It is simply an HP Laserjet 2000 connected to an XP workstation and shared by XP. I think it's a parallel interface, in fact. It has a cool infrared port that I used to use with my Toshiba laptop.
It doesn't have its own IP address. It works fine with all of my XP computers on the domain. I'm pretty sure it's not a printing problem at all. I have exhausted every fix for that possibility.
It is a knowledge/ignorance problem. Anybody who has had this problem before could solve it in 10 seconds. I just haven't met that person. I suspect that person will have to be a domain administrator at my college. My crappy little Linux box on an unauthorized hub is the least of their worries.
I'm going to junk the $199 WalMart special and replace it with a 2.8 Gig Intel box in a few weeks. I may bother the network people after that change.
OK guys... Which distribution should I install on the Intel box?
All of them! Disk space is cheap! :-)
Actually, If you have VMWare, I'd suggest you try out Knoppix, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, and Fedora Core6.
See which one you like best and go with it.