Ask Jacob

I use the Apple Airport base stations for this. They share a printer with Macs and PCs, but you need to install Bonjour on the Windows system.

Look at the Airport express if you just have wireless computers in the house. If some computers have to have an Ethernet connection, the AirPort Extreme is the one you want.

- Jacob

When trouble shooting the Mac printing system it is often best to reset the Printer preferences and install the latest T634 drivers.

If after that your laser printer still waists a page with a single line. It probably has to do with your Page Margins in the word processor you are printing from. You may need to adjust the header/footer spacing options so less text is assigned to each page.
- Jacob

Until recently we used a 2100TN as a primary printer here at PowerMax. We still have a 2200DN in use in our returns department. It is hard to kill those HP Laser Jets and if speed is not an determining factor, the old units can still hold their own. The main thing is to make sure to have the printers connected to your network via Ethernet and then add them as AppleTalk printers. You can also add them as a LPR printer if you assign them fixed IP addresses on your network. The nice thing about the JetDirect internal print servers is they have had their firmware kept up-to-date by HP and they have a nice web interface. HP still sells legacy parts if your printers are missing the JetDirect module (J3111-69001).

Here’s Apple’s support page on adding a printer to your printer list in OSX.

One potential problem could be with the router you are using. Some routers will block AppleTalk traffic. You should check your router’s website to see if AppleTalk is a supported protocol. If it is not supported then you may need to setup the printers as LPR printers.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

I love Text Edit because it is basically what the word processor once was. You can achieve larger type in a few ways, but probably the best method is to highlight the text and use the [command] and [+] keys on your Apple computer to increase the font size. It is also helpful to see what the page will look like when printed without having to do a print preview. To achieve this view change, you will need to go to Text Edit’ preferences. Under the New Document tab, in the format section, select “Rich text” and “Wrap to page.” Optionally, in the options section you can choose to “Show ruler,” for that true word processor feel. Open a new window and copy your text into that new window. Then just start adjusting your text size with the key combination above or the Font pop-out menu found in the Format menu.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

I think you will have to rely on the open source community to find a suitable print driver for your Apple computers OS X. Here is a link to the Linux Foundation’s OpenPrinting for MacOSX downloads.

If that does not work or you are still looking for a new printer, I love the monochrome HP laser printers. The little HP LJ P1005 is the perfect desktop sized laser printer that still has the HP quality print engine.

Printing in Classic has many problems because it is an emulated environment, but not in a traditional way. There is a good chance this will not work and also any new printer you buy may not have OS 9 print drivers; even HP, which are still great printers. In those situations you have another option. Open Chooser from the Classic Apple Menu. If you do not see the rainbow-colored Classic Apple menu, just start an OS 9 application and it will appear. In the left side of the Chooser window double click on LaserWriter 8 and close the window. Now when you go to print from your OS 9 applications you will get the LaserWriter 8 Print screen. Change the Destination pulldown menu to “File” and then the Format pulldown menu to “EPS Mac Standard Preview.” Click on the Save button and save the EPS file to your desktop. The Preview application that is included in OS X will open that EPS and let you print it from there. It is an extra step but works with 90% of the hard Classic printing jobs I encounter.

Hope that helps. In regards to the game recommendations, a desire for continued employment has kept me from discovering such things. I have know many people who have Dashboard Widgets that will give you your Mac mini-game fix. http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/

Something for you to try is resetting your printing system. You do this by opening the Printer Setup Utility: it’s in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. Then under the Printer Setup Utility Menu, select “Reset Printing System.” That will take your system back to square one, in terms of printers, but then all you’ll need to do is add the printer again. You should not need to reinstall the Epson software. You may want to restart the computer in between resetting the printing system and adding your printer.

The difference between those three versions of printer has much more to do with software than hardware. The Portrait series of printers from Epson includes ExpressDigital’s Darkroom Core Edition, but that software is only compatible with Windows XP Pro. Mac users should not consider the Portrait models from Epson. Now the Professional version will be a good option for Mac-based pro print houses that need RIP (raster image processing) software. The Standard version is compatible with most RIP software, but you have to bring your own or use a program that does not need third party RIP software.The price difference is mostly based on additional software licensing and not hardware acceleration.

Although there are several devices that will share printers on a network, my current favorite is the New AirPort Extreme base station. Not only will it share printers and hard drives, it will also act as a gigabit router.

Apple Airport Extreme Station

You can connect many printers to the base station’s USB port via a USB hub and have them all simultaneously shared. The complication will come from the HP Color LaserJet 1600 printer. It is not Mac compatible and probably won’t work on the base station. That printer may need to be connected to your HP desktop and shared from the Windows printer-sharing feature. It may turn out that the LJ1600 will one day be supported–you might even find that it does work when connected to the base station now, but there is no guarantee.

Here is a link to printers that have been tested to work with Apple’s wireless printer sharing equipment:
Click Here for details.

It is not an official list, but can be helpful. If you already have an investment in good networking equipment then the base station may not be the best solution because of the expense added to your network. In that case, you can always use the OS X printer-sharing feature to share the other two printers. The option is in the System Preferences in the Sharing section. It is limited, but would work as a low cost option.

The most effective way to troubleshoot a printing problem like yours is to reset your printing system on the Mac. Mac OS X uses a central printer system to control all printers and sometimes it gets fouled up. You can get to the printing system through the Printer Setup Utility application. It is located in the Utilities folder that is inside the Applications folder. Under the Printer Setup Utility menu, select “Reset Printing System.” Next click on the Reset button and enter your password when prompted. All your printers in the list will disappear. You can now add your printer back to the list. Click on the Add button and select your printer from the list. Wait for a few moments and then click on the Add button at the end of the list. You should now see your printer in the main Printer List. Close Printer Setup Utility and try printing something.

