John:
I have vague memories of the permissions in /var/spool/lpd being wrong, but I don't remember the specifics. That advice about lpr and lprng smacks of "Sprained wrist? Amputate arm!" You should be suspicious that the adviser has some preference for LPRng. In any case, as you probably discovered, the same permission problems will probably recur.
If you can uninstall all but one print server and then send us a "good bug report" in the style of http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html and we'll try to help. All other things failing, it's probably safest to go with one of the *lpr* packages, as more people use them.
Funny. Most people find that GNU/Linux means that they don't have to buy new computers as often and that there is a lot of free documentation and help available online. Maybe this is the impact of the new popular "Linux" movement with less tradition of LUGgers helping one another and huge "desktop environments" eating all the resources? -- MJR