Printing nightmare in OS X

Hello Matthew,

Welcome to the world of Mac.

With regards to issue 1, what you have found is the case for many Mac drivers, in as far as they have not been written to work in cross-platform network connections. So thankfully the open-source community has provided a number of drivers that do work in this manner, as you have found.

As for issue 2, the driver you have chosen to print to the Windows share can cause printing problems. Instead of using the provided GIMP-Print drivers, download Gutenprint 5.0.1 from Sourceforge. Delete the current printer, and add it again, this time using the Gutenprint drivers. I would select the S800, as it has proven to be more reliable than any of the iP drivers.

Before you add the driver however, I would change the share name on the PC to a single word, such as iP1000. Names with underscores have given me grief previously.

The other thing to watch with Windows shared printers is the service packs. Sp2 for XP caused some problems with Workgroup sharing and guest accounts, so I would ensure you use an account that exists on the PC for the Mac to use. The best way is to include this account name into the smb path. Following is a procedure for adding a Windows printer via SAMBA.

1. Open the Printer Setup Utility (located in Applications > Utilities)
2. Click on Add
3. In the Printer Browser window, click on IP Printer and then hold down the Option key and press More Printers…
4. Click on the top menu and select Advanced.
5. Open the Device menu and select “Windows Printing via SAMBA”.
6. For Device Name, enter a name for the printer you are creating.
7. For the Device URI, after the text “smb://” enter a user account that is registered on the Windows computer sharing the printer followed by a colon. Then without any spaces enter the account’s password followed by the @ symbol. Now enter the computer name (or IP address) of the Windows computer, a forward slash, and the printer share name.

So the syntax looks like this:

smb://user name:password@computer_name/printer_sharename

An example would look like this:

smb://fredflinstone:wilma@bedrock/iP1000

Or, if there is no password for the account:

smb://barneyrubble@bedrock/iP1000

8. For the Printer Model, open the menu and select Canon. Then scroll down until you find the S800.
9. Click Add to add the printer.
10. Try a test print...

Hi Matt,

At this stage I would check that you can print to the iP1000 with your MacBook connected directly to it via USB. I would also test that you can print via USB using the Gutenprint driver. Note that when you connect the iP1000 to the MacBook, the Canon driver may automatically add the printer to your printer list, so you will have to manually add the Gutenprint queue. Note also that every time you select the printer in the Default Browser view, the Print Using menu will change to Canon IJ Printer. But you should be able to change the Print Using menu to the Gutenprint driver.

If you can print with the direct connection then we can concentrate on the network setup...

I am having the EXACT same issue. Until I installed the Gutenprint drivers, I could not even get the print job to show up in the Windows machine's queue. Now with the updated drivers, the job shows up but won't print.

By the way the instructions for accessing the command line are NOT correct for 10.4.10 Following the instructions to hold down the option key and click "more printers" results in a dialog box where you can browse the windows network and find the print server and the shared printer.

By the way, I am also using a Canon PIXMA i-series printer (the iP1800) but I doubt that is the problem.

There does not seem to be a way in 10.4.10 to change or update the username and password that is being passed to the PC. It prompted me the first time, and I accidently typed in the wrong credential. Even performing a reset on the printer utility does not cause it to re-prompt me for the credential. (however, I went into Finder-->Go--Connect to Server and used the correct credential to create a file share. The fact that I am actually able to put a print job into the wndows queue from the Mac despite it not re-prompting me for a new credential leads me to believe that the SMB connection may have solved that issue.

Still can't print, though!!

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

SBsyncro wrote:
By the way the instructions for accessing the command line are NOT correct for 10.4.10 Following the instructions to hold down the option key and click "more printers" results in a dialog box where you can browse the windows network and find the print server and the shared printer.

The instructions are correct. Sometimes the system doesn't recognise you holding down the option. When it does work, you will see the option you selected last view (in your case Windows Printing) and if you open this menu you will see Advanced.

There does not seem to be a way in 10.4.10 to change or update the username and password that is being passed to the PC.

It's not just 10.4.10. Previous systems have the same issue. That is why the Windows Printing via SAMBA is better, because you do have the ability to change the account details if they change.

If the Gutenprint S800 driver doesn't work for you then I would trial the PrintFab application. They don't list the 1800, but there is the 1700 which may work for you.

I am able to print flawlessly when connected directly to the printer via USB.

I have spent hours now trolling message boards trying to figure out this problem, and none of the solutions I have read seem to work (including the instructions on this board...)

So were you able to find Advanced and then use Windows Printing via SAMBA?

Pahu,
Picking up on your thread i have similar problems trying to print over a home wireless network from an Intel macbook 10.4.10 to a HP Deskjet 6980 attached an XP machine by usb.

I can print if I attach the printer via usb direct to the macbook. I note printer defaults to the official HP driver 3.3 supplied on cd with the printer. Usb does not work with the open source foomatic/hpijs driver i downloaded. When I re-connect printer to xp machine via usb and try to print wirelessly official HP driver is not available to select and foomatic/hpijs does not work

How can i select the official driver when setting up printer attached to xp machine via USB?
Or am i doing something wrong in setting up printer. Have tried your instructions with Samba as well as usual non samba method but no joy. Any further ideas gratefully received,
Regards,
Jon

Hello Jon,

If the HP driver is anything like the Canon PIXMA drivers, you won't be able to select the official HP driver, as it won't have been written to work across this type of network. Based on other postings I have read, you also won't be able to use one of the Gutenprint offerings so you will have to try to get the hpijs driver working. You mention that USB doesn't work but what happens when you try to use this driver when connecting to the SMB share?

Message was edited by: PAHU