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The easiest solution would be to network the computers and access the printer through the network via the IP address using the Print Center in OSx.
Oh, they're networked. That was the first thing we made sure of -- that OSX would play nice with our previously all-Windows network. (And it does -- we hadn't had it plugged in ten seconds, and it was all, "Oh, you have a network? Let me go online for you!")
I should probably just figure out what the printer's IP address is. It's not something I've had to look for before.
SA, our network's name is Aurelius, so all the computers have vampire names. Mine's Dru, the old laptop is Spike, and the Tivo is Darla.
You're close to getting the Ultimate Buffista Geek Award of the Month for that.
So the printer needs to be named Penn.
So the printer needs to be named Penn.
Ah, perfect! But I still can't get the Mac to see it. I was told at Tekserve that if it were a USB printer, I'd have no problem, but a serial printer might be tricky.
When I look at it on my own computer, it's telling me that the printer is shared. But it doesn't show up on the Mac at all. Grrr.
[link]
Might help. Apparently XP SP2 breaks something.
[link]
Another one.
Apparently XP SP2 breaks something.
Oh, I'm shocked.
Thanks, I'll check those out.
[edit: Okay, it's now claiming to see the printer, but when I tried to print a test page, it spat out pages and pages of gibberish.* It doesn't look like my printer's officially supported by OSX, so I'll have to install some extra drivers.]
[edit again: *Which, obviously, means that it is seeing the printer, and communicating with it, just not very well.]
Aaaaaaand, it works!
Poking around those sites, it looks like HP printers are known to be particularly troublesome in mixed-OS networks. But it's printing what I'm asking for now, albeit slowly, so I'm not complaining.
Yay printing!
Well, now that it works, you have some leisure for us or yourself to come up with a better solution.
Is it a laser printer? Try a generic postscript driver, maybe?
Try a generic postscript driver, maybe?
That's what I had at first, when it was printing out the gibberish. It's an HP Officejet G55 (HP doesn't make them anymore, and Panther doesn't officially support any of the Officejet line). Calling it an HP Deskjet 900 seems to be the preferred solution, and the one that worked.
SA, our network's name is Aurelius, so all the computers have vampire names. Mine's Dru, the old laptop is Spike, and the Tivo is Darla.
That is freakin' awesome. And congrats on your new job, by the way.
