OS-X 10.4.8 - Wierd Printing Issues

[renegade]

I have read lots of posts here and elsewhere regarding setting up printing from a Mac to a Windows shared printer. I have read several very detailed instructional pages about doing it. I have tried them all, and am stumped on this one:

I have:
MacBook Pro C2D
Running OS-X 10.4.8
Running Virtue Desktops
Running Parallels

I have a home network with two desktop (Windows) workstations and three wireless (Windows) laptops all using it.

I have shared printers on both desktops, both attached to their host PC via USB 2.0.

Both shared printers are visible and usable over the network from all five of the Windows machines.

I tried for a few days to get them to show up from the printer setup utility in Mac OS-X, but all I see from the Mac is all the Windows machines, and shared drives on my desktop workstation (which I can use just fine). Browsing to the desktop Windows machine from the Mac printer setup utility (Print & Fax > Add Printer > More Printers > Windows Printing > Network Neighborhood > select my workgroup, select my host PC) shows no printers, although there is one attached to that workstation.

The printer's shared name contains no spaces ( I read somewhere that could cause problems).

Here is where it gets wierder:
Under Parallels on my Mac, running XP in a virtual machine, I can map to that shared printer just fine, and it works correctly.

So the network and the Mac hardware and the printer and the Windows printer sharing ARE working corretcly.

This leaves only some configuration anomaly in the OS-X printer browser as a possible glitch in the scenario. For some reason, it does not "see" the shared printer, when even a virtual machine running within the same physical machine does.

That's just wierd . . . . .

 

[MacsWork]

What's even weirder is the fact that when you do get the printer to install it will only print garbage because of the driver translation.

Have you installed Bonjour on the PC? This might resolve the browsing issue.

Either way there is most likely no post script printer driver for the USB printer,...right?

Since the print jobs would need to go through the windows box the print job sent from the mac using a mac print driver would be misinterpreted by the the pc producing pages of useless garbage. Sending the job using a post script driver on the mac to a windows shared printer installed with a post script driver might yeild a better result.

If you're familiar with windows, you may recall print driver choices like PCL 5e, PCL 6 and PS.

I have been succesful in getting Macs to print to windows shares but only for the sake of this forum. All my printers have network interfaces so that takes care of cany cross platform issues. It depends on the printer and the drivers available from the manufacturer.

Good Luck

 

[renegade]

Mac Printers on LAN

So, when you network your printers, do you use postscript printers with network interfaces? What type of device are they advertising as on the network? LPR? Do basic HP net interfaces work well as Mac network printers? I know that at work we use HP jet-direct equipped laser printers to print from AIX Linux, etc. I think they are using simple IP printing.

 

[MacsWork]

With network printers you can use Mac native drivers over IP. Some network interfaces perfer LPD/LPR, but I'm using straight IPP.

If you plug the printer into the Mac just for HAHA's, and share it out. Then on the PC side when you add a networked printer use the http field below and enter the Mac's printer url.

it should be

http://macs.ip.address:631/printers/shared_printers_queuename

this URL is critical. It needs :631 and lowercase printers and the queue name must be dead on.

You'll also need a post script windows driver for the printer.

Post script printing language is platform independent. That's why it works (most of the time) on physically shared printers. A lot of the newer injet printers either don't have a post script driver or won't let you install them with out the CD.

 

[renegade]

Thanks for that, but I don't want to tether my laptop to a printer. I'll find a solution to let this MBP printo to a networked printer, even if that means buying a print server to share my printer rather than having it attached to a Windoze box..