Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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I've got a very specific situation I'm trying to fix/set up for someone.
The In-A-Nutshell/Cliff's Notes Summary I'm trying to get an HP Photosmart C6380 wireless printer (badged "wireless" on the printer itself) to be available to a Gateway laptop and HP netbook, both running Windows 7 and a 15" MacBook Pro running Lion. The Gory Details The existing Windows machines have been out this house and the way it seems to be working for them is that the printer is connected to the 15" Gateway via USB. Yet the tiny little HP netbook can "see" this and print, wirelessly, from the other side of the house to this printer. The 15" Gateway, however, has to be on/awake for this to happen, and that's just not always practical or convenient. What I Want To Do I want all three laptops in this household (two PCs, one Mac) to be able to print, wirelessly, to this one printer (Lion does support it and I've already installed the drivers, it sees it and I can print perfectly from it while connected via USB). They do have a WiFi setup and the WiFi router (a Netgear N600 WNDR3400) is located on the same desk as the printer. It has three remaining Ethernet ports (and the printer has an Ethernet port, FWIW). How would I go about this? I know it can be done, right? All three devices print fine to this one printer, either wired/USB, or, in the case of the little HP netbook, somehow going through the 15" Gateway where the printer is hardwired to via USB currently. I just need to get it to where this one printer is shared/available to all three of these laptops. I done this sort of thing in a Mac-only environment, using Apple AirPort devices and hardware, but I'm up a tree with all this other stuff because I'm now dealing with two Windows 7 laptops, an HP "wireless" AIO printer and a Netgear router. I don't know what in the hell I'm doing, or where to even start. Anyone with serious knowledge/expertise in such a mixed setup have any help or suggestions to offer? I'm flying blind here... |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Basically your best bet is to wire connect the printer to the network using the ethernet cable. This means it works easier and doesn't have as many outages that can happen with wifi dropping.
Otherwise you connect the printer to the router via wifi. You need to program the printer with the network settings though. The thing is you are making it a network printer. Then all the different machines on the network will be able to print to it. It is it's own print server. I can't walk you through the specific steps, but that's the general of what you are looking to do. Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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The instructions in this HP manual are confusing, and seem to contradict your recommended approach.
Just so I'm clear, I can connect the printer to the Netgear wifi router using this Ethernet cable. But the computers themselves will be accessing wirelessly (the whole point of having laptops untethered throughout the house). Here in the HP manual, it seems to show setup for a wired network OR a wireless one, with the diagrams for each showing the printer AND computers connected to the hub with cables, or the other approach with nothing (printer or computers) physically connected to the hub...all showing those little "radio wave" graphics from each device. And from the manual: Quote:
Just confused about what constitutes, and is being included, in the network description. Can I hardwire the printer to the Netgear router via Ethernet (wired), yet have the three laptops wirelessly accessing it? I would think so, but blatant instructions for that aren't in this manual. And the Netgear manual is even more indecipherable jargon. Too bad Steve couldn't have "cracked" this sort of pain-in-the-ass procedure. I don't give a crap about TV, but I would love any sort of setup/configuration involving non-Apple hardware to be as easy as AirPort or other Mac setups. I swear this stuff is more convoluted and complex than it needs to be. I'll be screwing with this half the day, I'm sure. |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Right, you're only connecting the printer to the wired network. All other devices (laptops, desktops etc..) will connect to the printer via the network. Don't let the fact they they connect to the network with a wireless connection get you, that's not relevant to you being able to print.
Yeah, it's not very clear about how they do this. Just think of it as a network printer and printing to a network device. Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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Thanks. I finally seemed to get it all straightened out about 45 minutes ago, using the HP wireless setup "wizard". It seemed to do most of the work/configuring for me, which was needed.
But I've got all machines still getting online, plus they're all printing wirelessly to this printer (and accessing the full functions like scanning and all), so I think I was able to pull it off, even flying half-blind. Fingers crossed. When they get home tonight, I'm sure it'll all fall to pieces the minute one of them tries to print something important. If it wasn't for that automated wizard/step-by-step walkthrough, I'd be in a serious pickle because this sort of thing isn't my bag, baby. Like I said, I can do (and have done) it with Macs and AirPort-based hardware...they make it really easy. But when you toss Windows, a big, full-featured HP printer (they have the most awful controls/interface I've ever seen) and this Netgear router, all stuff I have ZERO experience in dicking around with, it's quite a challenge. Nothing is friendly or obvious...even the installs/configuration. I'm used to progress bars that generally show how long something will take (and is taking, even with a countdown of some sort). On this, I was just getting these random "swipes" of progress indicators going side-to-side, with no indication that a) something was actually being done, b) how long it was taking or c) how long it had left. It was just pretty colors zipping around, sideways. Real helpful, Windows/HP (not sure who to blame here, so I'll nail both...the graphics/design of it looked Windows-y). You're just kinda left there to sit and stare and "hope for the best". And in two instances, the installer contradicted itself by installing, and then configuring, something that it later deemed "incorrect" or "missing". I need a drink. It's not even noon and I feel like I've been in a fight. Briefly considered going and buying them a few spiral notebooks and a pack of Bic pens and saying "if you need a hardcopy of something, just write it down." |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Glad you could get it working. I used to deal with customers all the time trying to get this setup working. The manufacturers aren't very clear about it.
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