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Printing with Belkin Wireless Router Problems

M

Manatease

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 8, 2004
10
0
I just bought a used powerbook with Panther installed. I have an airport card and a Belkin wireless router (the one with the annoying ad that they put in your browser), 802.11b, but can't connect to my 16/600 PS Laserwriter.

I can't seem to find the printer in the appropriate window, and I can't get it to work with a direct connection either.

I read that I can connect with TCP/IP, but I need the address of the printer, a number which I am supposed to ask my "administrator" (me) for.

Anyone else have this problem? Thanks.
 
Wireless Router to Printer followup

I can't find anything about this (assiging an IP address) in the two documents. Nothing comes up under "IP address" or "assigning" when I search the PDF file, and I don't understand the relevancy of the first link. I don't have any background in this, so it's all new to me. For example, the ethernet needs a paired transceiver cable which has a transformer, but I have no idea why.

Should I try connecting through Apple Talk or through TCP/IP?

Thank you.
 
OK, the first document, TN17555 discusses the dip switch on the back of the 16/600 printer. Up or down position changes how the printer ports interact. Set it to the DOWN position.

The second article, TN 50128 has a list of manuals for Apple Laserwriters, I just downloaded the one for the 16/600. On page 31 of the manual, it starts talking about setting the printer options. it mentions the switch and using the Apple Printer Utility to set options for the printer.

For ethernet connectivity, you need an Apple AAUI ethernet tranceiver. You can find these around various places, I sell them if you have trouble finding one, $25 for the Farallon Ethermac AAUI tranceiver. This converts the 15-pin 'Centronics' connector to a standard 10Base-T twisted pair cable.

Hmmm. Does the belkin Wireless router pass Appletalk??? Important question. Look in its manual and find out. If it does, you can just use AppleTalk and be done with it. Connect them together, open Printer Setup Utility in Panther and setup a new AppleTalk printer. You're done. Have a nice day :)

You might get better performance and would avoid network chattiness of Appletalk if you use IP. The choice is yours

If the router doesn't pass AppleTalk, you'll have to use IP. First connect the printer's ethernet cable directly to your PBook. Wait, do you have an ethernet hub? Does the belkin router? Connect the PBook and Printer cable to a hub, otherwise you will need a ethernet crossover cable to connect them directly to each other.

Now get your hands on a copy of the Apple Printer Utility. it is a Classic App. Launch that and your printer should show up. Open it and in the settings list, there should be something for IP address and mask. I don't have one of these printers here, so I don't know exactly what the menus look like. You need to assign a fixed IP address and subnet mask to the printer. Open System Preferences in Panther, and check your network Pane for the current IP, network mask, and router address. they are probably 192.168.1.2, 255.255.255.0, 192.168.1.254 or something like that. They could be in the 10.1.1.x range.

This is getting long and involved.

Why don't you get back to me when you get to this point and I'll explain what you need to do next. You need to tell your router NOT to assign the same IP address to computers in your network than you are about to assign the printer.
 
Reply to reply about hooking up wireless router to printer

Yes, the router supports Appletalk. I was able to transfer files from my old computer via this method.

I am using a twisted pair transceiver. In fact, I inherited two cables with them. Was this necessary for an older type of Ethernet because other devices do not seem to have them?

When I am home again, I will try to work on this again. So far, I couldn't get the powerbook to recognize the printer, either with Appletalk or elsewhere.

The manual opened in OS X in such a form that it was difficult to search it.

Thanks so much for taking so much time, but I think that your reply will help others down the line.
 
Sounds like you have the needed hardware.
YES the AAUI connectors were old Apple connectors.

Make sure the DIP switch on the back is in the right position. It probably got flipped up when moved.
 
Can't find driver for 16/600

I think the problem may be that I can't find a driver for the 16/600 fax. In any event, no driver is showing up. The printer is definitely showing up on the router; the LED light grows. The Print Center does not find a driver.

Any idea where the Os X drivers package might be? I absolutely can not find one with Google, but anything Apple seems to be hard to find in my experience!

I can find drivers for everything else!
 
You are SOL regarding the fax capabilites of this under OS X. It won't work. End of story.
To get the printer working, select AppleTalk, choose the printer and select the correct PPD file.
 
printing with laserwriter

I am aware that the driver for faxing has not been supported for some years.

However, I am unable to locate the PPD/driver under OX 10 for this printer using Appletalk.

I downloaded something called Gimp, but it seems to require that the printer be connected via USB.

Apple lists this as a supported printer, but does not seem to say how it is "supporting" it....

When I ask it to select a printer in setup utility, it does not come up with anything...

I read elsewhere that I am supposed to use something called "Print Center," but it's not available on my computer nor is it on the Panther installation disks.

Any idea where one gets it?
 
Panther uses Printer Setup Utility, Jaguar (10.2) used Print Center.

Open that and select the Add Printer button,
Choose AppleTalk from the popup menu.
Your printer should show up in the window like this:

Select the printer and select 'Apple' from the Printer Model popup up list. Select the Appropriate model from the list. This file you are choosin is the PPD file fro the printer. I would probably NOT choose the 16/600 fax model, but you can try both options.

If your printer doesn't show up after ou choose AppleTalk, go to System Prefs, Network, choose the ethernet port and click the AppleTalk tab to verify that Appletalk is ON. Click the checkbox if it it is not selected.
 

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AppleTalk

I was wondering what happened to Print Center. I couldn't find it anywhere.

AppleTalk is on through airport.

Airport is connected to a router.

The printer is connected to the same router.

It doesn't show up in AppleTalk. I'll try connecting it directly to the printer and using AppleTalk again.
 
AppleTalk works

I did manage to get the printer to connect with AppleTalk directly. However, the router remains a mystery. It seems as if it should show up in the router as well.
 
The printer will print, but it is not recognizing the manual-feed or the envelope feeder for some reason. Any ideas on how to correct this? Thank you.
 
did you choose the appropriate PPD file like I described? see attached screenshot. Your printer should be listed where you see my printer labeled 'SMD Laserwriter Pro'
 

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printing with laserwriter

Yes, I can see that and print. However, it does not seem to recognize the paper in the top feeder--only in the cassette. I discovered elsewhere that I could change this via the hidden dialog box you get when you select "get info," but I'm still having problems...
 
What exactly are the problems and when/where do they appear?

In my situation, I have the Laserwrier Pro 600 printer connected via Appletalk.

In Printer Setup, I can click on the 'info' button and see some printer properties like what size paper cassette is installed and how much RAM the printer has. You situation may be the same or different depending on what your printer is capable of. Did or can you make the necessary changes to reflect what you actually have?
 
feeder not working

Yes, I changed the settings. (The only one applicable was for the the envelope feeder).

Neither the envelope feeder nor the hand-feeder are being recognized.
 
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