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[Merged] iPad & Printing Discussion

iPad printing - no computer or helper software required ? Yes!

Hi all,

We are the developer of a number of iPad printing apps mentioned in this thread. Our apps with printing capabilities include:

Documentz Pro for iPad
Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad
Fax Print & Share for iPad
And others.

Yes it is possible to print directly from the iPad to your printer - no computer in-between. Most of our apps, including the ones listed above, do this. The current caveat is that your printer needs to be Postscript-2 capable.
Our apps will also enable you print to non-postscript printers (pretty much any printer), however you will need to use the Shared Printer mode, with a computer in-between. Our apps support both direct and shared printing modes. Even when printing to shared printers, our apps do not require you to install any helper apps for Mac os and Linux computers. So you can basically just walk into a new new office and begin printing to the available qualified printers without any fiddling, software installation, or even computers in-between for networked PS2+ printers.

We have just completed testing and documentation on a concise way to export and print directly from the iWork suite for iPad (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) using Documentz Pro for iPad and Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad. A go-between computer is NOT required for the file transfer (Pages to Documentz Pro) or for the printing, but Internet connectivity is. We will be posting the manual to our website shortly - feel free to contact us if your need it ahead of time.

Thanks,
Support At Ndili.com
Ndili Technologies, Inc
 
To ntechinc. What is the difference between all of your apps. Do you have a comparative feature list? Also will there be light versions to try?

Also will any of your apps allow me to print an email?

Thanks
 
iPad Printing - apps that print from iPad

nippyjun said:
To ntechinc. What is the difference between all of your apps. Do you have a comparative feature list? Also will there be light versions to try?

Also will any of your apps allow me to print an email?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi,

Our apps in the productivity / utility category are typically multi-functional, and each one contains a different set of "modules" (functionality units), depending on the emphasis of the app. The most comprehensive of our productivity apps is MobileToolz, as it contains all modules.

First The Differences:
- The fax-focused apps contain a "Photo Labs" module, which allows you to capture, edit and fax images. The image processing functions of "Photo Lab" are designed to enable you prepare fax documents from pictures. Basic fax functionality (without Photo Labs) is included in almost all the apps.
The "Fax Print & Share - PRO" app contains yet an additional Document Downloader app, which lets you directly download web documents onto your phone/iPad. "Fax Print & Share LITE" is basically the test version - enabling you test out and verify fax functionality and low to no cost. It does not contain the Downloader module and can only store a limited number of documents.

- The document - focused apps, "Documentz", "MobileToolz", contain a "Peer to Peer" module, mRemote, that allows you to connect to, and share documents between iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, and between your device and your computer. The mRemote module also allows you to Screen-Share (Share the screen of your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch with another one). Documentz falls under this category.

- The Remote Control apps focus on remote control of your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. They include the ability to remotely control streaming audio and music on your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch). ""Replicate", "Replicate Pro" and "Music Remote" fall into the category. While "Music Remote" app is exclusively for remote control of the _music_ module (iPod) portion of your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch, and does not include other functions, both "Replicate" apps include a wider range of features, including screen sharing, as well as the basics (faxing, printing, emailing, etc). Replicate PRO enables _MOBILE to MOBILE_ screen and document sharing, in addition to the iPad/iPhone to computer replication that is present in the non-pro version of Replicate.

- Our online printing app, "Print Online", focuses on extending printing from the local network to the "wider" network. Essentially allows you to print to any FedEx / Kinkos location. This app is currently undergoing a rework to change its delivery channel for online printing; when done it will allow an even wider global app-to-paper delivery.

The Similarities:
Nearly all our apps contain what we consider to be "The Basics"...
- Ability to print wirelessly to networked or shared printers
- Ability to fax any document to anywhere in the world
- Ability to store and view a wide range of document formats


MobileToolz contains all modules and is the 'swiss army knife' of our productivity/utility suite. As its name implies, MobileToolz is meant to be the most comprehensive collection of mobile tools, and as such, no one name can capture all the things it does: Fax, Print, Scan, Email, Remote Control, Mobile Presentations, Document Sharing, Screen Sharing.

