Wireless use of Multi-function printer/fax/scanner/copy machines

Hi Lorne,

I've got a HP 2575 and print to it using a bluetooth dongle as the printer and my router are some distance apart and I don't want to have to plug in USB every time I want to print. The dongle is a HP one that I got with the printer as part of a package but you can pick one up for less than £20. Have used to print pictures and text using various programs iphoto, safari, appleworks, textedit without any probs. The transfer on bluethooth is not as fast as USB or some other direct connection when printing photos but not really a problem as I tend to keep an eye on things when printing photos anyway. Text is no concern.

The only thing is that HP installs alot of software by default which you might not use and it just sits on your system. As part of installing the printer it will need connecting to your computer or router so that they can 'see' eachother but once that is done you can create a new device in your bluetooth settings and use that every time you want to print and you can 'hide' the wired profile (that is set up on installation) if you want.

Apologies if this sounds a bit vague but once I'd sussed this in the first few days of using the printer haven't had to think about it much since.


Ibook G4 1.42 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Would you foresee any problem in connecting different computers to this printer in different ways. I'm thinking along the lines of connecting a macbook via bluetooth but 2 pcs running XP via the wireless link through a netgear router

Stu,

I would have thought that as long as all the computers have the printer installed on them, the correct drivers for each OS etc then they should be able to print to it as you'll be setting each of the three machines to print by its particular route, via ethernet or blutooth. The windows will 'know' to print via wireless access and the mac via blutooth.

There may be issues around print queues if they all requested to print at the same time. Perhaps a print server (wireless or other wise) would assist with this? In my response to Lorne a wireless print server might also be an option although I have never used one.

Also if the printer was connected to the router then there would be no one computer that the printer 'belonged' to, so potentially any user on any of the three machines could change print settings etc which may cause problems if some one is printing say a photo and someone else just wants to print off some text etc. Having said this it negates having to leave one machine left 'on' in order for others to print like a shared printer.

This is more an educated 'guess' and it would be well worth checking out some other postings not just to do with printers but with networking Windows and Mac.

Hope this helps.

Ibook G4 1.42 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6) Ipod 30GB

Thanks for that but it sounds a little more money than I want to invest. I currently have Dell all-in-one that works fine but isn't Mac compatible so I only realy want to replace the printer with an economic outlay.

I notice that the HP7210 is mac/pc compatible. Doing away with the idea of running the printer through my router and hoping it might work, would the printer be 100% functional from the mac if it were shared through the pc running xp. I suppose it's a case of whether the mac contains the drivers for the printer or whether they are available from HP