – it’ll be a wireless printer soon!

Connect the printer to your Pi and reboot the Pi with the following command:

sudo reboot

Once it has rebooted and you’re back at a desktop, run Terminal again and then run:

lsusb

All devices that are connected via USB should be listed at this point. If your printer doesn’t show, make sure it is turned on and functioning normally.

Step 3: Install samba and CUPS.

At this point you can start installing the backbone software that will provide the printer networking. In terminal, run the following commands:

sudo apt-get install samba

You’ll probably see apt asking to install a relatively large number of packages – don’t worry about this, just press Y and then Enter to continue. When that’s done, then run:

sudo apt-get install cups

Again, you’ll see apt wanting to install an assortment of packages. Carry on as before! After that, you just need to add a printing administrator so that CUPS can manage printers on the Pi. Run the following command:

sudo usermod –a –G lpadmin pi

Step 4: Add your printer. 

You now need to add your printer to your print server. To do this, you need to navigate to the CUPS user interface. Open up a web browser on your Pi and then navigate to 127.0.0.1:631. You should see something like this:

Home_-_CUPS_1.7.5_-_Google_Chrome_fcf924dd4bd74bcf8f5a3dacc57b826d

CUPS admin homepage

Click the Administration tab, then click Add Printer. You may be asked to switch to SSL at this point – just follow the link it tells you to go to. You’ll then be prompted to log in – just use your normal Pi credentials (username is usually Pi and the password either raspberry or whatever you might have changed it to.

Once you’re logged in, you should be given a list of currently connected printers. Find yours in the list – it should show up however it is connected (either by USB or over your network). Select it, then click Continue.

At the next step, give it a name (you can keep the default if you wish), a description (this is how your printer will be identified to your iDevice) and a location (optional). Make sure you tick Share This Printer and then click Continue.

Next, you need to select a driver. With any luck your Pi should have already identified a suitable driver – if not, you may need to scroll through the list until you find a suitable candidate. Then click Add Printer and select any default preferences you may have. Click Set Default Options when you’re done and that’s the hardest bit done!

You can check the printer has been added successfully by heading over to the Printers tab and ensuring your printer is shown. To print a test page, select your printer from the list, click the Maintenance dropdown and then click Print Test Page.

Printers_-_CUPS_1.7.5_-_Google_Chrome_abe2589dedeb489098fd507ed7490519

Hopefully your printer is listed at this point!

Step 5: Fine tune a few settings.

A few settings should be fine tuned here to get best performance. Return to the Administration tab and check Share printers connected to this system. If you want to be able to manage CUPS (i.e. add new printers) remotely in future over your network, also check Allow remote administration. Then click Change Settings, the server will then reboot and you’re all good at this point.

Step 6: (Optional) Add Samba support for Windows networking

If you want to use your printer with a Windows device after this setup, you’ll need to activate Samba for Windows. To do this, run Terminal once more and run the following:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Scroll right to the bottom and then paste in the following:

# CUPS printing. See also the cupsaddsmb(8) manpage in the
# cupsys-client package.
printing = cups
printcap name = cups
[printers]
comment = All Printers
browseable = no
path = /var/spool/samba
printable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = yes
create mask = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /usr/share/cups/drivers
browseable = yes
read only = yes
guest ok = no

Now, do CTRL + W and type in workgroup, followed by Enter to find workgroup configuration. Your workgroup is probably already correctly set it if you haven’t ever changed your workgroup before – if you have, set the correct name at workgroup =. Then change wins support = no to wins support = yes.

Then do CTTL + O on your keyboard, followed by Enter, to save that configuration.

Restart samba with the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Your printer will now work on a Windows network.

Step 7: (If your Raspberry Pi is connected to your network via Wi-Fi) Change a quick setting here.

