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by John Lockwood,★HelpfulApr 11, 2016 6:15 AM in response to Hans J. Rieche
John Lockwood
Apr 11, 2016 6:15 AM
in response to Hans J. Rieche
Level 6 (9,349 points)
Servers EnterpriseThere are two kinds of Wifi network, the Adhoc you refer to and Infrastructure being the other kind. While it is possible to link two computers together in an adhoc type Wifi it looks like the printer will only work with an Infrastructure type Wifi network. An Infrastructure type network needs a central controller e.g. a WiFi basestation.
If the two Macs only have Wifi connections and no Ethernet connection then it is possible to link them together in an adhoc setup, it appears that in order to get one of the Macs to act as a controller i.e. to run in Infrastructure mode I believe you need it to be connected to a network via Ethernet and then to be configured to 'share' that Ethernet connection over Wifi. Even then it is not certain that a Wifi printer will accept this as it still is a very stripped down Wifi setup.
If you did have a hardware Wifi basestation e.g. an Apple Airport Express that would definitely be able to do the job for you.
Another approach to consider is connecting the printer via USB to one of the Macs and to then share the printer from that Mac. The second Mac would then be able to print to the printer via the Mac. This should work even with the two Macs linked via an adhoc Wifi setup.
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Apr 11, 2016 10:50 PM in response to John Lockwoodby Hans J. Rieche,Thanks, John.
This is what I expected - and suspected! And the connection via USB is running today. The reason for trying to install a wireless solution is simply to get rid of at least one of the many cables!
Thus remains my second question: Can I install an additional ad-hoc WLAN? I tried it but did not succeed.
By the way, the first Mac is connected to the Internet - the problem with the printer is the same.