[veryniceguy2002]

Can someone tells me how does Rendezvous works with a printer? Does it only work with newly released printers with explicitly have Rendezvous support? What printers can support Rendezvous so far?

[Camelot]

Rendezvous only works with new printers that specifically support Rendezvous.

So far several printer manufacturers including Epson, HP and Brother have all promised Rendezvous support but none have yet shipped a Rendezvous-enabled printer, as far as I'm aware.

When enabled Rendezvous printers will automatically appear in Print Center - kind of like how AppleTalk printers have worked since, oh, 1985 or so.

[aaanorton]

Actually, I have an Epson 2200, which was released way before Rendezvous, and it it definitely Rend aware. I've seen other printers like this also. Plug 'em in, open Print Center and there they are, already listed and set up. In fact, if I go ahead and add it again manually and delete the Rend listed item, it will be relisted again after restart, so that I'll have two listings of the same printer.

[tooki]

Now hold on... that's a USB/FireWire printer. Those always show up automatically in OS X, as long as the proper driver is installed. (This was true even in the OS X beta.) Rendezvous is completely uninvolved with this.

tooki

[aaanorton]

That's not correct. In Print Center, you'd always have to at least add the printer to use it. Also, if you'd delete a printer, it would stay gone. Now, though, with Rendezvous, it is just there as soon as you turn on the computer and will return even if you delete it after a restart. The listed printer is clearly different in Print Center when you add it manually vs. the Rendezvous auto-added one. When Rendezvous adds the 2200, it just says "SP 2200". When I add one myself, it says "SP2200(USB)" or "SP2200(Firewire)", depending on connection. The point is that Rendezvous just knows, but it doesn't matter. It'll just work either way. This is the first printer I've ever seen that works like this, and I've been on X since the PB too.

[Camelot]

I don't doubt that Print Center is working as you describe, but I don't believe it's a facet of Rendezvous.

Rendezvous is a networking technology.

The Epson 2200 uses USB, FireWire or Parallel to connect to the host.

Unless you've installed Apple's IP over FireWire software, none of these interfaces are 'networks' and therefore not subject to Rendezvous' auto-discovery.

[aaanorton]

But it is a new device added to my LAN.
From here:

Printer manufacturers Epson, HP, and Lexmark are integrating Rendezvous into new printers to enable them to be added and removed from networks without configuration. When you add your Mac to a network, Mac OS X will then automatically discover and connect to the available Rendezvous-enabled printers and you’re ready to print.

then later...

Epson
“We are thrilled about the opportunity Rendezvous presents,” said Dan Crane, vice president of Marketing, Epson America. “We’re integrating Rendezvous support into future products so customers can simply turn on an Epson printer and it will automatically connect to the network or directly to a Mac.”