Skip this step if your Pi connects to your network via an Ethernet cable. If it uses Wi-Fi, you need to turn off power saving for its Wi-Fi adapter to prevent it going to sleep and isolating AirPrint. To do this, you need to edit a file in Terminal:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/8192cu.conf

Add the following at the bottom:

# No power saving
options 8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0 rtw_enusbss=1 rtw_ips_mode=1

Then do another CTRL + O, followed by Enter to save changes.

Step 8: Install Bonjour for AirPrint

Nearly there, I promise! You now need to install the AirPrint software. This is a doddle, thankfully!

Still in your Terminal, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install avahi-discover

Let that install as normal – this shouldn’t take long! Once that’s done, it would be a good idea to reboot your Pi to let all these settings sink in. In terminal, run:

sudo reboot

Step 9: Test it out! 

All should now be up and running – you’ll be pleased to know that’s the configuration done! Grab an iOS device, open up an email or Safari page, and follow the Share icon until you find a Print option. Hit Select Printer and yours should (fairly quickly) appear. If it doesn’t, don’t panic! Give it a couple more minutes and then try again – it should appear after a couple of tries the first time.

Your printer should appear at this point.

Your printer should appear at this point.

If you click the (i), you might even be able to check ink levels.

If you click the (i), you might even be able to check ink levels.

Select your printer, adjust any preferences you wish, and then click Print. Voila! It might take a few seconds to spool with your printer – this is to be expected.

Once you've chosen the printer, adjust any preferences such as number of copies and page selection, then click Print.

Once you’ve chosen the printer, adjust any preferences such as number of copies and page selection, then click Print.

And there you have it! An AirPrint printer with a little configuration from your Pi. If you’d like to add more printers to your network, you’ll need to return to the CUPS administration panel and repeat Step 4. In any case, you should now have a printer that works over your network and on all of your favourite iOS devices, without the need for any third party app!

D-Link DIR-868L review – still a high performance 802.11ac router in 2015?

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IMG_2512

Rating: ★★★★½

PROS:

  • Still blazingly fast even by today’s wireless-AC standards – up to 40MB/s transfer speeds at close range over 802.11ac
  • New router firmware drastically improved since original router release
  • Excellent value for money

CONS:

  • Can be confusing to set up as a standalone wireless access point
  • Lack of some more advanced features like VPN support and Time Machine Backups

RRP: £139.99, best price at time of writing £81.99 on Amazon 

In late 2013, D-Link announced, in my opinion, what was their first decent set of wireless-AC routers to hit the market. The D-Link DIR-868L arrived to the party as the high end model at the time – boasting six internal antennas and the newly introduced with the standard “beamforming” technology that allowed wireless signals to in theory be concentrated between the wireless router and connected clients.

Benchmarks from Trusted Reviews, CNET and others all said that the router delivered very impressive transfer speeds over both wireless-N and wireless-AC.

Two years on and the router is still live and in production according to D-Link. However, it has fallen in price considerably since its original release and had various updates and revisions. The question is, two years on – is this still a fantastic router with an even better price tag? Let’s find out.

Setting up the router looks fairly easy but you do have to think a little carefully. For me, I was replacing an old but trustworthy Airport Express which was getting an ethernet feed in from my router downstairs. Now my Airport was smart enough to realise that if I connected the ethernet connection to it’s WAN port, it still could detect there was another LAN in place and gave me the choice of whether I set up a new LAN or use the existing one from the router downstairs. As my NAS is plugged in upstairs and I wanted to share that across the house, I definitely wanted to use the existing LAN. That was all very easy and automated with the Airport.

It’s not quite so simple with the DIR-868L. If you plug your ethernet feed into the WAN port, it will forcefully create a new WAN even if you manually give it commands not to and there seems to be very little way of getting around it, aside from connecting your ethernet feed to a LAN port instead. This is fine and dandy, but the router then won’t believe it is connected to the internet. Swings and roundabouts. I’m yet to find a way around this issue yet, but it’s a minor concern as the router does otherwise function normally once you cross that bridge.

