On Kanotix, the CUPS web interface has a working "network printer autodiscovery". On Ubuntu, there is none. The reason is: Kanotix has the new CUPS 1.2 "snmp" backend enabled, Ubuntu has it disabled.

Clicking on one of the "Add This Printer" buttons starts an easy to use "Add Printer Wizard". That wizard requires only 2 stages, and in most cases it is only 2 more clicks to install the printer:

• first stage: offers to select a PPD (in other words: the printer driver). Usually the best one is already pre-selected.
• second stage: after successfull installation, the web page automatically re-directs to the "Set Printer Options" page (important to determine the default paper size [Letter or A4], and other settings)

Ubuntu users, if you want get the same goodness for your system, run this command:

  sudo ln -s  ../backend-available/snmp /usr/lib/cups/backend/snmp

You don't even need to restart CUPS to see it in action. Just go to

http://localhost:631/admin

If your LAN has one or more SNMP enabled printers attached to it, chances are that the CUPS web interface will automatically discover it and offer you to install it with the help of its "Add Printer Wizard".

To see how this looks like, see these screenshots:

• CUPS web interface, after snmp backend discovered not-yet-installed network printers (IPP, JetDirect/AppSocket or LPR/LPD)
• After clicking "Add This Printer", CUPS preselects the driver it thinks is best for the discovered model; but of course, you can override that pre-selection if you want
• When adding printer succeeded, CUPS shows a confirmation message
• After showing confirmation message, CUPS automatically redirects to the "Set Printer Options" page