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greenjewel

Q: Laserwriter 8500 - networking with D-link router

Hi,
I've just changed my router to a D-link DI-524 and can't get my Laserwriter 8500 to work with it. It was fine with the Netgear Router I used to have.

I'm running a MacBook with OS X 10.5.6, and the printer driver is v.3010.103.

I tried some of the advice on other threads but when I go to Printer/Fax prefs and click 'Default', nothing shows up and the 'Add' Button is dimmed. Tried the IPP setting but didn't really know what I was doing.

Help!

Thanks,
Debbie

PS this was the reason I bought this router, so that I could network the printer.

MacBook G4, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Laserwriter 8500

Posted on May 6, 2009 11:02 AM

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Q: Laserwriter 8500 - networking with D-link router

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 6, 2009 12:22 PM in response to greenjewel
    Level 9 (61,292 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2009 12:22 PM in response to greenjewel
    That is a printer than can print as either an Appletalk printer or an LPR/LPD printer (also called an IP Printer). The easiest way to change printer parameters is with Apple printer Utility. If you do not have a Mac that can run Classic, you cannot run Apple Printer Utility, and may be stuck with Telnet to change printer parameters.

    To set it up as an Appletalk printer, you must turn on AppleTalk on your Mac, which is accomplished in:
    System Preferences > Network > (your active network interface) {Ethernet or Airport}
    (Turning Appletalk on for one interface may give you a message that you are turning AppleTalk off on a different Network Interface; not a problem.)

    Then you need to use Printer Setup and deliberately choose AppleTalk as the connection method -- I do not think default will suffice. (No AppleTalk Zones are involved.) If your printer is turned on, ready, and cabled in, it should appear within a quarter minute.

    Some Routers, especially less popular brands, may not support AppleTalk packets transmitted over wireless.

    --------
    That printer can also be set up as an IP Printer. To run it as an IP Printer, it must have an IP address in the same subnet as your current Router. \[Post back if you do not understand what that means.]

    The discussion referenced below has some information that may apply. The original Poster was trying to set up the printer as an IP Printer, then wanted to change to a different Router using a different Internet Service Provider:

    Topic : LaserWriter 8500 needs new IP address
  • by greenjewel,

    greenjewel greenjewel May 6, 2009 12:31 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2009 12:31 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Thanks for helping, Grant, I appreciate it.

    I've made sure Appletalk is on for Airport, but where do I find Printer Setup? When I go into Print & Fax and select the Laserwriter, there are no setup options.

    If I select AppleTalk nothing happens - literally - all options are dimmed.

    <That printer can also be set up as an IP Printer. To run it as an IP Printer, it must have an IP address in the same subnet as your current Router. [Post back if you do not understand what that means.]>

    I don't understand what that means.

    I had already had a look at that thread but wasn't sure if it was relevant and I didn't really understand that either...

    Thanks,
    Debbie
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 6, 2009 12:58 PM in response to greenjewel
    Level 9 (61,292 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2009 12:58 PM in response to greenjewel
    where do I find Printer Setup?


    Sorry, that terminolgy is a holdover from 10.3 and earlier. (I guess that dates me.)
    The "New" way is:

    System Preferences > Print and Fax

    Since the installed printer is not working, select it and click the Minus button to delete it. Then click the Plus button to set up a new one. If you do not see Appletalk as a connection method, poke around and find it on one of the other menus (possibly More options/More printers button, I do not recall.)
  • by greenjewel,

    greenjewel greenjewel May 6, 2009 1:07 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2009 1:07 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Yes I remember Printer Setup too (not to mention Control Panels).

    OK so I deleted the printer, but it's not letting me create another in any of the options. All dimmed for all of them - Default, Appletalk, More Printers - everything. Now even when I plug it directly into the laptop, and not the router, it doesn't show up and there's no option to add..
  • by greenjewel,

    greenjewel greenjewel May 6, 2009 1:15 PM in response to greenjewel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2009 1:15 PM in response to greenjewel
    Right, sorry, I was able to add it again, but only when the printer was plugged directly into ethernet (I'd forgotten to put Appletalk back to ethernet). Still no show when plugged into the router, though, so I guess it will have to be the IPP/Telnet option.

    So what do I change the printer IP address to - what's the subnet?

    And what are the other setting needed for the IPP window? (Name and location - do they matter?)

    Sorry for all the questions!

