Can I print wirelessly?

[bobbyboulders]

So the other day, i heard that you can print wirelessly?!? That would be amazing for me, since whenever i have to print something out i have take my macbook all the way to the other room, connect the usb wire, then print (...i know, its not that complicated but im am lazy...)

Anywayz, im basically asking if this is at all possible with the HP Photosmart C3100 series printers + Macbook?? If someone can tell me or send me a step by step guide, i'd really appreciate it.

Thanking everyone in advance

 

[Agent Smith]

I've set it up with my AirPort Express and a brother laser printer. Although it's not mentioned on the AirPort compatibility lists, I've had no problems. I simply plugged it into the USB port, and set it up through Bonjour. Hope that helps!

 

[misam]

Yes

Yes, you can, and it's quite easy. An Airport Express or Airport Extreme has a USB port that can be connected to a printer and the printer will automatically show up in the printer menu. You can also use an old computer as a print server and I believe there are other companies that make print servers fairly inexpensively.

 

[bobbyboulders]

ok...i have no idea what u just said. I know 'airport' is how i connect to my router for internet access, but how do i set that up for wireless printing?

 

[WildCowboy]

How is your wireless internet in your house being broadcast? What brand is your wireless access point/router?

 

[bobbyboulders]

router is Netgear. i have a wire going from my cable modem to the router (also a wire connecting desktop with router) and macbook set up wirelessly

 

[rogersmj]

router is Netgear. i have a wire going from my cable modem to the router (also a wire connecting desktop with router) and macbook set up wirelessly

Try reading what the other posters wrote again. Think about it: your printer has to connect physically to something, unless it's one of the very rare models that has wireless built in. If you don't have another computer to connect it to (and share it on the network), you need to get either a USB wireless print server or one of the Apple Airport routers that has a USB port that can handle printers.

EDIT: Just read that you have a desktop connected to the network. There's your solution. Connect the printer to the desktop and share it over the network. I can't be more specific than that without you telling us more about the desktop.

 

[bobbyboulders]

what would you like to know?......its a windows xp machine .....

ill have to buy a longer usb cable (current one was just so i could connect it w/laptop) besides that how would i 'share it on my network'?

 

[Angsty]

EDIT: Just read that you have a desktop connected to the network. There's your solution. Connect the printer to the desktop and share it over the network. I can't be more specific than that without you telling us more about the desktop.

Won't the printer become unavailable if the desktop its plugged into goes to sleep? That is my current problem and I can't find a work-around, besides walking up to the study and waking up the desktop

Ang

 

[rogersmj]

what would you like to know?......its a windows xp machine .....

Well, that's one important piece of information...we can't tell you how to set it up without knowing what operating system the desktop is running now can we?

ill have to buy a longer usb cable (current one was just so i could connect it w/laptop) besides that how would i 'share it on my network'?

Right-click on the printer and select Sharing. It should be pretty obvious from that point, I think you just select Share this printer and click OK. I don't have an XP machine in front of me at the moment. Then, from your MacBook, you should be able to add that printer through the Printers preferences pane (you'll need to know the desktop's IP address -- get that from the Local Area Connection in Network Connections from XP's control panel).

Won't the printer become unavailable if the desktop its plugged into goes to sleep? That is my current problem and I can't find a work-around, besides walking up to the study and waking up the desktop

Ang

Yeah, the computer needs to stay on and awake for this method to work. I always leave my desktops on so that's not a problem for me. If you don't leave yours on, then yeah you need to either go wake it up or get an Airport or other network print server device.

 

[eatbacon]

I let the machine that shares my printer go to sleep, I just wake it up through the network (wake on lan) when I need it. (An average desktop uses around 100 watts when sitting idle, but only a couple of watts when it is asleep.) You'll need to know the MAC address of the machine you want to wake up, and something like the script that is available here:
http://gsd.di.uminho.pt/jpo/software/wakeonlan/

I am sure someone clever could wrap this script in an applescript app or something to make it simpler to use, but it works for me as is.