Sharing your Ubuntu printer with an XP machine.

Now I did not write these instructions, they came from {HERE} But since they did a much better job of describing the steps for this procedure than I ever could, I thought I would just paste it here for my own reference and yours. In the past, printers have been a HUGE source of frustration for the Linux world so recent improvements in this area are a welcome thing...

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Gutsy

NOTE: This was tested with the beta version of Gutsy.

1) Make sure your printer is installed.

2) Open the Printing window (System -> Administration -> Printing).

3) Click Server Settings in the list of printers.

4) To the right, under Basic Server Settings, check the box that reads, "Share published printers connected to this system".

5) In the list of printers, click the printer you want to share.

6) Click in the Policies tab and make sure all three check boxes (Enabled, Accepting jobs, and Shared) are checked.

7) Click the Apply button in the lower-right corner of the window.

On the Windows machine:

1) Now add the printer to the Windows computer by using the Windows "Add Printer" Wizard. Select to connect a network printer and then select the option to connect a printer on the Internet or on a home or small office network. Type in the following for the printer URL:

http://HOSTNAMEorIP:631/printers/PRINTERNAME

Replace "" with the hostname of the Ubuntu computer sharing the printer. It's also possible to replace "" with the IP address of the computer sharing the printer.

Replace "" with the name (exactly as displayed including displayed casing) that was shown in the Printers window you opened earlier on the Ubuntu machine. If you're unsure about the exact printer name, you can use your webbrowser to open

http://localhost:631/printers/

That should show your printer in a webpage. Click on your printer link, and you should see the exact URL in your browser's address bar. You can use that URL in the Windows setup mentionned above.

2) Windows will ask you to select a driver for the printer. If you have the Windows print drivers, you should use them. Click the "Have Disk" button and select the .inf file that describes your print drivers.

If you do not have the drivers for the printer or cannot load the .inf file, you should select the "MS Publisher Color Printer" driver from the "Generic" manufacturer. This driver should be found on all Windows 2000 and XP installations by default and it gives all the printing functionality one should need.

NOTE: Windows XP can print over IPv6 to Ubuntu Linux (tested between Windows XP SP3 and Ubuntu Linux 8.10). Make sure both the Windows and Ubuntu have IPv6 connectivity. You should tick "Allow Printing from the Internet" on the Ubuntu machine. Then use the URL (which resolves to IPv6) of the Ubuntu machine as described above.
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I hope this benefits some linux users, I know it helped me a lot...