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Simon L

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 20, 2004
29
0
The printer for my powerbook is currently on a windows based network which I can get into and share files with etc no problem. I can see the printer on the network and can select it however when I try to print nothing happens.... Any ideas? :confused:
 
did you run Printer Setup Utility and configure a print driver for it?

if so, what are the values you used?
 
Originally posted by zimv20
did you run Printer Setup Utility and configure a print driver for it?

if so, what are the values you used?

The printer is set up on a PC which through the network I can see and print via on my powerbook. Therefore the driver is on that computer and not my powerbook (i think)..
 
At home I print to my PC connected printers (HP IIIP & Epson C80).
You need a local driver on you PowerBook. I believe if the printer is non postscript, the driver generates a big bit image and sends it. I can't tell you details because I'm on Jag at the moment.
But you do need to select a driver on your PowerBook.
 
Originally posted by Simon L
The printer is set up on a PC which through the network I can see and print via on my powerbook. Therefore the driver is on that computer and not my powerbook (i think)..

I still think you're going to need to add a printer via the Printer Setup Utility. In Windows, you can do what you are trying to do, because they use the same drivers.

Also, if the printer is directly connected to the network, just set it up as an IP Printer and print directly to it. It's much faster that way.
 
I am still having the problems with the printer....

I have set the printer up my powerbook using the printer set up utility. It see's the network I can open the PC the printer is attached to add the printer, however when I go to print on the Mac it goes through the motions and appears to print however nothing comes out of the printer...

The printer kind has set itself to "generic postscript printer" however the printer actually is a Minolta 1200w page pro.

:mad:
 
I have the same problem, too, except I get a black line printed out. I have tried selecting the printer's driver and generic drivers, but still the same problem. Even if there is a driver in my powerbook for the specific printer, the my computer claims it cant find it.... what to do!
 
Originally posted by Simon L

The printer kind has set itself to "generic postscript printer" however the printer actually is a Minolta 1200w page pro.

does minolta have an osx driver? if not, try gimp print. if that doesn't work, you may be SOL.
 
Hey simon, maybe this will help. I'm going to try it tomorrow. Hopefully you have 10.3! I know how frustrating this problem is... hope it works! It is from the Apple kbase website

DISCUSSION

Mac OS X makes it possible to print to many Windows (SMB) printers on your network. Open System Preferences and click Print & Fax.

Click Printing, and then click the Set Up Printers button.

If the printer already appears in the Printer List, select the In Menu checkbox to add it to your list of available printers. You'll see it in the Printer pop-up menu the next time you print.

Choose Printers > Add Printer.

Choose Windows Printing from the top pop-up menu, choose a network workgroup from the pop-up menu that appears directly below it, select a workgroup from the list, and click Choose.

Any Windows printers in the network you've chosen appear in the Printer List.

Select the printer in the Printer List.

To use printer-specific features, choose the item appropriate for your printer from the Printer Model pop-up menu, then select your printer in the Model Name list.


IMPORTANT: Be sure to choose the correct printer model for the printer you're using. For more information, see the documentation that came with the printer.

Click Choose.

The printer appears in the Printer List as the default printer (in bold type). It also appears in the Printer pop-up menu when you print a document.
 
Originally posted by zimv20
does minolta have an osx driver? if not, try gimp print. if that doesn't work, you may be SOL.

I have done a web search and can't find a Mac driver for the Minolta printer so it looks the printer isn't Mac compatiable... any ideas, other than buy a new printer??
 
Off the topic question.
At work we have a Windows network, and I am using Panther to connect into the network. I can enter my password and browse the network. My question is how do I disconnect from the network? If I unplug the ethernet cable I get errors, and I dont see a disconnect button. Thanks in advance
 
Originally posted by Simon L
I have done a web search and can't find a Mac driver for the Minolta printer so it looks the printer isn't Mac compatiable... any ideas, other than buy a new printer??
These printers are stritly Windows GDI printers and don't come with Postscript emulation usually. It doesn't work on Linux either, so it wont work on OSX unless you can share the printer on Windows as an LPR printer or Postscript (if your using windows server to share it. YMMV), it might work. Otherwise, your out of luck.
 
Originally posted by ryme4reson
Off the topic question.
At work we have a Windows network, and I am using Panther to connect into the network. I can enter my password and browse the network. My question is how do I disconnect from the network? If I unplug the ethernet cable I get errors, and I dont see a disconnect button. Thanks in advance
In the network folder, choose the network name (looks like a glass box with a cirlcle inside) and click the action menu (looks like a gear - in the finder toolbar) or right click and choose eject.
 
next to you buy a printer make sure it runs on unix/os x and windows. you might also look into buying a small printer server. they are very cheap now. they have both ieee 1284 and usb to ethernet ones. dlink and hawking technology for sure work with mac (appletalk), windows, and unix. basically it just makes your printer a standalone unit that anyone on the network and print to it. this is the best way to share a printer in my opinion. this is good cause no computer will have to be on all the time.
 
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