Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

solofx7 · Feb 12, 2007, 04:18 PM

here is what has happened so far with my new airport extreme.
Bought it on sat...
hooked it up.
never saw the printer...
some printers cannot be seen by the router.
network storage ok, but very slow and sorta wonky because it only sees certain types of formatted partitions, but the same partitions that i made under OS X which is weird.
hmmm..
it will only see multiple items via a Powered USB hub.
another 40 bucks to find out that my printer is not supported.
the final stinker is that i work from home sometimes, and VPN will not work with this router. hmmm... and i did not get a person on the phone to tell me this.
i was on the phone for an hour today and go no one....
not a fun time.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Feb 12, 2007, 08:04 PM

Where is the official supported printer list anyway?

MrN79 · Feb 12, 2007, 10:21 PM

I thought if your printer worked with your mac, it would work whether wired or not...Is that not the case?

PowerBub · Feb 13, 2007, 12:12 AM

ack...i'll wait and see for more reports like this before deciding if i will actually get one. been saving up, but don't want to waste my money on some nonsense that won't work seamlessly.

solofx7 · Feb 13, 2007, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

Where is the official supported printer list anyway?

I have not found an official supported printer list.
I was directed to a link on the support site that showed how to troubleshoot printer issues.
The official word from the support agent is that my printer was not supported via wireless.

ghporter · Feb 13, 2007, 08:48 AM

The DRIVER has to support networked printing for a printer to work in any networked situation. Don't blame Apple if HP or Canon doesn't write drivers to do what you want.

solofx7 · Feb 13, 2007, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by MrN79

I thought if your printer worked with your mac, it would work whether wired or not...Is that not the case?

my printer works when connected directly through the mac and for some odd reason did not work wireless.

solofx7 · Feb 13, 2007, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by PowerBub

ack...i'll wait and see for more reports like this before deciding if i will actually get one. been saving up, but don't want to waste my money on some nonsense that won't work seamlessly.

seemless is important.
wireless setup was seemless, but lacks alot of options of the other higher end routers.
the VPN feature probably does work, but being on the phone with an agent that could not help much for 30 mins then on hold for another 20 or so just pushed me over the edge.
I did go right out and purchase a Dlink DIR-655.
It is white and pretty slick it works well with my setup.
hmmm..
my thoughts on the apple router are that it looks good and the wireless works well, but it is missing alot of options of other routers.
they have a special team to support these routers and while that sounds good, they are currently hammered and cannot handle the calls that they get.
My printer was not supported and thus would not work.
The network drive option did work and was very cool.
Then network drive option oddly did not see a Unix Formatted partition.
The network drive could not be seen via superduper. though that may be a knock against the latter, it not working out of the box was a bit discouraging.
The one green light was cool, as something can be said for low profile. My new router has a million lights and they are going all of the time. It is quite annoying.
The VPN thing is another issue. It probably could have been resolved if i got someone on the phone. In any event, my new router was easy to setup, but has a bit too many option and is somewhat confusing on the interface side of things. It does not do anysort of network drive nad printer sharing which to me defeats the purpose of a USB port
I will give it to Apple, if they can swing this around with an update, thier router rocks for the money and are ahead of the game with the wireless printing and wireless hdd access.
I have not seen any other routers that support it at all.

toddtmw · Feb 13, 2007, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

The DRIVER has to support networked printing for a printer to work in any networked situation. Don't blame Apple if HP or Canon doesn't write drivers to do what you want.

Glenn,

I understand your point, but I don't think Apple is doing a good enough job making this clear. I mean, I don't need special drivers from the manufacturer to get my USB drive to work. Apple's web site states:

Originally Posted by http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/sharing.html

Print without wires.
The same USB port does double duty by letting you share a printer throughout the network. When it’s time to print those photos, proposals, or homework assignments, AirPort Extreme and the Mac- and PC-compatible Bonjour networking technology let everyone in the house, office, or classroom take advantage of one centrally available printer. Wirelessly, of course.

And here’s how simple it is to set up: Just plug the printer into the USB port on the AirPort Extreme Base Station, add it to the printer list on your Mac or PC, and you’re good to print.

Nothing about special drivers or supported printers. Not even a superscripted number pointing to a footnote disclaimer. To me, this reads like "If the printer works with your Mac via USB, it will work via the Airport Extreme".

