My rant on network printing! Help me make this work.

[dontwalkhand]

When I decide to send a print job to a printer being shared on say, Windows computer from my Mac...or even from a Windows XP 32 to a Windows 7 64-bit computer....it complains that the drivers don't exist for Mac, or XP32.

This is the way IT SHOULD WORK:

• I hit print on my Mac, the job gets sent to the "print server...the W7 machine" hosting the printer...no matter what OS this has, as long as it has the drivers.
• The Print Server (or host computer, whatever you want to call it...The W7 machine), processes the job, and spits out the pages.
• The client computers (the Macs, or XP32 machines) don't need their native drivers.

Why the HELL does the client computer even need the correct drivers, as long as it has a connection to the "server" hosting the printer, thats all it should need! The server should be processing the job.

So tell me ,WHY is it that just because I have an excellent Dell P703W, I can't print with my Mac, even though it is being shared off of a Windows based computer? Is there a way to make rubber meet the road, and have my Mac and XP32 machines be able to print to the Dell printer being shared off of the W7 computer??

Someone has a good solution to this, and it was tested with AirPrint Hactivator for OS X. I know the print drivers don't reside on my iPhone to print, they reside on the Mac, so yet, why can my iPhone print on the network driverless, but not my Macs or XP32 machines??

Apple tried to make something like this with Bonjour...works great if the printer was plugged into the Mac...and it would had the printer had some Mac drivers, but it doesn't!

Damn Microsoft and their antiquated ways! As long as I can see my PC (along with the shared printer!) on the network from the Mac, I should be able to print to it. Because the PC should be processing the job! The Mac should have nothing to do with it!

 

[Rodimus Prime]

It is because the printer server so to speak is all it does is handle the ques for the printer but the print job still needs to be sent in a format the printer understands and then the printer server holds that and passes it along. You need the drivers to put it in the format that the printer understands.

The hack version of Air print is using a 3rd party program that takes the print order. Converts it and resend it using the print drivers on the local computer. You could in theory use a 3rd party program to do the same thing. All it provides is a virtual printer for your mac to send things to on the print server which turns around and sends them to the printer.

It is like using a network printer connected directly to the network and not threw a computer. It is basically a mini print server that is handling everything and you send things to that. You still need drivers for it to work.

 

[dontwalkhand]

It is because the printer server so to speak is all it does is handle the ques for the printer but the print job still needs to be sent in a format the printer understands and then the printer server holds that and passes it along. You need the drivers to put it in the format that the printer understands.

But why can my iPhone + AirPrint hactivator

or even Bonjour client for Windows can print to a shared printer shared off of a Mac?? Is Windows just that antiquated?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

But why can my iPhone + AirPrint hactivator

or even Bonjour client for Windows can print to a shared printer shared off of a Mac?? Is Windows just that antiquated?

You missed my edit but in both cases those are 3rd party programs. They are taking it in their own format and then going to the computer it is connected to and send it in that format.

Think of it as Bonjour and AirPrint Hactivator as drivers so to speak. 3rd party program.

Print server is more of pass threw not a 3rd party program. My understanding of Bonjour is it lacks some of the network admin side stuff that a print server can have on it.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Do you know if something like Bonjour exists for Windows so I can access the printer from my Mac? I would love to be able to print color to that Dell printer.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Do you know if something like Bonjour exists for Windows so I can access the printer from my Mac? I would love to be able to print color to that Dell printer.

I though Apple put out Bonjour for windows.

But all in all I have never look. I have either had the drivers on the computer or the printer is wireless connected to the network so a non issue.

My solution would be download the drivers from Dell for your mac and that should solve the problem.

 

[steve2112]

Your best bet may be to actually put the printer directly on the network. If you have an Aiport Extreme Base Station, you can connect it on the USB port. Otherwise, you may want to look at getting a small print server to connect it to your network. On the network, your Mac may be able to use a generic postscript type driver and make it work.

Otherwise, you may be out of luck. Dell doesn't have OSX drivers, and I couldn't find any on the CUPS site.

 

[benthewraith]

It is because the printer server so to speak is all it does is handle the ques for the printer but the print job still needs to be sent in a format the printer understands and then the printer server holds that and passes it along. You need the drivers to put it in the format that the printer understands.

The hack version of Air print is using a 3rd party program that takes the print order. Converts it and resend it using the print drivers on the local computer. You could in theory use a 3rd party program to do the same thing. All it provides is a virtual printer for your mac to send things to on the print server which turns around and sends them to the printer.

It is like using a network printer connected directly to the network and not threw a computer. It is basically a mini print server that is handling everything and you send things to that. You still need drivers for it to work.

Correct me if I'm wrong because I don't know much about printers, but wasn't CUPS intended to do what the OP is wanting to do?