Mac printing Issues

[D_L_P]

I had some trouble setting up some Mac's (OS10.4) to print today to their Canon ir3035. I can print fine with my laptop and crossover cable. The 1st Mac I eventually got to print and selected the right Canon PS PPD, but the pop-up for the PPD setup never came up. I couldn't add the finisher or other drawers to the PPD. The problem is when you go to print there isn't any place to select a drawer, duplex or stapling options. I edited the PPD for an older Mac (OS 7 or 8) once, but I just had to change the text from finisher= "not" installed to installed. I opened this PPD and it was a pretty big file and I didn't see where to change the finishing options. So I tried installing the UFRII driver. After I plug in the IP address and queue name and click "ADD" it just freezes up. So I ran out of time and just left it where they have the basic print function. Anyone know which line in the PPD refers to the finisher or optional cassettes?

On the other Mac, when I added the printer and selected the PPD the PPD setup came up and I added the finisher and other drawers. However, it won't print. I can't even ping the copier. This is a laptop connected through a "Airport". Normally, I wouldn't go any further since this is not a copier issue. But this is a satellite lawyers office with no IT support except the insurance guy next door. I can get to the internet and ping the other Mac, at least one of its IP addresses. The Mac desktop has 2 ip's, one for the LAN and one for the wireless (airport). I can't get the laptop's IP address because this pop-up about "network settings have changed" comes up as soon as I open the network settings and will not go away no matter how many times I click ok. I didn't know the terminal command to get it either. Anyway, I think the problem is is they have both the Linksys and Airport acting as a DHCP server, when the Linksys should be the DHCP server and the airport should just be configured as a switch. The network is just a Roadrunner cable modem, Linksys router,and the Airport. I don't have the passwords to either and the Secretary there is nice, but clueless. Any ideas??

[Stirton.M]

And my co-workers always ask me why I absolutely despise Macs and all the crap they give with the so called easy to work with BS. They are anything but.

Is there a particular reason these guys are using an airport? If they are hard wired to the linksys, disable the airport unless they have a mobile mac that periodically connects. I always insist Lawyers to NEVER use wireless in business environments. Even if they think it is ubersecure mac, they are WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG IWILLSUETHEIRASSES WRONG!

All it takes is one talented, pimply faced brat with a lot of time and some creative hacking and they can gain entry with Airport or other wireless.

Disabling the wireless will eliminate one of your problems. The copier I assume is also connected to the linksys.

Use TCP/IP. Stay away from apple talk, it is a noisy busy bandwidth of a hog crap protocol.

See the attached file for a sample instruction on how to install printers on Mac. It is meant for a Fiery controller on a Konica Minolta machine, but the process of installing the basic PPD and subsequent driver setups are pretty much the same for any printer on a mac. There is information on which folder the PPD must go, along with the different network options you may face, including that POS airport.

[D_L_P]

Thanks, that PDF was helpful.
I would like them to get rid of the airport too. The reason they have it is for the laptop and the insurance agency next door. Weird thing is when I setup the laptop and tried to print, nothing came out AND it knocked the airport offline. Because then I couldn't print from the desktop which had just been printing and they came over from next door and said their internet had gone out. After they rebooted everything I had to change the ip from 192.168.0.xxx to 10.0.1.xxx to get it to print from the desktop, and still nothing from the laptop.

So the laptop can't see the copier and the desktop has some HP version of PS installed.

Of course HP assumes there will only ever be ONE cassette and size of paper so they can't pick the 2nd drawer with letterhead or duplex or staple. No matter what PPD (guetenprint, PS, generic) I use the print dialog box just gives you 2 options, which printer you want and how many copies, thank you HP . I tried installing Canon"s print driver (UFRII) which just locks up.

Yeah, I see what you mean about Mac's being anything but easy to work with.

[Stirton.M]

I wonder if there is a conflict between addresses. Like most network devices, routers and (airport) usually have their own default set of IP addresses they assign.

For example, I have a dlink that connects to my cable modem. The dlink has an address range that starts at 192.168.0.100 on up for any device that connects to it. The dlink gets its IP address from the cable modem and resolves a DNS routing table from the modem to allow connected computers to navigate the web. If I set up a second dlink downstream, I have to first configure it to use a different range. The subnet and gateway can remain the same, but I would have to use an assigned address range that goes beyond the address range of likely connected devices. Mine is a 4 port device, so including the second router, the first would assign addresses from 100 to 103. My second router should start adding addresses at 104, instead of the default 100, else I will have a conflict. This is especially important if a large switch is part of that group. Or I could configure it as a dumb router. One or the other as the case may be.

I suspect that there is a possibility the airport is configured using default address range that conflicts with the Lynksys, which I think uses a default range 192.168.1.100 and up. Might be worth while to investigate that. And ensure the copier is not in a range that could also conflict. I typically use a range that is outside the assigned range, usually, in my above example, 192.168.0.99.

As for the HP and Cannon, I am not versed in those devices network wise, so I cannot help you much beyond this, aside from recommending you remove the PPD you do not need and install the one you do need.

[D_L_P]

Just an update, I got the desktop going by adding it through the LPD setup and it has the finishing options now. When you print the finishing options are BURIED on a Mac, Layout>printer features> then there's Paper/Finishing 1/Finishing 2/Quality.
The Laptop he just had to reconfigure the router so they are both on the same IP scheme.