If you want to print emails and/or email attachments such as PDFs, make sure to choose one of our apps that has the "Document Downloader" module eg: MobileToolz (all in one), Documentz or Fax Print & Share Pro. If you want additional ability to scan, print and fax paper documents, then go with MobileToolz or Fax Print & Share Pro (on-the-go scanning requires a camera which the iPad does not currently have).

NTechInc
 
iPad Printing Demo

Bodhi395 said:
I would like to buy a stand-alone wireless printer, and would like to be able to print to it from the ipad. Is there any printing apps one can download that would allow printing directly to a wireless printer. I know you can print to a shared printer, but I would like to do it directly to the printer without any other computer.
Click to expand...

Here's an iPad printing demo. The documents were created using Pages for iPad. Printing was done using "Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad". The printer used was an HP LaserJet 1522nf - a networked printer. Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad prints both directly (network printing) and via shared printing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnLQUV_bfQ

NTechInc
 
NTechInc said:
Here's an iPad printing demo. The documents were created using Pages for iPad. Printing was done using "Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad". The printer used was an HP LaserJet 1522nf - a networked printer. Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad prints both directly (network printing) and via shared printing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnLQUV_bfQ

NTechInc
Click to expand...

That's a nice demo. Too bad apple makes it so that there are so many steps needed to accomplish something a simple as printing.

How about some promo codes so some of us can test it out and report back here?
 
Promo Codes for Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad

nippyjun said:
That's a nice demo. Too bad apple makes it so that there are so many steps needed to accomplish something a simple as printing.

How about some promo codes so some of us can test it out and report back here?
Click to expand...

Here are 10 promo codes to Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad.
Enjoy!

9LA6X9KJ4A47
9WH9EKLKRW7M
MMEK6K3LTEMY
79JYFEFNPP6J
4X36F9H6J97E
3N9EKRW6HTH6
KHHMNMMLN3EL
EAE9JFP3NPPE
A3J4K7PY9JNF
AKPNFJJ4RL4W
 
KHHMNMMLN3EL. Used.


NTechInc said:
Here are 10 promo codes to Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad.
Enjoy!

9LA6X9KJ4A47
9WH9EKLKRW7M
MMEK6K3LTEMY
79JYFEFNPP6J
4X36F9H6J97E
3N9EKRW6HTH6
KHHMNMMLN3EL
EAE9JFP3NPPE
A3J4K7PY9JNF
AKPNFJJ4RL4W
Click to expand...


That was fast. Thanks !
 
3N9EKRW6HTH6 used. It picked up my brother 8890 wifi and printed to it with no problem. Now how do I print from mail or pages?
 
3N9EKRW6HTH6 used. It picked up my brother 8890 wifi and printed to it with no problem. I connected through WebDAV in my Mac finder and uploaded an excel spreadsheet, and was able to print that.

When I printed my own spreadsheet, it just printed the iPad screen, not the actual worksheet, so many of the rows and columns did not print. It was more like a 'print screen' app. How do I print the actual document?

Also, how do I print from mail or pages?
 
iPad Printing

smoked said:
3N9EKRW6HTH6 used. It picked up my brother 8890 wifi and printed to it with no problem. I connected through WebDAV in my Mac finder and uploaded an excel spreadsheet, and was able to print that.

When I printed my own spreadsheet, it just printed the iPad screen, not the actual worksheet, so many of the rows and columns did not print. It was more like a 'print screen' app. How do I print the actual document?

Also, how do I print from mail or pages?
Click to expand...

For document types for which there are no print/display drivers, what is printed will be what is displayed on the screen. The range of drivers increases greatly when you print via "Shared" printing using a Mac vs network printing (no middle computer), as we leverage the drivers resident on the 'middle' computer in shared print mode. In both cases (direct network printing and shared printing) PDF files should print in their entirety, as well as JPEG, GIF, and other image formats. Excel spreadsheets and Word will print what you see (screen),
as the iPad (and iPhone/iPod) dont not have any print drivers.
 
