Network Dymo label printer?

Whilst that's handy for you, it also helps prove my point that 'even you' currently can't just use Linux. And that's fine, I use all sorts of OS's for all sorts of things but what I don't do is advocate any one as the best thing since sliced bread for *everyone*.

Say 'I prefer Linux' or 'I can't get Windows to work reliably' but don't suggest that one OS is crap for everyone.

Quite, and that's a perfectly reasonable and rational thing to say.

And repeating my point that you still *need* Windows ... and even as a Linux advocate you are not alone.

But what you (advocates) are heard saying is 'all cars are cr*p, I'll stick with my bike' but are happy to get a lift home in a car when it's pouring with rain.

But that is once or twice a year more than 'most Windows users' need Linux for anything. And that's not a slur against Linux, it's a statement of the way it is *because* Windows is the de facto desktop OS and so 'of course' more programs and drivers will be written directly for it and more hardware will be made with it in mind.

And that's fine, for you, but as an atheist I don't go up to believers and call them names for making the choices they have or the ridiculing their chosen way. You don't often see me calling Linux 'Linsux' or 'linux' but I regularly read 'Windoze' or 'Winblows' etc.

For you. Ok, today I bought two 'so called' 256G SD cards and was keen to test it. I downloaded H2testw on the W10 laptop, unzipped it, ran it and was testing the first card with seconds.

I had a second PC (a little Atom netbook) and it boots Mint 18 Mate faster than it boots XP so I booted into Mint because I had seen mention on the site that mentioned H2testw that there was also something for Linux. I started at

Now, when you have started to offer 'help' re getting that sort of thing going your help strangely seems to stop very quickly. Some might assume that means you don't have the solutions either ... and that's fine but at least be 'a man' and admit that's the case, rather than trying to keep up this false pretence that Linux is always 'easier' than Windows, even for you. ;-)

If that's all you consider to be 'maintenance then no wonder you have the wrong end of the stick. What if you were updating your Windows VM and it took Linux out of disk space and it crashed ... and when you rebooted it complained about having no space and after making some space you found the Windows VM was corrupt? What would you do, call someone in to fix it ... re-image the whole machine from the backup you made hours earlier (like everyone does of course). *That* is the sort of maintenance (of_the_system_when_broken) I am also including.

Again, 'for you'. Unfortunately, every Linux machine I've installed for others never seems to get updated *because* it doesn't happen automatically (although I think some distros can now do some updates automatically (after telling us for years why it wouldn't ever be that way ... same with Mint and it's in-situ upgrades ...?).

OOI, if you had to take your Linux machine somewhere for repair (not re-install), do you have such a place?

It doesn't demand but does recommend that you do ... assuming you have actioned the updates in the first place that is. ;-)

Ok, install F3 for me from the GUI and tell me (us) how you did it as I wasn't able to finish testing them round Mums and would like to set them going here on Linux ...

(I wonder if this is where TNP goes quiet again )

Cheers, T i m

I've looked at those a couple of times because I've always wanted a 'laptop' that I could completely look after myself (inc a good access to spare parts etc).

However, I'm not sure how much use I would be able to make out of a portable Pi3b (even) based machine?

Now, if there was something like that that also ran Windows them many I could justify it a bit more (as my greatest use of 'portable' machines in running OBD stuff and most of it is Windows only). ;-(

Cheers, T i m

I spent the best part of half a day today, going through that walk through (the fact that it was a Pi1b didn't help the speed) and it mostly seemed to work. My eyes aren't brilliant and my copy-typing is even worse but I only made a few typos that I eventually corrected (spotting the errors etc).

I got the Dymo driver downloaded and installed and CUPS configured via a text html client (links2) but that's where it started to go a bit awry. It initially looked like the print driver had been installed but then it had gone, so because I hate the CLI (for reasons given above) I installed webmin and after following some other walkthroughs (that covered adding SAMBA so the Windows PC's could see the printer etc) and resetting passwords that hadn't seemed to be taken (or asked for), managed to get it all working!

So, I can SSH into the Pi with Putty (but am still stuck with the CLI. I can get into CUPS remote admin (with the user 'root'?) and can get into Webmin now back with the std Raspbian defaults.

I've got another Pi3b on the way and that might make the remote consoles a bit quicker and give me WiFi if I want to make the Pi / printer fully portable around the house. That will give me a chance to go though it all again and see if it goes smoother. Rather than using webmin ... a long time ago you could just type 'startx' and have a gui for configuring stuff but not have it start automaticaly at bootup?

I was thinking of designing and printing a 3D base that contained the Pi and a 24 to 5V buck converter so I can plug the Dymo 450 PSU into the new 'base' and there would be a flying lead back to power the printer (24V) and a short USB cable.

Cheers, T i m