Is anyone ??? printing wirelessly via Airport Express?

I have looked here from time to time in recent months and do not believe I have yet found anybody anywhere using a Mac who reports success in accessing a printer connected through an Airport Express network.

We connect and print easily (recognized instantly) on our Linux Mint machine, so for now we do all printing via the Linux machine, sending files over from the Mac via Dropbox.

So Apple makes and sells Airport Express, and includes a USB port for printers, but printing doesn't work on Macs. Just every other system? Is that the way it is?

The other Airport Express functions work fine. And no, I am not buying more equipment in order to print wirelessly. If they sell Airport Express claiming it prints, I expect it to print.

Have tried several suggested tricks, no go. Seems that Mac today, in some situations, is like Linux was 10 years ago, endless struggles to make something work. Odd, the tables have turned.

We use airport Express to provide wireless printing for several printers and printing from both windows and Macs. We've not had any problems at all with the airport express. We really enjoy it because of the added ability we have of streaming our itunes through it as well as the ability to take it on the road to provide a wireless hotspot when we're in ethernet only hotel rooms.

We found that its easiest if you get the printer working via a direct connection to the Mac first, then plug the printer's USB into the airport express once it's been properly configured for a direct connect.

Here's some info from the help section in the airport express config:


Using a USB printer on your AirPort network
If you connect a compatible USB printer to an AirPort Extreme Base Station, AirPort Express, or Time Capsule, all the computers on the network, both wired and wireless, can print to the printer.

Before you connect the printer to the device, connect it to a computer and print a test page.

After you have made sure the printer is working properly, connect the printer to the wireless device’s USB port.

To set up your computer to print:

On a computer using Mac OS X:

If the computer is on the AirPort network, open System Preferences and click Print & Fax. Select your printer from the list. If the printer is not listed, click Add (+), select your printer, and then click Add.

On a computer using Windows XP:

Install Bonjour for Windows from the AirPort Utility CD, and follow the onscreen instructions to connect to the printer.

Error or status messages may not be available when the printer is connected to a wireless device. For example, you may not get messages such as “Out of Paper” or “Printer Busy.”

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printing