We too use the HP 2200 in our office and have had great success with them, but we do go to HP’s website and download Mac OS X print driver updates. I would have you start there at first but I do not think that alone will solve the problem. Something to look at is the orientation of your paper in Page Setup. You may be printing a document formatted to print horizontal on a page but not changing the settings for the printer. In each application you are printing from go to “Page Setup” under the File menu. In there try changing the “Orientation” from vertical to horizontal or the reverse of that if it is already set to horizontal. Also in that same window make sure you have US Letter selected as your Page Size.

The website problem has more to do with the browser support of that website than your Mac, but it will be easier for your Mac to adjust then for the website to be rewritten. A first step is to try a different browser. I would recommend keeping a copy of Firefox on your computer when you encounter this problem. You can get a copy for free here: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/. If the page looks the same in Firefox as it does in Safari, then you can try to adjust the size of the text displayed. In Safari’s View menu are two options, “Make Text Bigger” and “Make Text Smaller.” Make the text smaller until it looks right to you and then print.

The problem you describe seems like a “Page Setup” problem. When the problem is only with one program and a variety of printer models, it is almost always a Page Setup issue. Under the File menu in Mail is Page Setup. When you select it you will see a standard Page Setup Window that looks the same in near every application. It is important that you make the changes to the Mail Page Setup because although they all look alike the settings are different for each application. The “Format for” should be set to “Any Printer,” “Paper Size” should be set to “US Letter,” and the “Orientation” should be set to the left most icon with the man standing straight. Scale is often set to 100% but can be less. Click OK after you make those changes and try to print. If the problem persists then something could have been changed with the US Letter settings. Go back to Page Setup and select “Manage Custom Sizes” from the Paper Size pull down Menu. In the Custom Paper Sizes window, click on the “+” button. That will make a new page setting. Set the width to 8.50 in and the height to 11.00 in and then double click on the untitled name of your custom page. Name it something you would remember. Now click OK and then select your new custom page from the Paper Size pull down menu. Click OK and then try printing again.

If both those suggestions do not work try downloading the latest print drivers for your printer. Good luck and I hope you are able to print this email.

I hear this question often because many printer companies no longer provide support for Mac OS 9 on new printers. There is, however, a work around. HP and some other network printers support OS 9 computers over the network, although they do not say so. That means you can buy an HP printer with built in networking support and add the printer in OS 9 as a Generic Postscript printer. HP printers with an “n” in the model number will be a networked printer. Not all of them support Postscript printing and the ones that do tend to cost more, somewhere in the $300 to $500 range. Two printers that I have heard work well with OS 9 are the LaserJet 1320n and P2015n. Call into our sales line for up-to-date pricing and availability (800.844.3599).

Adding a printer can be a simple process, provided that Mac OS X has built-in drivers for it. In the Utilities folder within the Applications folder is the “Printer Setup Utility.” Start up that utility and click on the “Add” button. The “Printer Browser” will open and show you a list of many of the available printers on the network or directly connected to the computer. Find the printer you want in the list and click once on it. Wait for the Add button in the lower right hand corner of the window to turn from grey to black and then click it. That should add your printer to the master list of printers and will set it as your default printer. If you have trouble seeing a networked printer (one connected to the network and not the computer) and you use an ethernet network then try turning off your Airport. Having two active networks can cause problems.. It may not be necessary, but having an updated printer driver can help take full advantage of a printer’s features.. Before adding your printer, try downloading the latest Mac OS X driver from the manufacturer’s website and install it. Then when you add the printer through the utility it will use the most recent driver..Hope that gets you printing.

Most HP inkjet printers have the same method of printing to envelopes or 4X6 (postcard) paper, even the all-in-one printers. On the top of the paper tray is a plastic cover the printed pages land on after the printer kicks them out. In that plastic tray is a small slit on the back right corner. There is often an envelope icon next to it. Insert your envelope or 4X6 into the slot with the print side facing down. The left side of the slot will have a spring guide that will push the paper to the right side of the slit. Keep inserting the paper until it stops firmly, about four inches in. Now you are ready to print. I would recommend finding the latest driver from HP for your printer and installing it. The driver on the CD is most likely old and due for an update. After installing the driver you should re-link to your printer. Click on desktop once and then click on the “Go” menu. In the Go menu click on “Utilities.” In the Utilities folder double click on “Printer Setup Utility.” From Printer Setup Utility click once on your printer and click the “Delete” button. Next click on the Add button and re-add your printer. Deleting and adding your printer after a driver update will ensure you are using the new print driver. You should be ready to print now. Select print from iPhoto for a test and change the “Paper:” to 4×6 Postcard. You may have additional options under 4×6 Postcard for borderless or perforated tab printing. It may take a few attempts to find the right settings.

The good news is that HP printers are well supported in Mac OS X. This includes your printer as seen here. http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/printers.html. The bad news is that you will need to add a connection to the printer to get it viewable by modern Macs. Using an external print server would be the best option. HP makes a Jetdirect product that should work, or choose a router with a built in Parallel printer port. The other bad news is this option is troublesome to setup and, in most cases, is slow at printing. The effort and hardware expense could justify a new printer.

As for your Perfection 1200S scanner, it will not be compatible. As you know the 1200″S” is a SCSI model. I have not found a reliable SCSI to USB adapter and you have no PCI slots in an iMac. So the scanner cannot make the move over to the new system. This could be an opportunity to buy a good multi-function printer/scanner instead of spending money on hardware to make your older peripherals work with your new computer. Good luck!