I am asking this because the path, or order of general steps, is not clear to me and is confusing. Between 'hp-setup', 'Printers' and 'Print Settings' (Budgie Menu) and 'CUPS', I have no idea what to do first and last on Solus.
Can anyone please help with this? Thanks!
Oh, and is there a way to permanently unlock things in the Print Settings' and 'Printers' (in the Budgie Menu), because they keep locking every minute or so.
most modern printers (those 10 years old or less) usually have a driver built into the linux kernel. especially hp and brother printers tend to just work . plug your printer into the usb port of your computer. in the menu look for printer settings and see if your printer is already installed. if it is listed then you do not need to do anything else. if it is not listed then click on add printer . it will ask for your password, type that in . it will then scan your system looking for a printer . if it it finds one it will install the driver . if it does not find one than you need to come back here and see if someone else can assist you . I have several hp printers at home and work and Solus has always installed them using the methods i described above . good luck and happy printing .
P.S. if you need a good scanning app for your printer's scanner try document scanner . it is in the software center .
My printers have always been present without requiring me to do anything, but I'm on Plasma, so that may be a difference because of the DEs. And my printers have been on wi-fi, and on the same network as my computers. That might be a factor, too.
I'll bet @brent could give you a lot better advice that I can on this subject. You might mention how the printer is connected to your computer. USB cable? Wi-fi connection? Something else?
tuxlover4 WetGeek My printer is HP M110W, a wifi only printer model. So, no usb path possible. I was not looking for general steps, I know that much too. 
The correct steps on Budgie Solus, as in 1. 2. 3. etc. Why? Because I am not sure if I did something wrong.
Anyway, the printer is on same wifi network as my Solus pc. It prints a test page from Solus, but nothing else.
I don't know about the world of HP printers, but for Brother, you have to install the brother drivers (usually brlaser), and then you can add the printer. Otherwise you get a generic CUPS driver (which is garbage for my printer).
I would guess that for HP you should install hplip and then try adding the printer.
davidjharder you should install hplip and then try adding the printer.
Thank you, I will try that now. I will remove all the instances of the printer, and then will try again. Question was, which Solus apps should I use, and in what order? I mentioned in my first post that there are 4 or so, hence the confusion.
elfprince You should use the system "printers" thing. rough steps for HP:
hpliphplip supplied drivers are named)@elfprince what he said ^^ do it all thru system settings. when you get to the drop down driver selection---if your driver is not listed---I shoot for the same model and a number just above or below it and most of the time it works.
Other times I had to crack a tarball and run .sh install the best I could to get the manufacturer driver into Solus by hand--if that's an option.
the best part is I never write anything down so every new install is an adventure
Other relevant observation: had same issue on an Ubuntu distro (Linux Lite). However, on Q4OS it was a cinch on the first try. Go figure.
likely all in /.config if I had to guess. maybe tear all folders relating to an HP printer out to be sure?
and try to delete a couple more times. I remember a reboot always being part of this method. sequence matters too. if all traces gone and wiped clean then turn printer on and make solus see it...
..but we got to get to the part where you can delete it first. sometimes this stuff is pita
brent The phantom printers (the older setups or f**ups) persisted still. I can't believe this. However, I carefully tried another new 'add' and labelled it uniquely. Then it took 2 tries to select the right driver in hplip databse.
It finally worked! Printed out a test copy, and thereafter a document a couple of times. Thank you all for pitching in. 
️
SOLVED.
On Solus, printers did use to be automatically added. I thought that broke ages ago, though. Would be nice if it was fixed somewhere along the ways...
EbonJaeger On a different note, are all those locking mechanisms really necessary on a home purposed distro? Can (and does) make life 'difficult' (to be polite). 
elfprince That's inherited from GNOME Control Center, I'm afraid, and there is no compile option for it.
EbonJaeger On Solus, printers did use to be automatically added.
On Plasma, they still do. I haven't needed to intervene manually for years. Not with Canon, HP, or now Epson.
By the way, I bought that Epson beause it has ink tanks instead of cartridges. I'm lovin' it.
