Networking Printers FAQ

I just switched from PC to Mac yesterady and my HP DeskJet 895 Cse is connected to my xp machine via a paralell cable... My DSL modem is hooked up to a wireless router my XP machine is connected directly to the router via an ethernet cable... I configured my xp machine to share printer and I configured my MacBook to share printer, found my printer I think I selected generic driver along the lines somehwere, printed, from my kitchen, heard the printer come on and start went to the printer first page was all garbage and then it just kept feeding out blank paper... had no clue what to do found this thread and now I think I know what to do....

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=219&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=59864#

Do I just need to install the one that says
"HP DeskJet Software for Mac OS X "
onto my mac?

Thanks !

Major bump, but I thought it best not to start a new thread as this has good info in it.

I had what turned out to be a pseudo Apple guy set up my iMac and MacBook with an Airport Extreme and I have never been able to get the printer to work from the MB, which is annoying to put it mildly. It's a Canon Pixma MP610 and I totally dig it - great multifunction machine!

The supposed Apple trained guy set it up with a USB cable to the Airport, however when I called Apple direct, they had me get an ethernet cable that goes directly to the iMac.

Still no luck with the MB - in fact when I've tried (multiple times), there are no drivers for the Pixma series at all that come up and it defaults to some generic driver (don't have the name offhand). He also has Bonjour set as the "kind", whatever that means. So - sorry for the long post, but I'm at a major loss as to what to do, other than trying to call Apple again.

There is a CUPS download available for the Canon. Should I download that?

Thanks for any help!

Answering myself. The CUPS is not the way to go, I found out. Not only will the Canon printer not show up in the MB, this model won't scan with the iMac (apparently a fairly common prob with this printer).

Talked to a wireless wiz dude at Apple and he said to get a Time Capsule and then he can help me with what seems to be network wiring woes.

Figures, after I bought an Airport Extreme AND a LaCie back up, both working fine, at least I can get online with the MB, but forget sharing files OR printing. This whole switch to Mac has been nothing but a PITA so far (since JUNE)! Sigh, I'm sure I'll get it worked out eventually, but at what expense??

Success!

Wanted to say thanks for the info - could not get our USB Cannon MP810 printer to be detected over the shared wireless network from our host Vista computer (but did work when connected to USB).

Once we set up the direct IP and removed the spaces from the printer's sharename (turns out this will cause "BAD_NETWORK_NAME errors, just like mis-spelling the name will) and turned off the OneCare firewall, we were STILL getting hung up in the print queue, even after installing the latest "10.6" driver from Canon.

So, we downloaded and installed PrintFab, and used it as a driver - and HOORAY, it prints!

To summarize, for other confused people:
-We used the SMB format IP address/sharename to identify the printer's location,
-We downloaded and installed PrintFab, and used the PrintFab driver (NOT the Canon driver) in the Add Printer dialogue,
- It finally works!!!!!!!!

We searched online for hours and talked to a Genius at Apple and this was the ONLY place that gave us this tip, thank you!

TonyVan said:

Wanted to say thanks for the info - could not get our USB Cannon MP810 printer to be detected over the shared wireless network from our host Vista computer (but did work when connected to USB).

Once we set up the direct IP and removed the spaces from the printer's sharename (turns out this will cause "BAD_NETWORK_NAME errors, just like mis-spelling the name will) and turned off the OneCare firewall, we were STILL getting hung up in the print queue, even after installing the latest "10.6" driver from Canon.

So, we downloaded and installed PrintFab, and used it as a driver - and HOORAY, it prints!

To summarize, for other confused people:
-We used the SMB format IP address/sharename to identify the printer's location,
-We downloaded and installed PrintFab, and used the PrintFab driver (NOT the Canon driver) in the Add Printer dialogue,
- It finally works!!!!!!!!

We searched online for hours and talked to a Genius at Apple and this was the ONLY place that gave us this tip, thank you!

Click to expand...

Awesome. I still think Mac OS X's lack of port redirection is a serious failing in this operating system. Windows has handled this with aplomb for many years. With the proliferation of home networks, why Apple hasn't addressed this in some manner is just beyond me. I suppose they would have to rejigger their printing API, but I think it would be worth it.

How about trying the "more printers" option

I thought that I needed to use "IP" to connect to my networked printer (even after uploading all the printer drivers using the CD that came with my Canon Pixma MP560), but when I was having problems, I found this discussion and proceeded to download glutenprint, finding the printer's IP address, etc., I still had the problem of my documents not printing to my printer. When I opened the print que of that printer I had loaded through glutenprint, I clicked on utilities, then selected network and there was the "real printer" on my network..
But how do I get to that one....???

So I went back to step 1, clicking on the plus sign to add printer (I have snow leopard), I then went to "more printers" thinking it has to be here since I knew the device was on my router (Cisco Valet), but I was perplexed (initially) by the AdmitMac Printing default and didn't think otherwise. So this time I clicked on the arrows next to the "AdmitMac" and presto one of the selections was my networked printer.

I selected that, added it and no problems printing!

So folks please consider this especially if you know that your printer is one on the devices installed on your router...