Mac and printer cables?

Mike Rosenberg wrote:

> That HP OfficeJet Pro 1170C _is_ supported by GutenPrint, though:
>
> http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.php3
>
> Since the GutenPrint driver comes preinstalled on new Macs she should at
> least be able to print. Using it as a scanner, though, is another
> story, and it is _not_ listed as working with the VueScan scanner
> driver.

That's good to know, thanks.

--
Nige Danton
 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

In article
,
Nige Danton wrote:

> At my encouragement a friend has replaced her elderly windows system
> at home with a MacBook - and she's delighted with it - so that's a
> success.
>
> Now she wants to connect the Mac to her HP Office Jet Pro 1170. It's a
> fairly old all in one printer that works perfectly. She needs a
> printer cable with a USB connection for the Mac - but her local shop
> has told her the *cable* won't work with the Mac - can this be right?

There should be no problem with the USB cable; however, there may be an
issue with the driver for hat printer. The HP site does not offer a Mac
driver so if the printer is not recognized byt the Mac, she may be out
of luck.


>
> I'm away these days and so cannot help her to get this working - is
> there going to be a problem printing from the Mac with this printer?
>
> Any advice appreciated, thanks.
>
> --
> Nige Danton

--
Tom Stiller

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

Tom Stiller wrote:

> There should be no problem with the USB cable; however, there may be an
> issue with the driver for hat printer. The HP site does not offer a Mac
> driver so if the printer is not recognized byt the Mac, she may be out
> of luck.

That HP OfficeJet Pro 1170C _is_ supported by GutenPrint, though:

http://gutenprint.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.php3

Since the GutenPrint driver comes preinstalled on new Macs she should at
least be able to print. Using it as a scanner, though, is another
story, and it is _not_ listed as working with the VueScan scanner
driver.

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

Mike Rosenberg wrote:

> Since the GutenPrint driver comes preinstalled on new Macs she should at
> least be able to print.

And, of course, she'd be able to download it anyway even if it weren't
installed.

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:01:34 -0500, Nige Danton wrote:

> Now she wants to connect the Mac to her HP Office Jet Pro 1170. It's a
> fairly old all in one printer that works perfectly. She needs a
> printer cable with a USB connection for the Mac - but her local shop
> has told her the *cable* won't work with the Mac - can this be right?

According to http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bpu01627&lc=en&cc=...dlc=en&
it uses a Parallel IEEE 1284 bidirectional interface cable, so the
shop is correct, that a usb cable isn't going to work.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

David W. Hodgins wrote:

> it uses a Parallel IEEE 1284 bidirectional interface cable, so the
> shop is correct, that a usb cable isn't going to work.

Ah, then she needs a parallel-to-USB adapter cable. They shop person
should have said that a USB cable won't work with the _printer_, not the
Mac, and it's odd that he didn't know that proper cables exist.

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

David W. Hodgins nagli:
> On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:01:34 -0500, Nige Danton wrote:
>
>> Now she wants to connect the Mac to her HP Office Jet Pro 1170. It's a
>> fairly old all in one printer that works perfectly. She needs a
>> printer cable with a USB connection for the Mac - but her local shop
>> has told her the *cable* won't work with the Mac - can this be right?
>
> According to http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bpu01627&lc=en&cc=...dlc=en&
> it uses a Parallel IEEE 1284 bidirectional interface cable, so the
> shop is correct, that a usb cable isn't going to work.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
That's IEE 1284 (alias LPT):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Parallel_comp...r_print


If there is on the printer case USB port then USB cable is right.

Question is.
Is that port for printer?
You must check

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

Wieslaw Kierbedz wrote:

> If there is on the printer case USB port then USB cable is right.
>
> Question is.
> Is that port for printer?
> You must check

Um, David provided an HP URL indicating that the printer has just a
parallel port, no USB. This was in the very post you responded to, and
you even quoted it in your reply.

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

Wieslaw Kierbedz wrote:

> That's IEE 1284 (alias LPT):

According to Wikipedia, it's IEEE 1284, commonly also called "parallel"
or "LPT", not IEE 1284.

And IEEE 1394 is known commonly as FireWire (Apple) or iLink (Sony).

Christian

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 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

Nige Danton wrote:

> At my encouragement a friend has replaced her elderly windows system
> at home with a MacBook - and she's delighted with it - so that's a
> success.
>
> Now she wants to connect the Mac to her HP Office Jet Pro 1170. It's a
> fairly old all in one printer that works perfectly. She needs a
> printer cable with a USB connection for the Mac - but her local shop
> has told her the *cable* won't work with the Mac - can this be right?

If it has a USB plug on it, the cable will work fine with any Mac made
in the last decade. The salesperson must be rather out of date.

Whether that particular printer model has a Mac driver is a more
interesting question.

Officially, HP doesn't support the Mac for that printer. This means that
they don't supply a driver for it.

At least with Mac OS X 10.5 (current), there is a generic third-party
driver included with the operating system which should allow that
printer to work. It might not be able to use all the features of the
printer, but it should give basic printing support.

I don't have a 10.4 system handy to check, but I expect that it also
included a generic third-party driver for that printer.

If the OfficeJet has features other than printing (scanning, faxing from
the computer) it is less likely that those features will be available
from Mac OS X.

The best option would be to use this as an interim solution and look to
eventually replace the printer with a more modern one that is fully
supported on the Mac.

--
David Empson
dempson RemoveThis @actrix.gen.nz
 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

Mike Rosenberg nagli:
> Wieslaw Kierbedz wrote:
>
>> If there is on the printer case USB port then USB cable is right.
>>
>> Question is.
>> Is that port for printer?
>> You must check
>
> Um, David provided an HP URL indicating that the printer has just a
> parallel port, no USB. This was in the very post you responded to, and
> you even quoted it in your reply.
>
I guess that Nige did not see that printer.
And you are right - it propably has no USB port.
If HP does not lie (what for).
And the last - in that case parallel->USB adapter is the only way.
You are right at all. WOW

--
WK
 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

On Jan 11, 4:39 am, demp... DeleteThis @actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

> The best option would be to use this as an interim solution and look to
> eventually replace the printer with a more modern one that is fully
> supported on the Mac.

Exactly right, that's our plan. Although part of her reluctance in
replacing the printer is that it works perfectly and has been very
reliable for a huge volume of printing. She, like me, is reluctant to
essentially discard something that in itself works perfectly. If she
can get the printer working with the mac she can still use the
scanning functions by plugging it back into her old windows machine.
As the scanning requirements are much less than printing, hopefully
that will not be too much of a faff.

Thanks for all the input.

--
Nige Danton
 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables? 

On Jan 13, 12:59 pm, demp... RemoveThis @actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

> Having read other replies, I'm concerned about this alleged USB
> interface.
>
> If the printer only has a parallel port, you would need a USB to
> Parallel adapter, and in that case you need to carefully select one that
> is supported on the Mac.
>
> The default cable offered by her local shop might actually be one of
> these but they don't think it works on a Mac (or they don't know), which
> might explain the confusion.

Oh, didn't realise there are different types parallel to USB adaptor
cables. That does seem to complicate matters. She's going back to the
shop tomorrow to buy the cable. I'll report back with the results.

Thanks.

--
Nige Danton
 >> Stay informed about: Mac and printer cables?