Yeah, that was the problem with some of those older HP drivers. I've had a couple of them in years past. They did everything great until you wanted to share the printer on a mixed OS network. I was always using Linux back then. Got the printer to work in either OS. But share it from a Windows box to a Linux box or vice versa was a no go. So everytime someone else wanted to print, I was having to reboot back into the other OS it seemed.
To connect a USB printer to a router, you have to have a router that includes a print server and has a USB connection on the router. They're getting hard to find. And when you do find one, it'll be about the same price as a new network ready printer.
Or you can do as I did this time around, bought a printer that is network ready. It has both a USB and an ethernet port. Also, had sworn off HP printers a while back, but ended up with
this one. A year ago, it was a $280 printer. Bought mine right after the new year models came out for $150. It's worked flawlessly across both my Win and Mac machines until my upgrade to Leopard. HP has already come out with new drivers for Leopard, which I installed just a couple of days ago. But, have not tested everything yet. It looks like it will still not advise me which color ink tank is empty on my Mac.
For me, this was a good option. Got a network ready printer, 6 individual ink tanks, a photo quality printer for not that much more than the price of replacing all the ink cartridges in my then current printer.
My old computers and stuff like this, I look around for a family that really can't afford to buy this kind of thing to give it to or sell for a just a token payment. That really helps take the edge off the new piece I had bought and brings a smile to someone else. Those smiles are worthwhile.