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nharris · Oct 11, 2004, 09:55 AM

I'm a beginner at sharing a printer.

My wife and I share an internet connection over our LAN (Netgear Gateway Router).

Bottom line: is it better to share a printer connected to the LAN or to one of the OS X Macs?

I'm considering buying a new laser printer and not sure if it should be a "network" printer or not.

Or, I have a HP 5MP which is directly connected to an older Mac (G3 Desktop) via serial port. Currently, I'm able to use it over our
network from my OS X Mac. But when I retire the G3, I understand I will need to buy a print server to connect the 5MP to our network. I'm not sure if that is the same piece of hardware as a localtalk to ethernet bridge (like AsanteTalk) which I've tried without dependable success. Maybe there are better alternatives to connect the HP 5MP.

Thanks for any recommendations.

tooki · Oct 11, 2004, 12:07 PM

If you're going to buy a new laser printer anyway, then yeah, make sure it's a network model! Those have far less driver problems than locally-connected ones. (Pretty much any computer and any OS can print to an ethernet PostScript printer, so your purchase is pretty much guaranteed to work with any computer, past or future.)

tooki

-Q- · Oct 11, 2004, 12:25 PM

There are also network routers out there that have parallel/usb ports to allow for printer sharing, but I'm not certain how well they work as I've never used one directly.

tooki · Oct 11, 2004, 12:27 PM

They work fine, usually, but it's a MUCH better solution to have an ethernet print server built into the printer.

tooki

WizOSX · Oct 17, 2004, 08:15 AM

Originally posted by tooki
They work fine, usually, but it's a MUCH better solution to have an ethernet print server built into the printer.

tooki

That makes sense but--
I have one Mac running 10.3.5 and a couple of XP PC's. I also own a LJ2100m with ethernet card in it. For some reason I never seem to have luck getting the machine working on a network--must be doing something wrong. Do you just plug the printer into one of the ethernet ports on the router using a "straight" ethernet cable (not cross-wired?)? Can you print directly from the internet without unconnecting and reconnecting?

chabig · Oct 17, 2004, 09:22 AM

Yes. You just plug the printer into your router with a regular ethernet cable. All of your Macs and PCs will see it and can print to it. Your problems are likely due to setup problems on the PCs, not the printer.

Also, it won't matter whether you are connected to the internet or not. You are building a local network. All of your PCs, Macs, and the printer will be on this local network. The internet connection is irrelevant.

Chris

WizOSX · Oct 17, 2004, 10:03 AM

chabig--thanks for the reply.

But still no luck. I have my PB 12" connected to my SMC wireless router via airport. I'm connected to the internet just fine (wirelessly) through this router.

I plugged the printer into one of the ethernet ports on the router. Where do I go next? I don't have any local network "defined." If I try Rendevous it doesn't see a printer. Only "Windows printing" seems to see anything. I tried IP printing and entered the IP address of the printer's card--no luck printing. Any thoughts?

mhuie · Oct 17, 2004, 10:36 AM

You might need some kind of utility to configure the printer/card. Check the mfr's site for some kind of documentation or software.

chabig · 07:56 PM

With OSX, IP printing is definitely the answer. Appletalk won't work. You will run the Printer Setup Utility (in the Utilities folder) and click the Add button, then select HP IP Printing from the popup menu. You should then see your printer. Select it, click ADD, and you're done.

Chris

ChillieMac · Oct 19, 2004, 11:38 AM

Where do you get the IP number for your printer? I have an HP PSC AIO(All In One) USB printer and would love to do IP printing.

Any answers?

WizOSX · Oct 19, 2004, 02:41 PM

ChilleMac--

My HP2100 has an ethernet card in it. It is the ethernet card that has the IP number. Your USB printer won't have an IP number unless it also has built-in ethernet or an add-in card.

-Q- · Oct 21, 2004, 10:24 PM

And unfortunately, printers with network cards tend to be on the expensive side. If you want to use a cheaper printer, this hint at Max OS X Hints maybe be of use.

power142 · Oct 22, 2004, 10:59 AM

Not sure if this is an option for you, but in another thread a while back, the Xerox 6100DN was discussed - MacOSX drivers, networked color laser (duplex) printing for $599.