[sf-lug] OT: how to set up wireless printer on college network

[Michael Shiloh]

This is not Linux specific and hence off-topic, so if I shouldn't be 
dong this please ignore the message. I'll understand silence to mean 
it's inappropriate.

On the other hand, it's Chromebook specific, which is Linux, but the 
question is not Linux related.

Here's the thing:

My daughter is off to college with her Google Chromebook, which she 
loves. As any of you who have used this know, it's a different computer 
paradigm and takes a bit of getting used to.

In particular, you can NOT install drivers, and thus you can't print 
directly to a printer.

You can use a "normal" computer to share an attached printer via the 
Google Cloud.

Or, you can buy a special Google "Cloud Ready" printer. Printing still 
requires the Cloud, so the printer must have access to the internet.

Now the printer has to connect to the Internet. No problem, they provide 
wifi all around the campus. No wired network in the dorms, but no 
problem, we get a wifi enabled printer. Pretty reasonably priced these days.

Now here's the problem: Her college network has open access points, but 
once connected to the network, one has to log in with one's student ID 
and password.

The question is, how do you get the wifi printer to do that?

Wifi printers have ways to set network SSID and WPA or WEP passwords, 
but I've not seen one that allows you to log in to such a network. The 
printer would have to issue an HTTP request and somehow on this random 
web page find where it says "Login" or whatever word they use and 
"Password" and enter your credentials.  There might even be a policy 
which requires you to read and accept their terms.

One solution would be to glue a Raspberry Pi to the back of the printer, 
and write a script (probably using Expect) on the pi to log in to the 
net and then route the internet to the printer via a short piece of CAT-5.

But surely this problem is more generic. I know that many colleges use a 
similar scheme (I'm a teacher after all, I know this first hand), and 
other places like convention centers, hotels, airports, etc. Granted, if 
you work in these places, you could get a wired connection to your 
printer, but still it must show up.

On top of that, cloud computing is really ideal for college students: 
(lightweight machine, great battery life, everything is in the cloud in 
case your laptop breaks, is lost or stolen), so I'd expect someone has 
figured out how to make this to work in that environment.

Thoughts?