My printer already supports wireless networking so I haven't even tried hooking a printer to my Airport, but if I had a different printer, I would expect it to "just work".

Apple needs to clarify the message or at least link to a list of compatible printers. Even better, build support via an OS extension that makes these printers look like they are hooked via USB so the normal drivers can be used.

-Todd

PowerBub · Feb 13, 2007, 09:56 AM

I was thinking of upgrading cause my router (belkin cheapy) always drops connections for a fraction of a second. Screws up streaming video, etc (eg nbc.com). But I updated the firmware a second time and that seems to have fixed some issues. I this buys me time to wait until bugs are sorted out and see what happens with the airport extreme.

Cadaver · Feb 13, 2007, 12:01 PM

What VPN problems?
My office's VPN (Juniper) works fine with the new router (at least from Windows it does; there is no MacOS client).

mickeymac · Feb 13, 2007, 12:13 PM

Not to dismiss your issue, but I agree with those that have surmised that printer compatibility on the router is equal that of directly connected to the Mac. If it works with USB on the Mac, it should work on the router. This was my exact experience.

As with connecting the printer (HP 3015) directly to my Mac, it was instantly recognized via the Airport. It also works flawlessly with PCs on the network via Bonjour.

In fact, Bonjour compatibility is likely the key, and I HAVE seen a list of manufactures that build in Bonjour support...just can't remember where.

Thus far my experience with the new router has be good. I can't say that it has changed my life, but then again, it's just a router. There were a few "glitches" in configuration that required a second configuration to work properly, but I have no doubt that we will see software updates in the near future as bugs are reported to Apple from real world use.

Good luck with solving your issues.

solofx7 · Feb 13, 2007, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by Cadaver

What VPN problems?
My office's VPN (Juniper) works fine with the new router (at least from Windows it does; there is no MacOS client).

well the bottom line is that when my work pc is hooked directly to the moden, it works.
when it is hooked into the apple router out of the box it does not.
when it is hooked to another router make out of the box it works.
i do not really want to or think that it should deserve specia attention to get it too work.
my friend has an older extreme and his works.

ghporter · Feb 13, 2007, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by toddtmw

Nothing about special drivers or supported printers. Not even a superscripted number pointing to a footnote disclaimer. To me, this reads like "If the printer works with your Mac via USB, it will work via the Airport Extreme".

Valid points all. But have you tried to make other printers (USB or not) print over a network with your Mac? It seems that Apple "conveniently" forgets about network printing in general, and in many cases (maybe most) so do the printer manufacturers. So you're right, Apple should say "if this printer driver supports network printing," but they don't.

I want to get more Mac users up in arms about the horrible lack of support for networking a lot of things under OS X. Printers are only one issue that needs attention, but they're one that really impacts the user a lot. Why doesn't HP go to the trouble to make drivers that work for their printers RELIABLY on something close to ALL MACs? Or Epson? Or Canon? Or Samsung? I had a great Samsung laser that was no problem to print with over the network-with my PC. I had to use a CUPS driver for a "similar" Samsung printer, and that driver didn't support many rather important features, like printing envelopes. My current laser is from Brother, and they provided a driver that works over the network-but for some reason it insists on printing two blank pages after each print job (but it doesn't do this when I plug a USB cable into the printer...). This is a real sore spot with me; where is the "it just works" that Macs are famous for?

solofx7 · Feb 13, 2007, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Valid points all. But have you tried to make other printers (USB or not) print over a network with your Mac? It seems that Apple "conveniently" forgets about network printing in general, and in many cases (maybe most) so do the printer manufacturers. So you're right, Apple should say "if this printer driver supports network printing," but they don't.

