Printing on Ubuntu 18.04 and Trisquel 8.0

It is pretty easy. I use Canon MP160 as the printer here, as this inkjet printer mentioned as completely GNU/Linux compatible by h-node.org, so it’s automatically detected and no additional drivers needed on Ubuntu and Trisquel operating systems. You see how to print out documents (using LibreOffice), photos (using Shotwell/Image Viewer), and PDF (using Evince/Atril reader) on both systems. I hope this tutorial helps you both in printing and choosing best printer on GNU/Linux. Enjoy printing!

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The Printer

This is how PIXMA MP160 looks like.

Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

UBUNTU

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1) Turn on your printer, connect the USB cable to Ubuntu computer.

2) From LibreOffice: open up main menu File > Print (Ctrl+F) > Print dialog showing > select printer name (here: Canon MP160) > specify either All Pages or certain page only or certain range of pages > OK. See picture 1 below.

3) Ubuntu will print out your document using your printer.

To print in Grayscale mode (no color but only black and white), on the Print dialog, click Properties > dialog showing > Device > choose Color: Grayscale > OK > then continue to print it out. See picture 2 below.

To show the Print Queue, open up your desktop menu > find Printers > Printers dialog showing > Additional Printer Settings > right-click on your printer name (here: MP160) > View Print Queue > your print jobs showing. See picture 3 below.

Picture 1 Printing settings	Picture 2 Grayscale mode
Picture 3 Print queue

1) To print PDF file: double-click your PDF > Document Viewer program showing.

2) press Ctrl+P > PDF Printing dialog showing > choose printer name (here: Canon MP160) > choose whether print All Pages, or Current Page, or Range of Pages > press Print button.

3) Ubuntu prints it out.

To print in Grayscale mode, select Color tab > select Color: Grayscale > continue to print it out. 

To show print queue, go to desktop menu and find Printers > click Additional Print Settings > a dialog showing > right-click on your printer name > View Print Queue (Ctrl+F) > print queue showing. 

Picture 1 Printing dialog	Picture 2 Grayscale mode
Picture 3 Print queue

For example, you want to print many photos in a sheet of paper. You can take sample photos from Ubuntu wallpapers at /usr/share/backgrouds. For convenience, use Shotwell built-in program to print.

1) Open up Shotwell > import pictures > all pictures imported.

2) Select photos you want to print out > go to menu File > Print (Ctrl+P) > printing dialog showing.

3) Go to Image Settings tab > select either 6 images per page, 8 images per page, 16 images per page, or so on > press Print button.

4) Ubuntu prints it out.

To see print preview, just click Preview button on title bar. See picture 3.

 

Picture 1 Printing dialog	Picture 2 Image settings with 6 photos per page (to determine how many photos per page)
Picture 3 Print preview (showing 6 photos arranged per page)

TRISQUEL

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Trisquel: LibreOffice

1) Turn on your printer and connect the USB cable to your Trisquel computer.

2) Open up your document with LibreOffice: go to menu File > Print > Print dialog showing.

3) Select your printer name (here: Canon MP160) > select whether to print All Pages, or certain single page only, or certain range of pages > OK.

4) Trisquel prints it out.

Picture 1 Printing dialog	Picture 2 Grayscale mode
Picture 3 Print queue

Trisquel: PDF Reader

You use Atril PDF Reader on Trisquel. The steps to print are just the same as Ubuntu's:

1) Open up your PDF book > Atril showing. 

2) Go to menu File > Print (Ctrl+P) > select your printer name

Picture 1 Printing dialog	Picture 2 Grayscale mode
Picture 3 Print queue

Trisquel: Photos

By default, not like Ubuntu, Trisquel 8.0 does not include Shotwell (although you can install it manually:  sudo apt-get install shotwell ). If you have Shotwell then follow section Ubuntu: Photos above. But if you don't have it yet, follow this instruction to print out photo with the default Image Viewer.

Note: for convenience, rather than using Image Viewer or Shotwell, I suggest you to copy your photos to LibreOffice Writer first, then arrange them in page, and finally print it out from there. 

Picture 1 Printing dialog	Picture 2 Page setup: choosing paper size (A4/A5), paper orientation (portrait/landscape)
Picture 3 Image settings: viewing page preview, determining image scale