Thanks, that is an important point about the print drivers that I did not see in the help. I did try that as I have the brother printer shared on my MacBook, but it still only gave me the 'screenshot'. It was a multiple tab workbook and I was trying to print the middle tab. Is there any settings on the mac side that need to be set other than printer sharing?
 
iPad Printing

smoked said:
Thanks, that is an important point about the print drivers that I did not see in the help. I did try that as I have the brother printer shared on my MacBook, but it still only gave me the 'screenshot'. It was a multiple tab workbook and I was trying to print the middle tab. Is there any settings on the mac side that need to be set other than printer sharing?
Click to expand...


Here's the safe bets for whole document printing:
Adobe PDF (pdf)
PNG Image (png)
Postscript files (ps)
JPEG image (jpg)
TIFF Image (tiff)
GIF Image (gif)
Outside this range you will still be able to print, but it is likely you'll be printing using the screen driver.

Hopefully we'll hear some good news about native print driver support in tomorrow's iPhone 4.0 press event. That would greatly broaden the range of formats.
 
smoked said:
. Is there any settings on the mac side that need to be set other than printer sharing?
Click to expand...

Just turn on "Printer Sharing" in general (System Preferences -> Sharing -> Printer Sharing)
and then enable sharing for chosen printer (System Preferences -> Print & Fax -> Share this printer on the network)

Typically no other settings are required unless you have firewall set to block all share access, in which case you'll need to tweak it: (System Preferences -> Security -> Firewall)
 
Well I transferred a PDF and it still only gave me a screen print. I also tried a word document via shared printer and it gave me just a screen print. However, I also noticed that it wasn't showing up on the computers print queue. I verified this by printing to a shared printer that wasn't connected, it should be stuck in the queue but there is nothing. Looking at the cups access_log I see that there is an entry from the iPad ip address to print, so it looks like it may be bypassing the Mac printer driver and simply passing the job along. Is there something else I need to install on the mac?
 
smoked said:
Well I transferred a PDF and it still only gave me a screen print. I also tried a word document via shared printer and it gave me just a screen print. However, I also noticed that it wasn't showing up on the computers print queue. I verified this by printing to a shared printer that wasn't connected, it should be stuck in the queue but there is nothing. Looking at the cups access_log I see that there is an entry from the iPad ip address to print, so it looks like it may be bypassing the Mac printer driver and simply passing the job along. Is there something else I need to install on the mac?
Click to expand...

It sounds very much (100%) like you are doing direct (network) printing. The way to tell for sure: when you tap the Print button on Fax Print & Share Pro, a list shows up with two sections. Make sure the printer you select is under the first section "Shared Printers", and not the second section "Network Printers". You may see the same printer listed under both sections, if you have a network printer that is also shared. If you see your printer listed only under "Network Printers" then follow the 2 sharing steps outlined earlier ( System Preferences -> Sharing -> Printer Sharing and System Preferences -> Print & Fax -> Share this printer).
You will get better results in Shared Print mode and definitely get the entire PDF (all pages) printed
 
NTechInc said:
... when you tap the Print button on Fax Print & Share Pro, a list shows up with two sections...
Click to expand...

The video frame at 2:43 in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnLQUV_bfQ
shows both networked and shared printer lists. In the video 2 of the 6 detected printers are both shared and networked (direct) and are listed under both sections. The same document printed to the same printer via shared route will likely come out better in many cases.
 
I did make sure to use the shared printer, since I can see the print job showing up in the cups log. It just seems to be bypassing the drivers on the Mac. Good news is that I did get a PDF to print correctly, a two page document. But I did not get a word or excel document to print, just the screen shots. Firewall on or off did not make a difference. I don't have more time tonight for testing, but may be able to play with it more over the weekend using some different computers and software. Thanks for the promo code!
 
NTechInc said:
Here are 10 promo codes to Fax Print & Share Pro for iPad.
Enjoy!

9LA6X9KJ4A47
9WH9EKLKRW7M
MMEK6K3LTEMY
79JYFEFNPP6J
4X36F9H6J97E
3N9EKRW6HTH6
KHHMNMMLN3EL
EAE9JFP3NPPE
A3J4K7PY9JNF
AKPNFJJ4RL4W
Click to expand...

Do you have any more?
 
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