HP DeskJet 5940 - Windows network printing

Question

Level 1

0 points

HP DeskJet 5940 - Windows network printing

My HP DeskJet 5940 works instantly when connected using USB. The printer registers happily as an HP DeskJet 5900 Series and automatically uses HP 3.3 driver.

However, when the printer is connected to a Windows machine and I add the printer across the network (all fine and I can happily see the printer) I am asked to choose a driver. No problem, and I am presented with a PPDPicker window with with a massive list of printer models.

Except the HP DeskJet 5940 or a 5900 Series model is not there. How can this be when I know my computer has a driver for this printer and knows exactly what this printer is?

I have of course been to the HP site and downloaded the latest drivers. I have even tried installing all their stupid software but still this does not make the 5940 or the HP 3.3 driver appear in the list. There is an option to choose a driver manually but I have no idea where the driver would be on my computer?

In desperation I have tried selecting other HP printer models from the list and this enables me to print but the results are awful.

Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 7, 2009 1:10 AM

Reply

Answer 1

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

May 7, 2009 5:26 AM in response to luke_smith

There are two types of print driver on OS X (not like the situation on Windows, where a driver is a driver.), Carbon (legacy) type and CUPS (Apple calls it "modern") type. Brother is the only manufacturer so far to provide CUPS drivers. The "standard" network protocols in OS X are provided by CUPS, and they require a CUPS driver. So, you can't do Windows printing without a CUPS driver. Fortunately there are lots of open source CUPS drivers available.
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/macosx
Find out which your printer uses by going to the "Printers" section on the left.

Reply

Answer 2

luke_smith Author

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2009 7:12 AM in response to greg sahli

Thanks Greg. I was able to track down the driver on the site and the install packages made it really easy.

In the interest of completeness for anyone else with this issue, the HP DeskJet 5940 requires the 'hpijs' drivers. To get the drivers working you need to download and install 3 packages that can be found here: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/MacOSX/hpijs

Install them in the reverse order they are listed on the page as each one requires the other - Ghostscript then Foomatic then the hpijs driver. After installing all 3 packages the 5940 became available in the PPDPicker list as 'HP DeskJet 5940 Foolmatic/hpijs (recommended)'

Selecting that driver worked a treat and printing is working wonderfully.

Reply

Answer 3

May 7, 2009 7:41 AM in response to luke_smith

Holy sweet lord, thanks for this link, don't have an HP per se, but this is a great resource, as I'm sure problems with Windows printing will arise in the future, will keep this link saved in a safe place.

Reply