I want to get more Mac users up in arms about the horrible lack of support for networking a lot of things under OS X. Printers are only one issue that needs attention, but they're one that really impacts the user a lot. Why doesn't HP go to the trouble to make drivers that work for their printers RELIABLY on something close to ALL MACs? Or Epson? Or Canon? Or Samsung? I had a great Samsung laser that was no problem to print with over the network-with my PC. I had to use a CUPS driver for a "similar" Samsung printer, and that driver didn't support many rather important features, like printing envelopes. My current laser is from Brother, and they provided a driver that works over the network-but for some reason it insists on printing two blank pages after each print job (but it doesn't do this when I plug a USB cable into the printer...). This is a real sore spot with me; where is the "it just works" that Macs are famous for?

good points, but the bottom line is that it says that i can print wirelessly and that is not the case.
the printer works via usb, but does not wireless.

ghporter · Feb 14, 2007, 08:13 AM

With SOME printers you CAN print wirelessly. But as I said, Apple doesn't stress networked printing at all, so their glossing over the "some" in that statement isn't unexpected. MOST USB printers have issues over any network, and a lot just don't work at all over a network.

toddtmw · Feb 14, 2007, 10:18 AM

Yeah, this is actually why I bought an HP PSC2510. It is an all-in-one with networking (wired and wireless) built-in and it works great from Windows and Mac. (In fact, I think it works a little better from the Mac...) I can even scan and access the memory card slots on the printer wirelessly...although the memory card access is unusably slow with 'b' WiFi.

This printer replaced a non-networking HP All-in-one that I couldn't get to work over a network without using a less-capbable CUPS driver. (And I tried a LOT of things! Printer adapters, hooking to a Windows computer and sharing the printer and even HP's newtorking adapter...)

Apple (and the printer manufacturers) leave a lot of room for improvement here...

-Todd

tinkered · Feb 14, 2007, 02:37 PM

I agree that there is room for improvement. That said, I feel that apple has done a good job compared to their competitors at setting up a network with printing and a NAS. Networking is complicated, there is a reason sysadmins lord themselves over desktop support people.

Apple squeezes a lot of functionality in to a box that is $180. Here is a similar setup built from linksys/netgear stuff at Compusa prices:
Draft n router: $129.99
Print Server: $79.99
Wireless Music Bridge: $99.99 (not directly comparable, but you get my point)
NETGEAR SC101 Storage Central Network Attached Storage: $99.99 (this is just the case, no drives included)

krove · Feb 14, 2007, 04:02 PM

Exactly what printer are you trying to use?

tinkered · Feb 14, 2007, 04:15 PM

Have you tried getting the most recent drivers from the manufacturer's website?

solofx7 · Feb 15, 2007, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by krove

Exactly what printer are you trying to use?

i am using a lexmark x7170
my drivers are up to date.

krove · Feb 17, 2007, 04:01 PM

1. Can you see the printer in Airport Setup Utility? (I'd direct you to the proper setup window, but I don't have an AE, just an old airport bs. Look for a printer tab that should list the printer hooked up to the USB port.)

2. If so, can you see the printer in your list of Bonjour printers?

3. If so, have you tried setting up the printer, but pointing it to alternative GIMP print drivers?

zwiebel_ · Feb 20, 2007, 04:49 PM

The drive sharing option alone is worth the money of the Base Station, at least in my case. One local access point for all my drives, distributed and mounted automatically throughout my home to every computer, and managed by the Airport Disk Utility; I have not seen another solution that comes close to Apples.

GENERAL_SMILEY · Feb 22, 2007, 08:37 AM

I'm not that impressed either. I haven't tried it with the printer yet, but I am using it with a networked drive, which is quite useful. However according to menumeters I'm not getting much over 2.4 mb/s, transfer which doesn't seem to hot compared to what I got with just G.

ghporter · Feb 22, 2007, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by GENERAL_SMILEY

I'm not that impressed either. I haven't tried it with the printer yet, but I am using it with a networked drive, which is quite useful. However according to menumeters I'm not getting much over 2.4 mb/s, transfer which doesn't seem to hot compared to what I got with just G.

Are you talking about transfers to/from the networked drive, or overall network throughput? If the latter, there's something wrong.

memory-minus · Feb 22, 2007, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by solofx7

lexmark

I have located your problem.

In all seriousness, the printer must support Bonjour (AKA Rendezvous) in order to work over AirPort. This was true for the previous AirPort Extreme base station and AirPort Express as well.

Besides, Lexmark even has a website detailing which printers work over AirPort specifically. Your printer is not on it:

http://www.lexmark.com/lexmark/seque...5_0_en,00.html

memory-minus · Feb 22, 2007, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by mickeymac

If it works with USB on the Mac, it should work on the router. This was my exact experience.

As with connecting the printer (HP 3015) directly to my Mac, it was instantly recognized via the Airport. It also works flawlessly with PCs on the network via Bonjour.