Once you’re up and running, it’s very easy to get connected and start reaping the benefits. When you connect to the router for the first time, it prompts you to configure your own wireless network SSIDs and passphrases if you wish, as well as a custom router admin password. The router of course also supports WPS for easy connection. Great to see router manufacturers are prompting users to set their own passwords rather than leaving the defaults in place.

Performance from the router is still, even by todays standards, very impressive. In my benchmarks (WD MyCloud large file transfer over wireless-AC), I was getting around 38MB/s transfer speeds constantly at around 1m range. At 4m range, this was still around 28MB/s and at 10m range with two brick walls in-between I could achieve around 12MB/s transfer speeds (which is still around 96Mbps). According to CNET, one of the best performing routers of 2015 is the Linksys WRT1900ACS, and they reported that at around 67MB/s transfer speeds at 4m. That’s fantastic – but you’ve got to bear in mind its price tag is approximately £230 on Amazon – almost three times the price!

So can the D-Link DIR-868L still win from a value point of view? In my view, yes – without a doubt. At around £80 it offers what are still considered very high benchmarks and if you’re looking to move your home onto a wireless-AC network, this could be a fantastic starting point. It’s also worth noting that since the original reviews were written back in late 2013, D-Link have given the router’s interface a complete makeover from it’s very dated looking original admin panel – the new interface is much more effective. In addition, you’ve got features such as remote management, USB 3.0 device sharing/streaming support through a built in multimedia server and four Gigabit LAN ports for high speed device connections. For the more technically minded, it is also supported by DD-WRT – great if you wish to push the router to the max and gain even more functionality.

Overall, for the price, it’s a fantastic device with a unique design and very high performance. If you’re looking to move to wireless-AC on a budget, this is a big contender.

Buy now from Amazon 

Buy now from eBay UK

Mpow Cheetah wireless earphones review – bargain sports earphones?

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IMG_1663

Minimalistic packaging is something I always like to see – easily recyclable and no cut-yourself-when-you-open-it nightmares here!

PROS:

  • Nice fit to the head, even if it takes a little while to get used to
  • Handy functions such as phone number readout
  • Minimalist easy-to-open recyclable packaging
  • Available in a variety of colours
  • Bluetooth 4.1 spec

CONS:

  • Audio quality a little lacking, poor treble and bass in my view
  • Dimwitted mapping of buttons

Rating: ★★★★☆

Price at review: £16 – buy from Amazon

Over the past few years I’ve tried and tested a number of wireless earphones and headphones. Many of them are very much the same – great idea, but poor design and average audio quality. I picked up a set of the Mpow Cheetah wireless earphones last week with the hope that these might be slightly different. Their design very much interested me because if you ask most sports earphone users, their number one complaint is that they fall out of the ears. Here are my thoughts.

The earphones arrive in firm but simplistic packaging which is nice to see – no annoying and wasteful plastic inserts or anything like that. Inside you’ll find the earphones, together with two extra sets of earbuds bring a total of three wearable sizes (small, medium, large), a micro-USB charging cable and some basic instructions and warranty information.

Setting up the earphones is very easy. Simply switch them on by keeping you’re finger pressed on the multifunction button – keep the button pressed until they beep to confirm they’re in pairing mode. Then grab your phone or other bluetooth device and pair the two devices up. Once that’s done, you’ll get a nice audible confirmation from the headset and you’re ready to go.

In terms of functionality, I was impressed with the wide range of functions that the headset can perform. As well as being able to play music through the headset, you’re also able to skip tracks, adjust volume, and even take phone calls with the device’s built in microphone.

There are one or two fundamental flaws though. First of all, the microphone that’s built in is nothing to shout about. The microphone just isn’t in the right place to catch your voice effectively enough to use as a long term handsfree device – it’s not really the device’s fault as no comparable wireless headset would be able to put the microphone close enough to your mouth that you’d get good feedback. It’s OK for the odd phone call here and there, but I wouldn’t use it all the time for that task. On the other hand, the device will read you the number of the person that’s calling when your phone rings which is a handy extra feature.

