4.2 how to set up printer

[saberahul]

Didn't find this anywhere, maybe since 4.2 is so new; but, when I click on find printer it finds nothing [so i'm assuming it doesn't support my printer]. I have a wifi HP Officejet J6480 all in one printer. If I open the HP iPrint app it finds it over wifi in less than a second but AirPrint doesn't. Is there a way for me to make this work? I'm still so new to this AirPrint thing I'm kind of confused on everything. Thanks

If there is another thread - just link it.

 

[saving107]

this is the only info that I have read regarding this issue,

Update: Users are reporting that the AirPrint feature in iOS 4.2 beta also requires that users install the latest Mac OS X 10.6.5 beta. The Mac OS X beta has reportedly been made available to developers in the iOS Developer Program for this purpose.

https://www.macrumors.com/2010/09/1...-ios-4-2-beta-for-ipad-iphone-and-ipod-touch/

But I don't know if 10.6.5 is still required if you have a HP Wifi printer.

my $.02

 

[saberahul]

well my printer isn't connected to my computer at all (I don't even have a mac only windows). My printer is connected to my router wirelessly and works over wifi... not sure why AirPrint can't detect like HP App does.

 

[ovrlrd]

well my printer isn't connected to my computer at all (I don't even have a mac only windows). My printer is connected to my router wirelessly and works over wifi... not sure why AirPrint can't detect like HP App does.

I suspect that unless you are using an Airport Extreme Base Station (or Time Capsule or AirPort Express) you won't be able to do AirPrint with a printer hooked up to the router. Even still AirPrint isn't likely to work with those devices without a firmware update to the router. Similarly anyone with a Mac or PC with a printer shared on their network will not be able to use AirPrint without an update to Bonjour (the printer sharing software Apple uses). This is why the OS X 10.5.6 beta is required for testers at the moment, because it contains this update.

Really the only people who should be able to get AirPrint working are people with HP printers that support ePrint or people who have OS X 10.5.6 installed. Even then there is no guarantee that it will work because it is beta software.

 

[saberahul]

I suspect that unless you are using an Airport Extreme Base Station (or Time Capsule or AirPort Express) you won't be able to do AirPrint with a printer hooked up to the router. Even still AirPrint isn't likely to work with those devices without a firmware update to the router. Similarly anyone with a Mac or PC with a printer shared on their network will not be able to use AirPrint without an update to Bonjour (the printer sharing software Apple uses). This is why the OS X 10.5.6 beta is required for testers at the moment, because it contains this update.

Really the only people who should be able to get AirPrint working are people with HP printers that support ePrint or people who have OS X 10.5.6 installed. Even then there is no guarantee that it will work because it is beta software.

Well thanks for the info but I hope Apple makes AirPrint simply search for wireless printers within range and print to them... doesn't seem that hard of a process to me; I fail to understand why a 3rd party is required in the middle at all like bonjour or airport extreme.

 

[ovrlrd]

Well thanks for the info but I hope Apple makes AirPrint simply search for wireless printers within range and print to them... doesn't seem that hard of a process to me; I fail to understand why a 3rd party is required in the middle at all like bonjour or airport extreme.

Um, I am not quite sure if you understand how wireless printers work but they aren't exactly magic. They all have their own way of doing it, their own protocol if you will. Apple's protocol of choice happens to be Bonjour. Their routers use this protocol when you hook up a printer to them and share it wirelessly. Similarly OS X uses that protocol when you share a printer over the network. Windows on the other hand uses SAMBA by default to share, which is supported by OS X but it requires a lot of manual config, not "automatic" like AirPrint needs. The reason for all this protocol nonsense is more related to printer drivers. Windows uses complex drivers (sometimes even need to be installed) while Apple uses CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) to handle all the driver work automatically. CUPS is an open source project for printing, and it seems to be likely to be a big part in making AirPrint work since Apple is the primary maintainer of it and has pretty in depth knowledge of making it work. Meanwhile they don't own any of the other protocols that exist for printer sharing, so it's not likely those will be easy to implement.

So it would make sense that they would write AirPrint to work based on Bonjour. They have also worked with HP to support ePrint printers, but there has been no other third party support mentioned at this time.

Maybe they will add support for more wireless printers, but at least for the moment it is definitely only Bonjour shared (with the latest Bonjour beta) or ePrint supported HP printers.