I just got my girlfriend switched and she is loving it so far, but insists on using her old hp deskjet 720. she even went as far as to buy a 20 dollar serial to usb connector so that she could hook it up to her iBook, but it turns out this printer is not officially supported by os x. if anyone knows of some sort of workaround or tweak that can fix this i can send you something free, or do some free graphical work for you. or i can dance. you pick.
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Help with deskjet printer...
- Thread starter cyanide
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1. Serial???? If it was connected to your g/f's old pc then surely it has a parallel printer port?
2. Are you using CUPS and Gimp Print?
3. Are you sure its a Deskjet 720 and not an Officejet 720? The latter is sort of supported by CUPS I think.
Try a look at http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
2. Are you using CUPS and Gimp Print?
3. Are you sure its a Deskjet 720 and not an Officejet 720? The latter is sort of supported by CUPS I think.
Try a look at http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
The HP DeskJet 720 is a Windows-only printer. It does not have a serial port. The OfficeJet 720 is a Windows-only all-in-one. As such, it does not have a serial port either. Both printers connect to the computer via a parallel cable. My suggestion is to connect your girlfriends printer via its parallel cable to a print server. Experiment with the CUPS drivers for HP printers to see which one works best. For the OfficeJet, it appears that the DJ 690 (pcl-690) is the CUPS driver you need. If the printer is the HP DJ 720, then there is no better place to start than the same driver.cyanide said:
If you get the notion that this is a big and expensive hassle so that your girlfriend can use her old printer with her new computer, I agree. She would do better and save money if she bought a new USB printer that is MacOS X-compatible.
MisterMe said:
To elaborate more on MisterMe post you can get a printer server at best buy or circut city etc. I personal use printer server at my home, but I have 3 computers that share 3 different printers. In your case, if it is only 1 computer I'd go with MisterMe suggestion and get a new USB printer.
Here are some links for printer servers.
http://www.dlink.com/products/category.asp?cid=10&sec=0
http://www.linksys.com/products/group.asp?grid=33&scid=37
http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodFam.php?CatId=21
thanks guys, after looking at it myself, its a parallel port not serial. go figure. anyways.. she paid twenty bucks for that converter cable and i told her for what she wants she can get a new printer for that much. she doesnt seem to like that too much though, haha. and of course she gave me the "i thought apple was supposed to be simple!" to which i responded it is, because only microsoft would support such an old printer by not changing their software. blah.. switcher tension.