Share a multifunctional printer (with your Synology)

So, lately, we decided to truly use several different computers at home. The fun part is that we want to share the same peripherals (as the multi-functional printer (here, as an HP PhotoSmart B109a), with different OS (for now, Linux and Windows). Let's see how our Synology saved the day.

The Synology NAS embed a Linux system so basically, we should be able to run most of the applications, as far as we can deploy/compile it. But, because the Synology guys wants to ease our life, they did a great thing : they offer the possibility to add a multi-functional printer and manage it. As far as they did great, the system only embed some drivers (and software - i.e. only cups) and for me, even if the printer is fully discovered, only the print services will be shared over network. So I had to complete the setup. First, I need to be able to extend the system with new package. As we have a pretty recent DS1515+, we don't have any ipkg system out of the box. But now, this is pretty well documented over internet (in english or in french, for instance). Now that we can install third party software easily on the CLI, let's setup SANE. So, as a root on the Synology :

Let's see if the Synology see the scanner :

Which should reply something like :

Since the NAS sees the scan, let's test it with SANE via :

It will reply something as :

Now, let's ensure that the service is visible from the rest of the network. To do so, we need to edit /opt/etc/xinetd.conf where we check the line "only_from" : it should match the IP range of the local network. Then we edit /opt/etc/sane.d/saned.conf with the same purpose. We can now edit xinetd to start the sane service properly with the right port, editing /opt/etc/xinetd.d/sane-port :

Let's start it (it will be automatically started on the next reboot :

As we're good on the server side, let's focus on the client side. We'll start with the Linux client as it's the simpliest. I assume you already installed xsane. Now, we just need to tell Xsane where it can find the scan. So, we edit /etc/sane.d/net.conf to replace "# localhost" with the IP of the Synology. The printer is just a few click away when you go through the regular GUI to add a network printer. We're good to go. On the Windows side (Windows 10 here), it's a bit more tricky. First, we'll focus on the printer service. For this, we'll have to follow the directives from Synology. This will enable a printer. Windows might complain about missing drivers for some mass storage USB device and an unknown device but you can just ignore as those are the scan and the multi card reader. For the scan service, we'll have to install some other tools. Indeed, Windows use a specific protocol which is not compatible with sane (it can be TWAIN, ISIS or WIA). But , as we exposed the scan via sane, we need ... sane ... Absolute logical logic. Thanks to our opensource community friends, port exists. Not so much up2date or maintained, but it's enough ok to be used. The solution here will be SaneWinDS. Just download the installer, follow the instruction of the GUI and here you go. Reboot your Windows (after all, it remains as a Windows), and now you have a Sane application on your Windows that you can use. The UI is pretty archaic but it should do the trick.