This is because AirPort printing REQUIRES Bonjour AKA Rendezvous AKA zeroconf AKA mDNS. That's why it works. It has nothing to do with it working when plugged in directly to a Mac via USB. The reason Apple doesn't mention this in their marketing materials is because sold these days virtually every printer has Bonjour support and, if you don't have one, you can seriously pick one up at Best Buy for $50 or less.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107456

GENERAL_SMILEY · Feb 24, 2007, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Are you talking about transfers to/from the networked drive, or overall network throughput? If the latter, there's something wrong.

I've now moved it over to wide band 5GHZ (n only), and get between 4-5MB/s (according to menumeters) when moving a 1GB file to a networked drive - as compared to 11MB/s over 100 MB ethernet.

This is across a room - so as you can see, it is not a that great, and basically half as effective as a wired connection.

Still it's good enough to play video from.

solofx7 · Feb 24, 2007, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by krove

1. Can you see the printer in Airport Setup Utility? (I'd direct you to the proper setup window, but I don't have an AE, just an old airport bs. Look for a printer tab that should list the printer hooked up to the USB port.)

2. If so, can you see the printer in your list of Bonjour printers?

3. If so, have you tried setting up the printer, but pointing it to alternative GIMP print drivers?

been there, done that and there are not settings there for that at all.
the printer does not show up, the book does not give any directions for the printer.
and the vpn was a hassle that just worked on my dlink and should not take special configuration.
i love the mac router and when these kinks get worked out i will get another one so that i can network backup and such...

solofx7 · Feb 24, 2007, 09:02 PM

Originally Posted by GENERAL_SMILEY

I'm not that impressed either. I haven't tried it with the printer yet, but I am using it with a networked drive, which is quite useful. However according to menumeters I'm not getting much over 2.4 mb/s, transfer which doesn't seem to hot compared to what I got with just G.

i too am confused about the speed, but i guess there is nothing that can be done about that.

solofx7 · Feb 24, 2007, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by memory-minus

I have located your problem.

In all seriousness, the printer must support Bonjour (AKA Rendezvous) in order to work over AirPort. This was true for the previous AirPort Extreme base station and AirPort Express as well.

Besides, Lexmark even has a website detailing which printers work over AirPort specifically. Your printer is not on it:

Apple AirPort Extreme -- Lexmark United States

that is good to know, but the printer is kinda new so i really do not want to buy another...
does anyone know of an expensive fax copier scanner printer that can work with the airport?

krove · Feb 25, 2007, 12:29 AM

I know that HP doesn't make multi-function printers that work over bonjour for all of their functions (only printing works over bonjour). As for the others, I suspect much of the same.

ghporter · Feb 25, 2007, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by krove

I know that HP doesn't make multi-function printers that work over bonjour for all of their functions (only printing works over bonjour). As for the others, I suspect much of the same.

To be more accurate, HP doesn't make DRIVERS that make their multi-function printers work over bonjour (or any other networking scheme in my experience). In fact very few all-in-one devices do anything but print over a network because they just don't have drivers for ANY platform that support the other functions.

And to reiterate my earlier sentiment, this is not a problem with the new AEBS, but an issue with the printer manufacturers. Sure, be disappointed that you can't print with everything you might want to use, but be disappointed with HP or Epson, not Apple.

analogika · Feb 25, 2007, 09:45 AM

There is a single HP printer/scanner/copier that does all of that wirelessly, but it has its own wireless access point and doesn't need an Airport base station.

ghporter · Feb 25, 2007, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

There is a single HP printer/scanner/copier that does all of that wirelessly, but it has its own wireless access point and doesn't need an Airport base station.

Which one is that?

krove · Feb 25, 2007, 04:02 PM

And does it work on the Mac?

ginoledesma · Feb 26, 2007, 02:11 AM

Regarding VPN with the Airport Extreme, this is a known issue (also here) that I hope Apple addresses. The work-around is to put the computer using the VPN in the "DMZ" (that is, making it the "default computer). This is unacceptable for security reasons and it also means that only 1 computer will be able to use the VPN at any given time.

analogika · Feb 26, 2007, 04:17 PM

I was talking about the HP Photosmart 3310 All-In-One, which I know works with Macs just fine.

