Macworld: Printer sharing advice ...

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7 Replies Last post: Oct 7, 2007 9:34 PM by 500ml

500ml

24 posts since
Oct 23, 2005

Sep 17, 2007 1:35 AM

Printer sharing advice

Hi,

I just recently bought a photo printer and would like to share this printer with 2 other laptops other than mine. I'm using my MBP (10.4.10) and the other two are WinXP. I currently have a Netgear wireless router installed. I was told and/or read that I can use a wired/wireless print server to get this done. Can someone please recommend a cheap wired/wireless print server and how should I go on setting this up? Thank you.

-500mL

gsahli

371 posts since
Mar 16, 2004

1. Sep 17, 2007 6:18 PM

in response to: 500ml

Re: Printer sharing advice

It's a lot more complicated than that. There are driver issues for every non-postscript printer that wasn't made for other than USB connection. On the other hand, Apple's Airport Express was made to get around those issues, by implementing USB port redirection (USB outpout gets sent to the Express USB port via software). But I hesitate to recommend the Express, because 1 out of 5 printers don't work with it.

Can you tell us the printer model?

FranksterOne

109 posts since
Aug 18, 2007

2. Sep 17, 2007 11:45 PM

in response to: gsahli

Re: Printer sharing advice

The best bet would have been to buy a printer with an ethernet connection. Since you didn't you could try a print server box connected to your router. This one looks like it would do the trick.

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=165

500ml

24 posts since
Oct 23, 2005

3. Sep 18, 2007 3:55 PM

in response to: FranksterOne

Re: Printer sharing advice

I actually got it figured out. I bought a Linksys wireless print server to get it all done. It's a little confusing and it doesn't have a cd wizard for mac. The printer I installed is a Canon Pixma iP6700D. Everything is all set. I was leaning to getting a Airport Extreme base but it's just too pricey to have that. Thank you for all your input.

FranksterOne

109 posts since
Aug 18, 2007

4. Sep 18, 2007 9:05 PM

in response to: 500ml

Re: Printer sharing advice

Glad to hear you have it solved. Always a great feeling when everything works the way it should!

sturner0430

17 posts since
Jun 26, 2001

5. Sep 26, 2007 10:11 AM

in response to: 500ml

Re: Printer sharing advice

I know you have your solution, though for others with the same problem Keyspan has a USB print server. It connects up to 4 devices to your wired ethernet lan. It works fairly well. It's more of a redirector than a printer server but it works nicely. Belkin has a device that is similar, though it hasn't worked for me.

Martian

1,321 posts since
Sep 27, 2001

6. Sep 27, 2007 10:12 AM

in response to: sturner0430

Re: Printer sharing advice

Do the print driver utilities also work through these print servers?

500ml

24 posts since
Oct 23, 2005

7. Oct 7, 2007 9:34 PM

in response to: Martian

Re: Printer sharing advice

The only thing I noticed when I have my printer connected to the wireless print server is that if I print pictures using my Macbook Pro, the quality sucks big time. Also, when printing text-only documents (for example an email from Yahoo or directions from MapQuest), it only prints part of the document - meaning sometimes only the top half will be printed and the rest are not. Has anyone figured out a way to fix this?

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Sep 17, 2007 1:35 AM

Printer sharing advice

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