I have an HP OfficeJet R65 that I want to connect to my MacBook. 
According to the HP printer compatability list it will not work using OS X, which is a pity. I tried using GutenPrint and CUPS, which specifically name my printer as being able to work using their software on OS X. But, it didn't work and the software is confusing, too technical, and you have read pages and pages of crap to figure out what the hell is actually going on.
So BootCamp to the rescue! Running Win XP on my Mac I have used my printer before, by using a Parallel to USB converter cable. After trying endlessly to make it work on OS X, I booted in Windoze... and lo and behold, it didn't work anymore!
I went straight for option 1: reformat, reinstall and download all updates. When connecting the USB cable, it wasn't recognised. No plug-and-play functionality. Both USB ports work when using a mouse or Flashdrive, so it's not the ports. The dodgy parallel to USB cable could well be the problem, but it's worked before so I ruled that out.
When trying to select ports under Printer Properties, only LPT, COM and FILE ports are available. So USB ports were not available. Unfortunately to my knowledge, this option only becomes available when plug-and-play works. So I deleted all the USB drivers in the hope they would reinstall on reboot and work. But, of course I lost my trackpad and keyboard functionality and had to stuff around to try and fix that all up (as the trackpad and keyboard use USB controllers).
So I searched forum posts which told me to check certain files were in my registry. Yes, "usbprint.sys" and such files were all there. I just reinstalled for heaven's sake. I read somewhere I needed to delete the file c:/windows/inf/infcache.1 to regenerate it and hey presto! ...nothing worked still.
I'm sure there's a few other tweaks I've done but can't remember them all after about 6 hours over 2 days trying to get this to work.
Anyone got any ideas? Can my model printer "HP OfficeJet R65" work in OS X using some amazing program? Can I use this dodgy USB to Parallel cable as it's worked before? (Man I wish I knew what I did last time!) Is there another port I can use instead of USB? Or should I just blow the bloody thing up and wish I didn't just spend $300 on ink cartridges of it?
Apologies for the mega-entry... but it's all out there now and I feel much better for it
According to the HP printer compatability list it will not work using OS X, which is a pity. I tried using GutenPrint and CUPS, which specifically name my printer as being able to work using their software on OS X. But, it didn't work and the software is confusing, too technical, and you have read pages and pages of crap to figure out what the hell is actually going on.
So BootCamp to the rescue! Running Win XP on my Mac I have used my printer before, by using a Parallel to USB converter cable. After trying endlessly to make it work on OS X, I booted in Windoze... and lo and behold, it didn't work anymore!
I went straight for option 1: reformat, reinstall and download all updates. When connecting the USB cable, it wasn't recognised. No plug-and-play functionality. Both USB ports work when using a mouse or Flashdrive, so it's not the ports. The dodgy parallel to USB cable could well be the problem, but it's worked before so I ruled that out.
When trying to select ports under Printer Properties, only LPT, COM and FILE ports are available. So USB ports were not available. Unfortunately to my knowledge, this option only becomes available when plug-and-play works. So I deleted all the USB drivers in the hope they would reinstall on reboot and work. But, of course I lost my trackpad and keyboard functionality and had to stuff around to try and fix that all up (as the trackpad and keyboard use USB controllers).
So I searched forum posts which told me to check certain files were in my registry. Yes, "usbprint.sys" and such files were all there. I just reinstalled for heaven's sake. I read somewhere I needed to delete the file c:/windows/inf/infcache.1 to regenerate it and hey presto! ...nothing worked still.
I'm sure there's a few other tweaks I've done but can't remember them all after about 6 hours over 2 days trying to get this to work.
Anyone got any ideas? Can my model printer "HP OfficeJet R65" work in OS X using some amazing program? Can I use this dodgy USB to Parallel cable as it's worked before? (Man I wish I knew what I did last time!) Is there another port I can use instead of USB? Or should I just blow the bloody thing up and wish I didn't just spend $300 on ink cartridges of it?
Apologies for the mega-entry... but it's all out there now and I feel much better for it