It is apparently no longer available.

Current models that should work fine are the
HP Photosmart C6180 All-In-One
and the
HP Photosmart C7180 All-In-One

IIRC, the 3310 also had a built-in fax, which does not appear to be a feature of the newer ones.

solofx7 · Mar 1, 2007, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by ginoledesma

Regarding VPN with the Airport Extreme, this is a known issue (also here) that I hope Apple addresses. The work-around is to put the computer using the VPN in the "DMZ" (that is, making it the "default computer). This is unacceptable for security reasons and it also means that only 1 computer will be able to use the VPN at any given time.

that is kinda stinky.
when i work from home i really need to be on.
the dlink that i have rocks, but it does not print wirelessly nor does it do network drives, but it is a monster...

krove · Mar 1, 2007, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

IIRC, the 3310 also had a built-in fax, which does not appear to be a feature of the newer ones.

What's a fax?

ghporter · Mar 1, 2007, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by krove

What's a fax?

Something a lot of professional offices still depend on, unfortunately. "Original signature" has been defined as "original or a fax duplicate" for such things as prescriptions and sometimes legal documents. If we could get everyone to standardize on an uneditable, signed and secure "digital paper" format (like PDF but much more secure) we could forget about faxes-a technology that goes back to a patent in 1843!!!!

Ok, I'm off the soapbox now.

solofx7 · Mar 2, 2007, 06:04 PM

i am needing a fax machine copier scanner thingy that is not pricey... i know that is asking alot, also it needs to work wireless...

solofx7 · Mar 22, 2007, 08:10 AM

i am back, any updates on this issue?

-Q- · Mar 22, 2007, 10:08 AM

I ran into the issue of the AE not seeing my connected printer and then remembered that there's a limit to the length of the cable for USB devices. Once I moved the printer around a little bit (my office is very long and for the whole house to get wireless coverage, the base station has to be at one end of the room and my printer was at the other end) and shortened the cable length, the printer was seen w/out issue and added to all my machines (macs and windows) without problem. So could your printer issue possibly be a cable problem?

I'm also seeing the base station randomly drop its signal and I'm not sure if the reboot is due to Comcast or the router itself. Have to pay close attention to it. Good luck.

solofx7 · Mar 22, 2007, 02:23 PM

thanks, people were telling me that my printer is not supported...

jGirlyGirl · Nov 13, 2007, 08:20 PM

I'm having the same issue, and this topic cleared it up. Wish I would have found this before buying the Airport Extreme.

peeb · Nov 13, 2007, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

...we could forget about faxes-a technology that goes back to a patent in 1843!!!!

Faxes are a vastly superior technology to email. If I could eliminate email, and use only faxes, my day would be much more productive.

ghporter · Nov 13, 2007, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

Faxes are a vastly superior technology to email. If I could eliminate email, and use only faxes, my day would be much more productive.

I respectfully disagree. I've been in offices that got dozens of pages of fax spam every day-and with most fax machines you have no control over whether a fax prints, since there's no way to know what it is until it prints. Using a computer to manage faxes works well, but it's using a $2000 tool to replace a $75 tool. There's no actual requirement to look at email as it comes in-it's not supposed to be a chat or something. When I worked in an office, I made it a point to not even look at my email until I took a break from everything else-or otherwise got called out of the office and came back. Sometimes to help figure out what was wrong with the fax machine.

The ONE thing that fax has going for it is that it's currently not easy to intercept and/or manipulate a fax. That's why faxes are accepted as "substitute original" signature pages. Get enough people online with digital signatures, and that should change-both the "original signature" issue for contracts, and the fact that emails can be intercepted and/or manipulated, because a digitally signed email CAN'T be manipulated without being obviously altered. And until then, there's the ever-popular "scan a signed document and print it as a PDF then email it" technique...

And then there's the issue of how bloody much paper gets wasted through faxing everything back and forth. Unless you print every email, you're doing a lot to help the planet by using email instead of faxes. I have a couple of CDs of archived emails, not boxes of old faxes. Have you ever tried "searching" a box of pages? I have-it sucks. Digital is the way to go.

peeb · Nov 13, 2007, 10:59 PM

The great thing about faxes is that they are more difficult to send than email. That's the one thing that makes them a MUCH better technology from my perspective.