Tech projects, hobby programming, and geeky thoughts of Paolo Amoroso

An Android fix for a chromeOS printing issue

When I researched a printer for my first Chromebox in 2015, going with a Brother HL-2340DW seemed like a no brainer.

It was one of the few affordable, wireless laser units with support for Google Cloud Print, then the only way of printing from chromeOS. Print quality is okay. But I never liked the HL-2340DW much as it's slow, and it often went into a deep sleep mode from which it was difficult to wake up.

When Google discontinued Cloud Print in 2020 I could still use the HL-2340DW from my new Chromebox via the IPP protocol, but the unit would often ignore print jobs. When printing from the Chromebox the HL-2340DW would acknowledge receiving the data, then just ignore the jobs and return to the ready state. No troubleshooting or combination of restarting chromeOS, the Chromebox, or the printer would help.

One of the times, exasperated, I initiated printing the Google Drive files I wanted from my Pixel 4 XL Android phone instead of the Chromebox. The printer worked flawlessly, and it has been from Android since then.

#chromeOS #Android

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