AirPrint on non supported (shared) printers-HowTo OS X 10.6.5 Build 10H574

Sonia,

I have just finished transferring from iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4S.

And found, to my disappointment that AirPrint, via AirPrintActivator, also produces half size printout.

I conclude from this that the anomoly must lie somewhere in my Restored iPhone settings (from 3GS to 4S).

To answer your question, every thing I have tried to print ends up half size, E-Mail, Notes, Web Pages, down loaded pdf documents, etc...

I am now planning to use up my stash of ink for my Epson TX400, and then buy an Epson NX430, AirPrint compatible. It is just not worth the effort to resolve this... For $100.00, I will have a WiFi, USB2.0 Printer, endorsed by Apple for AirPrint from iPhone, iPod, and iPad (most models).

This looks like quite a formidable Printer, refer: http://www.epson.com.au/products/multifunctional/StylusNX430.asp [Australia]

Robert.

It's possible to use free software (Virtualbox and Ubuntu) to fix the broken iOS 5 Airprint printing with non supported printers. Here's a fix that works on my imac, but should also work on even a windows pc.

My setup is a lion imac with 2 non-airprint supported usb printers attached, a belkin wifi router that provides network connectivity for my imac, ipad, and iphone.

Install ubuntu 11.10 in a virtualbox vm. Specify to use the "Bridged Adapter" with "en1: WiFi (AirPort)" for the network hardware. Make sure the imac's usb printers are setup with sharing. On ubuntu, select System Settings > Printers and add your imac's shared printers to the list. Then start ubuntu's firefox and set "localhost:631" in the address. On the administration tab, under the Server section, check "Share printers connected to this system" and hit Change Settings button to activate it. Go back to ubuntu's printer setup, and right click on each printer and check that the properties Policies tab does not have any messages about it being unshared. If so, then go back to firefox and make sure the Server sharing checkbox is enabled. It may help to reboot.

Fire up virtualbox to be able to use AirPort printing to your imac's usb printers, when you want to print from the iphone or ipad. This also works on iOS 5.

Only problem is error message from iphone to check the printer for errors, even though it actually prints ok.

It's possible to use free software (Virtualbox and Ubuntu) to fix the broken iOS 5 Airprint printing with non supported printers. Here's a fix that works on my imac, but should also work on even a windows pc.

My setup is a lion imac with 2 non-airprint supported usb printers attached, a belkin wifi router that provides network connectivity for my imac, ipad, and iphone.

Install ubuntu 11.10 in a virtualbox vm. Specify to use the "Bridged Adapter" with "en1: WiFi (AirPort)" for the network hardware. Make sure the imac's usb printers are setup with sharing. On ubuntu, select System Settings > Printers and add your imac's shared printers to the list. Then start ubuntu's firefox and set "localhost:631" in the address. On the administration tab, under the Server section, check "Share printers connected to this system" and hit Change Settings button to activate it. Go back to ubuntu's printer setup, and right click on each printer and check that the properties Policies tab does not have any messages about it being unshared. If so, then go back to firefox and make sure the Server sharing checkbox is enabled. It may help to reboot.

Fire up virtualbox to be able to use AirPort printing to your imac's usb printers, when you want to print from the iphone or ipad. This also works on iOS 5.

Only problem is error message from iphone to check the printer for errors, even though it actually prints ok.

this didnt work for me for some reason!!

Sahana-

I think Kay's suggestion applied to OS 10.6.5. If you are running that version of OS X and it did not work for you, there may be some other problem such as a WiFi router that does not correctly handle Bonjour data required by AirPrint.

OS 10.7 and 10.8 do not work like 10.6.5.. To get your Mac to share its printer as AirPrint with these newer systems, you will need a program like Printopia or FingerPrint. Both are reported to work well. <Printopia for Macintosh> <FingerPrint for both PC and Mac>

If I misinterstood your problem, I suggest you post a new question instead of replying to an old one.. This thread is over a year old, and many of the earlier participants may miss your comment.

Fred

How do i remove the printer