I am using a Laserjet 5p parallel to USB, but have found I must reboot with the printer on before Ubuntu will print from the installed driver. If I do not do this, the printer job is stalled in the cue. Any suggestions on a fix other than buying a new printer? I do recognize the one I have is a dinosaur. Thanks.
Please try unplugging the USB adapter (but do not unplug the parallel cord from the USB adapter), turning on the printer, and plugging the USB adapter back in.
I can't QUITE match that, but I did have a 6L that lasted me until last year, and yeah: "what gordon said". 
wrt new printers: I replaced mine with a Xerox Phaser 3260, and it's absolutely brilliant, EXCEPT - it has a wireless mode (which I thought was a stupid gimmick, but have since come to love), but has to be configured via USB first to be able to use it. And "configured" means "Run Xerox's custom garbage Windows-only software".
Only has to be done once, but that's still once too often if you don't HAVE a Windows box to hand. So be careful, because I doubt they're the only ones pulling stupid stunts like that. Sigh...