    Thanks.
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 6, 2009 1:52 PM in response to greenjewel
    Level 9 (61,292 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2009 1:52 PM in response to greenjewel
    You may be able to "Add" the printer to Print and Fax using a direct AppleTalk-over-Ethernet connection, then move the printer cable to the wireless Router (and change AppleTalk to use Airport) and use that same printer descriptor to get it to print. (It is possible a Restart might be needed.)

    If not, we can move on the IP printing.

    When using IP Printing, the printer becomes a full-fledged Ethernet device. Therefore the printer's IP address must conform to the addressing scheme you are using on your private Network. What-can-talk-to-what is determined by the Subnet mask in use, usually passed out by your router using DHCP, and usually set to 255.255.255.0.

    That subnet mask says, I can talk directly to any device that matches my IP address wherever there are one-bits in the IP Address. (A byte of 255 is all one-bits ON.) For example, suppose your computer is 192.168.0.13. It can talk freely to any device with 192.168.0.xxx, without requiring the Router to translate.

    So you need to know:
    Your computer's IP address and subnet mask
    Your Printer's IP address. I am not sure how to get that. It may require the power-on test page. If you have turned off that page, you may have to dig in the manual to find out how to tell what the address is.

    To use IP Printing, you enter the exact IP address of the printer, and then you print directly to it. The Router must be configured not to block traffic going from Wireless to Wired and vice-versa, but I think that is usually the default.
  • by greenjewel,

    greenjewel greenjewel May 6, 2009 3:17 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2009 3:17 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:
    You may be able to "Add" the printer to Print and Fax using a direct AppleTalk-over-Ethernet connection, then move the printer cable to the wireless Router (and change AppleTalk to use Airport) and use that same printer descriptor to get it to print. (It is possible a Restart might be needed.)


    That's what I had been trying, but it doesn't show up.

    The Router must be configured not to block traffic going from Wireless to Wired and vice-versa, but I think that is usually the default.


    My ears pricked up at that - would that apply to the Appletalk method too?

    I tried Telnet with the first command in the manual: telnet printerIPname, and got the following errors:

    telnet: connect to address xx.xxx.x.xxx. Operation timed out.
    telnet: Unable to connect to remote host
    printerIPname: nodename nor servename provided, or not known.

    The address given was one I didn't recognise, and haven't seen any reference to anywhere, eg the System Profiler.

    The Printer's IP address on the startup page is 0.0.0.0

    So what next?

    Thanks!
    Debbie
  • by greenjewel,

    greenjewel greenjewel May 6, 2009 4:01 PM in response to greenjewel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2009 4:01 PM in response to greenjewel
    More Info: I've looked in the D-link settings for something that looked like it configured wired to wireless & vice versa but can't find it, or didn't recognise it.

    Tried to set up the IPP with the address that telnet tried to use, but no luck. Not sure where all the addresses go anyway (in these fields [http://skitch.com/irishgirl/bqccf/addprinter] ) - Printer IP/Computer IP/Subnet mask.

    I feel as if I'm getting closer - thanks for all your help so far.

    Debbie
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 6, 2009 4:16 PM in response to greenjewel
    Level 9 (61,292 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2009 4:16 PM in response to greenjewel
    Skip ahead to page 104 in the laserWriter manual.

    You need to use the name of your printer from the startup page. I think it would be "LaserWriter 8500" unless you changed it. I think you may need the quotes since it contains a blank. Something like:

    telnet "Laserwriter 8500"

    capitalization and spacing counts -- you have to match exactly.

    Message was edited by: Grant Bennet-Alder

    In your post above, the forum software is adding http: when it sees a square bracket -- just put a backslash in front of the open-squarebracket and it all calms down.

    Message was edited by: Grant Bennet-Alder
  • by greenjewel,

    greenjewel greenjewel May 6, 2009 4:30 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 6, 2009 4:30 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Oh I'm so stupid, duh.

    Still not getting the configuration utility though. I get connected with LaserWriter 8500 (and not the name printed on the startup page) but no further:

    Macintosh-4:~ Debbie$ telnet LaserWriter 8500
    Trying xx.xxx.xx.xxx...
    Connected to LaserWriter.
    Escape character is '^]'.
    2
    HTTP/1.0 501 Not Implemented
    Content-Type: text/html
    Content-Length: 357
    Connection: close
    Date: Wed, 06 May 2009 23:26:27 GMT
    Server: OpenDNS Guide

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
    <head>
    <title>501 - Not Implemented</title>
    </head>
    <body>

    501 - Not Implemented


    </body>
    </html>
    Connection closed by foreign host.
    Macintosh-4:~ Debbie$

    I have to go to bed now, but will be back to tackle this, by hook or by crook, tomorrow. Thanks again.