How can I easily set up a Google Cloud Print printer?

Question

I have an HP Photosmart B210 this is a e-print printer capable of printing via wifi, I'm using this printer in Google cloud print, however there is a downside, the software that comes with it is only for Windows, so to print anything I'm using my Android device.

Transferring the file to my phone, then with HP's app or Cloud print app send the job to the printer which honestly is not that hard but I feel like I'm doing more steps than necessary.

So, is there a way to set up the printer in Ubuntu or is there a 3rd party app in which i could just import/drag and drop the jobs into Google's service and print them?.

Solution 1

It looks like someone has made a CUPS/Google Cloud Print tool here:

• http://www.niftiestsoftware.com/cups-cloud-print/

And it appears the author provides a PPA:

• Packages: https://launchpad.net/~simon-cadman/+archive/cups-cloud-print
• Source code: https://github.com/simoncadman/CUPS-Cloud-Print

To install it and configure it:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:simon-cadman/niftyrepo
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cupscloudprint
sudo /usr/share/cloudprint-cups/setupcloudprint.py

After it asks for Google Credentials (it will only ask if this is the first time you have used CUPS CloudPrint, or your credentials are invalid) it will then ask if you wish to add all printers from your Google Account.

To make it work with Google's 2 Step Verification system, you must create an "App password". To do this go to: the App passwords page in your Google account and set a new password for the service.

If you say ‘Y’ here, it will add all printers that are currently not added to your CUPS install.

If you would prefer to add the printers manually, say ‘N’ here, and add a printer manually:

Add a new printer ( via http://127.0.0.1:631 or usual interface ) as a ‘Google Cloud Print’ network printer. Select the ‘Make’ as Google, and ‘Model’ as Cloud Print.

/usr/lib/cloudprint-cups/listcloudprinters.py

• Are PPA's safe to add to my system and what are some "red flags" to watch out for?

This is only for adding printers from Google Cloud Print to your local machine. If you want to take your existing printers and add them to Google Cloud Print follow these instructions:

• How can I import my printer(s) into Google Cloud Print?

Solution 2

From administration shell in Ubuntu, run sudo apt-get install cloudprint python-requests.

Then run cloudprint from the command line - it will prompt you for your Google user name and password and add the printers defined locally to this machine to your google account.

In my case, I have the following Kodak Wifi printer setup and defined on my Linux box:

cloudprint

• Google username:

• Password:

• Added Printer KODAK-ESP-5200-Series-AiO

Then you can manage you printer(s) from the Google website.

On that page, here are my printers listed on my account on Google after the setup:

• Save to Google Drive

• KODAK-ESP-5200-Series-AiO (Owned by me)

• Print to FedEx Office

Comments

[Admin]

May sound dumb, but why don't you use Cloud Print from chrome?

[Admin]

I'd prefer not to, as not every computer I get my hands on has it and I also don't want to be logging into all those computers.

[ijonfryderyk]

There is no PPA for Ubuntu 18.04. Is there any other way to use google cloud printers? My google cloud printer is not listed in Libreoffice printing dialog window (and in other programs that have their own printing utility). Programs that use default Ubuntu printing utility (Evience, Thunderbird, Firefox etc.) can use google cloud printers despite that they are not listed in system printer settings.

[Karim Sonbol]

This is awesome! thanks a lot. Btw, the last line should be "sudo /usr/share/cloudprint-cups/listcloudprinters.py"