Printing through a home network

Hello all, I am experiencing a frustrating situation. I am trying to get my macbook to print to a Dell 968 AIO printer, which is installed on my home network wirelessly. I have found out that even installing Lexmark printer drivers won't work. (It actually worked for me once, and once only).

The other day, as I scoured the internet for possible solutions, I came across an apple support page, which says that sending a print job through a wireless home network is possible, no matter the printer, as long as you know the printer's URL, which needs to be inputted in the printer set-up pane on my Macbook. The instructions I followed are,.......

I first chose print and fax from system preferences.

Then clicked the plus sign to add a printer

Then right-clicked the tool bar, chose customize, and added the advanced icon to the toolbar.

Then I clicked the advanced icon, and it began searching for printers.

The instructions I followed told me to select "windows" from the "TYPE:" drop-down menu.

Under the URL: pane I now must enter the printer's URL, after the "smb://"

This is where I am at a loss. The main PC in the house is running Vista. I don't know how to find this information.

I know the URL is supposed to be something like "smb://username/computername/printername/etc. etc. etc., but it needs to be exact or no dice.

A friend also suggested to just put the printer's IP address in that field. (I know the IP address. I have it set up as a static address of 192.168.1.7)

If anyone can assist I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

John.

Hiya ok try this:

On the OSX Machine under the add printer and fax area click the plus sign and click more printers and from the drop down choose Lexmark Inkjet Network and click add remote and then and type: 192.168.1.7

Let us know how you get on

halo200 said:

Hiya ok try this:

On the OSX Machine under the add printer and fax area click the plus sign and click more printers and from the drop down choose Lexmark Inkjet Network and click add remote and then and type: 192.168.1.7

Let us know how you get on

Click to expand...

This option is not available after clicking the plus sign.

I get the "Add Printer" window with the toolbar choices of.....
Default, Fax, IP, Windows, Advanced.

Oddly enough, this morning, I tried this.......

I connected to my home network. I then added a printer, and selected the windows icon tab.
The left pane displayed workgroup with a right arrow.
Clicking the right arrow brought up "home-pc" in the center window, also having the right arrow.
Clicking this arrow brought up my Dell 968 AIO Printer. I selected it, and tried using various drivers.
The closest I got was printing a document and nothing happens. As soon as I delete the print job, the printer comes to life, and spits out a blank sheet of paper.

Somehow, somewhere, there is communication, but I cant figure it out!

Unfortunately, you've got two strikes against you from the outset.

1. Dell's printers are rebadged Lexmarks and Dell doesn't provide any Mac drivers. Lexmark does, but getting the equivalent driver and actually making it work as a local printer is hit or miss (usually miss).

2. One weakness of Mac OS X is its lack of printer port redirection capability. So, to compensate, the printer vendors are left to figure out what kinds of port capabilities their willing to support in their drivers. In my experience, very few of them allow for the driver to even show as available if the printer is not connected directly via USB. The workaround for this is to use an open source (Gutenprint) driver if it's available. The Open Printing Database doesn't even list this model, so I'd say it's a fair bet that it isn't.

So, in a nutshell, your options are pretty limited with that printer. You will likely pull your hair out way before you actually get even your first garbled printout. My recommendation? Buy a new printer that is more Mac friendly, particularly one that has networking built right in.

I am a network admin by trade and am well-versed in print drivers and network printing protocols and I can tell you that it wasn't easy to take this approach. I spent nearly a year fighting to get my networked Canon i550 working with my Mac. Although I did eventually get it working, I just about soiled myself when I saw how easy it was to setup my new HP Photosmart C6350 with wireless networking - and that was only $109 at Costco.

Had I known it could be that easy, I would have gladly spent the $110 long ago. My time (and my hair!) is worth more than that.

More info here.

I had similar issues with a Lexmark printer, never did get it to work.

Ended up buying a Brother HL5250DN and worked like a charm.

cwa107,......thanks for the reply. You are definitely right. I fiddled with this issue when I first got my macbook back in February of this year. (First time mac user.) I felt that I didn't know the system well enough to really futz with it. I'm much more comfortable with it now, but the issue seems to be that if the printer is not compatible, then that's it! You're s*&t out of luck. These approaches I've tried should have worked.

Anyone have luck with Samsung laser printers? I was looking at the CLX-3175FW.
Seems like a very nice color laser all-in-one. And it's wireless!!!!!

goose.one said:

cwa107,......thanks for the reply. You are definitely right. I fiddled with this issue when I first got my macbook back in February of this year. (First time mac user.) I felt that I didn't know the system well enough to really futz with it. I'm much more comfortable with it now, but the issue seems to be that if the printer is not compatible, then that's it! You're s*&t out of luck. These approaches I've tried should have worked.

Anyone have luck with Samsung laser printers? I was looking at the CLX-3175FW.
Seems like a very nice color laser all-in-one. And it's wireless!!!!!

Click to expand...

I've never used Samsung's printers, but they are one of those also-ran companies that haven't been in the business very long. I'd stick to HP, Canon, Epson if you can. There's a reason why they're cheap. Also, check the reviews out on Macworld.com and stick to those brands that advertise Mac-compatibility.

The nice thing about the HP is that it uses Bonjour, which is a native Mac protocol. When you go to add the printer, it shows right up in the printers list and installs without any headache whatsoever.