Getting PC to print to Jetdirect 300x/HP5mp over ethernet?

Note: I SHOULD have entitled my question "Getting Macs & PCs to print to HP Jetdirect 300X/HP 5MP with TCP/IP?"

I have all the devices on the network set up with addresses of 169.254.xxx.xxx and subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. I gave the PC and both the Laser printer's servers static TCP/IP addresses. There is currently no router in the network, so the Macs are apparently setting themselves to one of these addresses each time they are booted up.

I can print from all 3 of the OS X Macs and from the PC to a Brother Laser (the Brother software set up everything almost automatically!), but I can't get the PC to print to the HP Jetdirect 300X/HP 5MP Laser over the Ethernet connection. The Macs appear to be connecting to the Jetdirect only via Appletalk over Ethernet. (I tried turning off Appletalk, but the Jetdirect seems to be broadcasting the fact that it is Appletalk compatible to the Macs, and the Macs are not recognizing the Jetdirect via TCP/IP either which may be a problem for the Macs too if Apple eliminates Appletalk as they have tried to do in the past).

The documentation "Administrator's Guide" for the Jetdirect is written in administrator-ese and the HP software web-administrator software (HP Web Jetadmin) is apparently only compatible with Windows XP Professional (we don't have this) and not XP Home Edition. (Brother's software is compatible with XP Home Edition and Macs) There are no step-by-step instructions for "the rest of us". I am sure I am missing a step or two. I am thinking I must need to set up the printer queues for the Jetdirect manually. (Am I supposed to configure for LPD printing? I guess I will try that and see if it works.) HP apparently assumes that only corporate administrators would ever want to use the Jetdirect 300X server, as there is no "Ordinary User's Guide For The Rest Of Us" that I can find online. I can't find the "Quick Start Guide" on-line.

I am having to continue direct-connecting the PC to the HP 5MP with a parallel cable (bypassing the Jetdirect), which means I have to keep the HP Laser next to the PC when I would prefer to move it somewhere else. Since my significant other wants to get a PC notebook soon, I also don't know if I will be able to get that future PC set up to print to the HP 5MP Laser over my Airport Express which is connected to the laser printers via Ethernet (the Airport Express is not serving as a router).

(I will be getting a router whenever the cable company comes through and installs new cable to my neighborhood (thought that was going to happen soon, but have heard nothing lately). I suppose everything will change then and I will have to set up everything again differently. Sigh. Well, whenever I get this all figured out I guess I will know enough to be a network administrator.)

Now to try out "Configuring for LPD Printing". I will check about Port 9100 also.

Hello, Paul

I finally got it to work! Your answer above was not the solution I was looking for, but it did point me in the right direction to cut through the administrator jargon and to find the answer in the 300x 510x Administrator's Guide, pp 49-52.

(Your answer was going to continue to force me to continue to connect to the 300x through a parallel cable, which didn't gain me anything, and I didn't want to share the printer through the PC to the Macs either, when the 300x is a perfectly good server on its own.)

For anyone reading this who wants to know how to connect to the 300x from PCs over Ethernet, and from Macs over Ethernet WITHOUT using Appletalk, read on.

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For XP, of course, it was NOT necessary to install TCP/IP, as it was already there.

1. Verify that the Print Services for Unix is installed (required for LPR port availability):
a. Windows XP: Click Start, Control Panel, Network Connections.
b. Click the "Advanced" menu ans select "Optional Networking Components.
c. Select and enable "Other Network File and Print Services"
d. Click "Details" and verify that "Print Services for Unix" is enabled. If not, enable it. (I had to enable this for XP Home edition.)
e. Click "Okay" and then "Next".

2. Windows XP: Click Start, Control Panels, Printers and Faxes.

3. Select "Add Printer" from the sidebar. From the Add Printer Wizard welcome screen, click "Next"

4. Select "Local Printer" and disable automatic detection for Plug and Play printer installation. Click "Next".

5. Choose "Create a new port" and select "LPR Port". Click "Next".

6. In the "Add LPR compatible printer" window:
Enter the IP address of the Jetdirect 300x.
Enter (in lower case) "auto" for the name of the print queue. (if your printer supports auto language switching)
Then click "OK".

7. Select the Manufacturer and Printer model.

8. Choose to keep the existing driver. Click "Next".

9. Enter a printer name, and choose whether this printer will be the default printer. Click "Next".

10. Choose whether this printer will be available to other computers. If shared, enter a share name that identifies the printer to other users. Click "Next". (I did NOT choose to share the printer, as this PC tends to have continual virus and other problems and I don't want it to be on all the time.)

11. If desired, enter a location and other info. Click "Next".

12. Choose whether to print a test page, and click "Next".

13. Click "Finish" to close the wizard.

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After I had completed the above on the PC, it became obvious by analogy how to set up the OS 10.4 Macs using the "Printer Setup Utility".

1. Open "Printer Setup Utility" from Applications/Utilities.

2. Click "Add".

3. Choose "Line Printer Daemon - LPD" in the "Protocol" selection box.

4. Enter the TCP/IP address of the Jetdirect 300x in the "Address" field.

5. Enter "auto" (all lower case) in the "Queue" field.

6. Enter a name for the printer server/printer in the "Name" field.

7. Enter a location if desired (if you have more than one similar printer).

8. In the "Print Using" box, select the printer manufacturer, and then choose the model from the list of printers that then appears below. (to choose the correct PPD)

9. Click the "Add" button and you are done!

To check that the 300x server/laser printer was now truly set up as a TCP/IP printer, I turned off Appletalk, and I was finally, after 12 years, able to print to my printer without using Appletalk!!! Yay!