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[Merged] iPad & Printing Discussion
- Thread starter fjs08
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Have you looked at www.apple.com/ipad ?
The iPad is not released yet, but maybe it can access printers wirelessly via Pages, Numbers or Keynote.
The iPad is not released yet, but maybe it can access printers wirelessly via Pages, Numbers or Keynote.
You can print from the iPhone using Apps released by the Printer Manufacturers. I have an HP app on my iPhone that lets me connect to my HP printer connected to my Mac. The connect from Phone to Mac is via WiFi, but from Mac to printer is via USB cable.
I'm sure it will print via wifi or bluetooth in a similar fashion to the iPhone.
The HP printing app for the iPhone works well with our wireless printer.
The HP printing app for the iPhone works well with our wireless printer.
Every 3rd party peripheral driver for the iPhone OS is delivered as part of its own dedicated App. I suspect it'd be the same with the variant of the iPhone OS that runs on the iPad.
Having an app to print to shared printers from a particular manufacturer is not a solution. By offering a full office suite they pretty much created the absolute need for printing. No mention of it now, but I suspect we'll see a software update for this in the very early days adding many things, including network printing. There's NO reason they shouldn't be able to do this, and probably fairly easily. Standard IP printing would let you access wifi printers, printers on a network bridge (like the a printer plugged into an AirPort) and printers shared from a desktop.
Agree. This would be like going back to the pre-Windows days on PCs. The iPad should be using Bonjour to determine what printers are available. Having to install dinky apps to send a job to an HP printer is hopefully a thing of the past.
It will print as well as an iPhone prints. In other words, not so good. At least not directly from the network.
It's doubtful in the current software you will be able to (since it it based off the iPhone 3.1.x software). Perhaps in 4.0 they will allow access to Airport printers but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Every year for the iPhone OS (so far) and every 18-24 months for OSX (or so, it's not as regular as the mobile updates have been).
It needs to print - from Mail, iWork, Safari etc.
It also needs to create PDFs like printing in OS X does.
Unfortunately it won't do either.
Yes it can according to Whats new in iPhone OS 3.2
"PDF Generation
The UIKit framework (UIKit.framework) includes new functions for generating PDF files and data objects from your application’s custom content. You can use this support to generate PDF-based content for use within your application or for storing to the local disk. The UIKit functions manage the setup and pagination for the PDF data. You provide the actual content using the same native platform graphics technologies (UIKit, Core Graphics, Core Text, and so on) already available for drawing to the screen. (You cannot draw to a PDF context directly using OpenGL commands. However, you can transfer the pixels of your rendered content to a CGImageRef data type and draw that.)"
As for printing, I'm sure it would use Bonjour printing services via WiFi. Like Snow Leopard, it would probably download the specific printer driver off the server. No need to install all of them.
Theres a lot of functionality in 3.2 like File Sharing and File type support.
"File-Sharing Support
Applications that want to share files with the user can now do so using the file-sharing support in iPhone OS 3.2. Here’s how it works:
An application indicates that it wants to share files by including the UIFileSharingEnabled key in its Info.plist file.
It puts whatever files it wants to share in its Documents/Shared directory.
When the device is plugged into the user’s computer, a mount point is added to the system and the contents of any shared directories appear on the user’s desktop.
Users can modify the contents of this directory freely by copying files out, deleting files, or dragging new files in.
Applications that support file sharing should recognize when files have been added to the directory or removed and respond appropriately. For example, if the user added files to the directory, your iPad application might make those files available from its interface. You should never expect the user to go searching for files in this directory, nor should your application rely on any files being in this directory. It is strictly for sharing files with the user’s computer."
As for file types, one can develop let say zip file extractor App. As long as its installed, the system knows if you were to downloaded a zip file from Safari or open an attachment in Mail, it will automatically launch the actual App designated for the file type. That means this can support virtually any kind of files.
USB is a Host->Client system.
If the iPad (iPhone, iPod, etc) are clients, and of course printers are clients, then it is VERY problematic to print via USB (a major failing with USB).
There is some work around on USB, and maybe HP has that fix, but that is just one printer.
Of course WiFi and BlueT it is possible.
If the iPad (iPhone, iPod, etc) are clients, and of course printers are clients, then it is VERY problematic to print via USB (a major failing with USB).
There is some work around on USB, and maybe HP has that fix, but that is just one printer.
Of course WiFi and BlueT it is possible.