The second flaw I’ve found is a little more dimwitted. You can skip tracks and adjust volume by using the forward and back buttons on the right earpiece. You tap the buttons to adjust the volume up and down or hold the buttons to skip forward or back. However, those two functions are alternately placed on the device – so the button that turns the volume up is the same button that skips back a track – you’d think it would make sense that the volume up button would skip forward and vice versa. Small niggle but it’s irritating nonetheless.

I did really like one little feature though. As the device uses a recent Bluetooth specification, it can do things like tell your phone the device’s current battery charge level. A small feature, but useful nonetheless.

IMG_1667

The device can report battery charge level to your phone’s notification icon area – see the top right of this image.

In terms of sound quality, I found it wasn’t much to shout about. There are a number of reviews (particularly on Amazon) which give mixed feedback about the audio quality and I, for one, can’t help but feel it’s a little disappointing. Fair enough, if you’re going to use the device for it’s intended purpose (running, most likely), it’s probably not going to hugely bother you whether they sound amazing. However, when using them in a less active environment, I found that the audio quality was fairly flat and that both the bass and treble were lacking. For a £16 pair of wireless earphones, don’t expect the world, but I still couldn’t help but feel I’d tried £10 wired earphones with better audio quality.

Overall, they are a decent set of earphones with a reasonably good fit to the head (it takes a little getting used to but does result in a good fit) with handy functions, but leaving a little to be desired in terms of audio quality. A good buy for £16, but I’d spend a little more if you’ve got the budget available.

Buy from Amazon

Are wireless headphones just over-hyped or are they worth the extra money?

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This review is outdated and no longer valid. Please return to our homepage.

I was recently browsing through the Amazon store for a new pair of headphones. I have countless pairs of earphones – some of which have great sound quality – but they tend to break so easily and are only goody for light use.

However, whilst browsing, it crossed my mind to have a look at some wireless headphones. I’ve previously known them to be very expensive and many of them seem to have poor build and sound quality.

However, I stumbled across a £24 pair on Amazon that had good reviews and thought I didn’t have much to lose – so I bought a pair.

It’s fair to say – considering the price tag – they’re brilliant. They aren’t branded (so those of you who like to show off their brands – these aren’t for you!), but that never seems to bother me!

The sound quality is relatively good and I was pleasantly surprised. The headphones have decent bass and don’t seem to sound “tinny” in the slightest.

They will happily connect to any Bluetooth audio device in stereo and/or mono (eg PC, iPod touch 2G or above, iPhone, any smartphone, etc) and it’s really simple to get them going. Simply hold down the multifunction key for 7 seconds (when the blue and red LEDs flash) and connect to them as normal.

I was also really impressed by the battery life. I’ve had these headphones for several days now and have used them for hours on end – and they’ve still only been charged once! They usually outrun the battery life of my iPod by miles!!

My only minor complaint is the LEDs on the device. When you’re using the headphones, a blue LED flashes occasionally. Whilst this is fine in a well lit room or outside, it can be irritating if you’re trying to use them in the dark or at night.

Other than that, they’re a fantastic pair of budget wireless headphones and seem to outsmart many of their more expensive competitors. At £24 a pair, you really don’t have much to lose.

Fix Samsung N145 (Atheros AR9285) wireless N not running at 150Mb/s

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Ever since I bought my Samsung N145 (which I love), I’ve always been annoyed with the problem that the built in wireless adapter rarely picks up Wireless N (802.11n) at 150Mbit/s. Instead, it usually picks it up at 65Mbit/s, which can often be annoying when transferring large files over a network.

However, Microsoft released a driver update (via Windows Update) in late August 2011 which seems to have resolved the problem.

It’ll be listed as an optional update in Windows Update. Unfortunately, Microsoft have provided no direct link to download manually. However, I can tell you that the driver ID is 20442151.

Download the update, install, and with any luck the problem should be solved immediately.