Using a printer connected to a windows computer

[EricS]

Hi. Has anyone tried to print from a Mac to a printer shared on a windows computer? I tried it and it doesn't seem to work. Windows PC can print to the windows PC with the printer but my Mac can't print to it.

My Mac is on OS x.
My WinPC is on XP with a Canon i70

Is there any way to make this work?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Eric

[Maverick]

first of all, how did you try to print?

Did you try to print directly from your MAC to the Printer (via some sort of physical attachment, may it be firewire or usb or what have you) ? or via Printer sharing which is enabled on the PC?

[ginoledesma]

One big problem: there is no Gimp-Print driver for the Canon i70. gimp-print is the printer drivers used for the CUPS printing subsystem used by Mac OS X. It seems that Mac-to-Mac printer sharing will work, and Windows-to-Windows, but not Mac-to-Windows or Windows-to-Mac. Not unless Canon can provide an IP printing driver solution.

You might be able to find an "equivalent" driver, though.

[PatrickGaerlan]

This is how you'd normally set-up Panther to print to a shared Windows printer:

1. Start Printer Setup Utility in your Applications -> Utilities folder.
2. Click on Add.
3. In the first field, choose Windows Printing.
4. In the second field, choose the correct workgroup.
5. You should be able to see the Windows PC and select the shared printer in the window.
6. Lastly, you'll have to select the correct Printer Model. For your printer, you might want to try something like CANON -> CANON BJC 85, CUPS+Gimp-Print v4.2.5. As Gino pointed out, there is no specific Gimp-Print driver for the Canon i70 so it might involve a little trial-and-error to get it to work.

Hope this helps.

[EricS]

Thanks for the suggestions.

So this means I might not be able to print on a network printer even if I used a print server (like a Linksys print server for example) since the print servers are configured to run the windows network printer drivers.

But where can I get the CANON BJC 85, CUPS+Gimp-Print v4.2.5 driver? Its not on my list of drivers. I have Apple, HP, Epson, Lexmark etc. but no Canon.

I will check the canon website later.

thanks again.

Eric

[ginoledesma]

Most print servers aren't "windows print servers" per se. They're Unix LPR print servers, the most common print server solution out there. Windows print sharing involves the use of SMB. Both Mac OS X and Windows support either form.

In both cases, a driver is installed locally for the client computer to prepare a print job. The processed print job is sent to the print server for printing. In the case of LPR, you use a Postscript Printer Definition (PPD) as the driver.

I tried searching for a PPD for the Canon i70. The only one who seems to make it is TurboPrint. Its free for private use, so check it out. Only catch is that this works with Unix LPR, so you'll have to configure Windows for Unix Print Services.

[Edited on 7-17-2004 by ginoledesma]

[PatrickGaerlan]

Originally posted by EricSBut where can I get the CANON BJC 85, CUPS+Gimp-Print v4.2.5 driver? Its not on my list of drivers. I have Apple, HP, Epson, Lexmark etc. but no Canon.

Hmmm, it should have been installed along with Panther. Anyway, you can go to the Gimp-Print for Mac OS X page to download the latest version.

[Edited on 7-17-2004 by PatrickGaerlan]

[chinggoy]

tried adding my hp845c thru printer set up. windows printing - network neighborhood. but thats as far as i can get. can seem to find my printer

i have a HP 845c connected to my PC running XP.
to the PC i have a Linksys wireless router.

so is there a way for me to print using my powerbook(wireless)?

[cyberprince]

I am resurrecting this thread because I need help connecting my Powerbook to printers on my office's Windows network. The guys from IT have not been able to help me at all. I've been able to do all the steps that Patrick enumerates above:

1. Start Printer Setup Utility in your Applications -> Utilities folder.
2. Click on Add.
3. In the first field, choose Windows Printing.
4. In the second field, choose the correct workgroup.
5. You should be able to see the Windows PC and select the shared printer in the window.
6. Lastly, you'll have to select the correct Printer Model.

I've tried connections to two printers on two different computers both on the network. One is a HP LaserJet 2100 and the other HP Deskjet 3820. However whenever I print the first page that comes out of the printer reports an error:

%! PS-Adobe-3.0 %RBINumCopies: 1 %%Pages: (atend) %APL_DSC_Encodiing: UTF8 %%Title: (F

Then several blank pages follow.

Does anybody know how I can fix this. I tried drives from the HP website but they don't do anything. It's really frustrating to email my files to someone else for printing.

[Edited on 1-28-2005 by cyberprince]

[cyberprince]

Bump