[AlienBogeyAgain]

Quick question: Is it possible to print wirelessly? My wife wants a printer for her kitchen mini Mac, running a cable through the granite countertop would really be poor, is it possible to get a printer that can communicate with the mini Mac via Bluetooth or the wireless Airport card?
Flame deflector: Late for work, sorry, no time to search.

[gsahli]

Bluetooth isn't "predictable" yet (if someone has a working bluetooth print setup, let us know). Wireless is certainly possible, I do it every day. Are you/she using wireless for internet - and have a wireless router already? Then there are lots of options -- but I don't want you to think it is easy. Printers with WiFi built-in - easy (and more expensive). Postscript printer with wireless print server - easy. Non-postscript printer (mostly inkjets) with wireless print server - Epson or HP - challenge but works; older (>5 yr) Canon and Lexmark - challenge but works. Other than that - mostly not possible. (forgot to mention- Canon works if you buy a 3rd party driver)
Network printing/Windows printing only works with a driver that was meant for network printing. To use the OS X built-in CUPS network choices, you need a CUPS driver. For postscript printers, it's not an issue, because postscript is the native output of OS X, and can easily be routed to the various choices in Printer Setup.
Non-postscript printers are Very Different. Except for Brother, no manufacturer has provided CUPS drivers. Instead, what you get are Carbonized, OS9 legacy drivers, that have the comm protocol written into the driver (mostly USB). They can only print via local connection.
Exception - when printing via an Airport/Bonjour enabled print server, where the software does a port redirection, USB output from the Mac gets routed to the USB port on Airport Express/Extreme.
So I hope you see the pitfalls - please ask before buying.

[sandbag1]

I have a Canon Pixma IP4000R and it works great wireless. No 3rd party drivers necessary.
I think this is the Canon printer that replaced the IP4000R.

[Dan Frakes]

Another approach: Many current USB printers can be connected to the USB port on an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station; you can then print to them wirelessly.

[AlienBogeyAgain]

Thanks for the responses.
Our setup: Airport Snow Dual Ethernet with 2 old iMacs, one G5 iMac, one Intel Mini Mac and one Macbook. Only 4 Macs are connectable wirelessly at any given time, it's like musical chairs with the music stopped, but that's another thread and I've about given up on solving it.
Anyway, I'm thinking of selling the G5 because it's hardly used, then if a printer could connect via Airport it would just sit on my desk and the wife and kids could send print commands to it. When I'm home my MacBook would be used at my desk.
I'll by a new (consumer level) printer if that plan will work and, if necessary, upgrade to Airport Extreme to make it work via the USB to Express idea on the last post.
Before I buy an Airport Extreme, isn't it due for an update because of a forthcoming new & improved WiFi standard?
Thanks again.

[gsahli]

I think that will work just fine. Using Airport Express minimizes driver issues, because it is a kind of printer sharing (like Mac-to-Mac) and doesn't make use of "standard" protocols that other brands of print server use.
Be sure to check you printer choice against this list:
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1013.html
Keep in mind that you can't print through the Airport Express with OS 9 (you didn't say how old the iMacs are). If you use an OS X mac as print server, then OS 9 can print through it.