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Good wireless printer for use with iPad??

ssledoux

ssledoux

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2006
4,471
4,330
Down south
I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced all-in-one for printing from my iPP. I have an HP that makes me want to throw things. I'm not opposed to another HP; mine is just older and testy.

I have to use my phone as a hotspot for anything requiring wireless, so something I can connect to the wireless quickly and easily would be great!
 
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ssledoux said:
I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced all-in-one for printing from my iPP. I have an HP that makes me want to throw things. I'm not opposed to another HP; mine is just older and testy.

I have to use my phone as a hotspot for anything requiring wireless, so something I can connect to the wireless quickly and easily would be great!
Click to expand...
http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/maxify-mb5320

It can Fax, It can Print, and Scan and more and its $200 off from $399 only $199 get it while you can.
 
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ssledoux said:
I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced all-in-one for printing from my iPP. I have an HP that makes me want to throw things. I'm not opposed to another HP; mine is just older and testy.

I have to use my phone as a hotspot for anything requiring wireless, so something I can connect to the wireless quickly and easily would be great!
Click to expand...
I love my HP 5530, now replaced by a newer model, the 5540, that's almost $30 cheaper ($69):

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Printer-Wireless-enabled-K7C85A/dp/B013SKI49W/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

It's an Air Printer and can be set up in a minute without a computer and has great double sided printing plus scanning and copying. I also use the HP Instant Ink service and it's saved me a ton of money on ink and lots of time.
 
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ssledoux said:
I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced all-in-one for printing from my iPP. I have an HP that makes me want to throw things. I'm not opposed to another HP; mine is just older and testy.

I have to use my phone as a hotspot for anything requiring wireless, so something I can connect to the wireless quickly and easily would be great!
Click to expand...


If you already had a printer you liked, I'd have suggested simply adding AirPrint support by way of a Raspberry Pi. I have a Kyocera Laser printer with duplexing, which I've used for nearly 6 years (still on my second toner cartridge) and it works great. With the Raspberry Pi, it's faithfully serving every device on my home network, including our iPads.
 
Osty said:
If you already had a printer you liked, I'd have suggested simply adding AirPrint support by way of a Raspberry Pi. I have a Kyocera Laser printer with duplexing, which I've used for nearly 6 years (still on my second toner cartridge) and it works great. With the Raspberry Pi, it's faithfully serving every device on my home network, including our iPads.
Click to expand...
Neat! Link to the setup for that?
 
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iregret said:
Neat! Link to the setup for that?
Click to expand...

Mostly it's in my head but basically:

1. Set up a Raspberry Pi with the latest Raspian or Ubuntu Mate and connect your printer
2. Give your Pi a hostname (edit /etc/hostname)
3. Install Cups and avahi-discover (Avahi is a Bonjour/Zeroconf implementation)
4. Configure Cups with the printer's driver (PPD file) and share it over the network. This is all done in the cups web console (http://localhost:631 - substitute localhost for your Pi's hostname or IP).
5. Reboot the Pi and profit.
 
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Osty said:
Mostly it's in my head but basically:

1. Set up a Raspberry Pi with the latest Raspian or Ubuntu Mate and connect your printer
2. Give your Pi a hostname (edit /etc/hostname)
3. Install Cups and avahi-discover (Avahi is a Bonjour/Zeroconf implementation)
4. Configure Cups with the printer's driver (PPD file) and share it over the network. This is all done in the cups web console (http://localhost:631 - substitute localhost for your Pi's hostname or IP).
5. Reboot the Pi and profit.
Click to expand...


This sounds like a good use for a raspberry pi zero. Hell, I'm pretty sure I could install the zero in the damn printer! LOL. You may even be able to power the thing off of the printer's USB port!
 
iregret said:
This sounds like a good use for a raspberry pi zero. Hell, I'm pretty sure I could install the zero in the damn printer! LOL. You may even be able to power the thing off of the printer's USB port!
Click to expand...

You probably could yes. Look on your printer's main PCB and look for a 5V power line and pipe that to the Zero's GPIO. All you'd need to add then is a wireless NIC.

I'm dying to get my hands on a Zero. That factory in Wales is going to start churning them out now that they've stabilised demand for the Pi3.
 
Osty said:
You probably could yes. Look on your printer's main PCB and look for a 5V power line and pipe that to the Zero's GPIO. All you'd need to add then is a wireless NIC.

I'm dying to get my hands on a Zero. That factory in Wales is going to start churning them out now that they've stabilised demand for the Pi3.
Click to expand...
I was lucky and got one. They're smaller than I thought they'd be. It's crazy awesome.
 
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I have an Epson XP-424. It's by far the best value and one of the best rated all in one printers on many tech sites. I got mine a while ago on sale at Walmart for around $50, but you can find it on Amazon currently for $75.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TP7AGBW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_QQjexbBW3K5MB
Don't let the price fool you! It's an amazing value and it prints text and images in excellent quality! Quick set up and ink is quite affordable too.
You can also find it at stores such as Walmart and Best Buy. I think they may be phasing it out for better models like the XP-430/434 which will run you just about $20 more.

Hope that helps!
 
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