Wireless Printer

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gadgetgary

gadgetgary

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I use three

Two from Lexmark, one HP.
The Lexmarks were easy to set up and perform flawlessly.

The HP was and remains a fcuking nightmare in the network.

The HP performs perfectly, when it accepts print jobs. Every other week or so. It works least well with my Linux systems, not at all, ever, never with Vista since SP1 and sporadically before.

OK with XP.

Now, before anyone asks what this should have to do with a 802.1/g network, beats me.

Of course, if you like your current printer, there are wireless network adapters for PSC (even support ADF) from HP on the market. Interestingly enough, the one from HP a friend of mine has works perfectly. My folks used one from Linksys for two years and it was great, too.
 
Another approach . . .

I have a Buffalo wireless network hub connected to a Netgear router with a print server. The Netgear connects all the wired computers on the network while the Buffalo handles a notebook with wireless. Printers can be connected to the system in two ways: one at the Netgear print server and several to the network hubs. The latter must have their own network cards but the first one does not. I rarely use the wireless but when I do it works great: I can plot out a 36" x 48" drawing from my old HP plotter using the wireless.
 
Gary, Buy.com currently has the same printer for $75 + free shipping.

Keven is right about HP's drivers. Wherever you buy it from, make sure they have a decent return policy. :-)
 
Yeah,

It does seem to be a driver problem - when the HP works, it works great.

I was going to mention the MAC/os to wireless situation we have in my office at the university, but am not in the mood for the usual fanboy attacks this morning. It you are looking to run a heterogeneous network including MAC/os with a wireless printer, by all means email me. It can be done and it can work, but you have to pay attention to the details.

Of course, as has been mentioned above, there are many ways to solve this problem. For instance, if the printer is hooked up physically to one PC, and that PC has a normal connection to the wireless network, then any PC can print through it. That is a very easy solution. Many routers also have dedicated printer ports (their USB ports are not always standard).

In fact, before investing in a HP, I'd check all the options.

Oh, and yes, I can fax through my wireless network, too...on the Lexmarks. The HP refuses on all operating systems.
 
Keven

Thanks so much for all your information.

I bought the printer yesterday, hooked it up to my Linksys network. It stated that everything was fine, but, I could not get the printer to work at all.
After much frustration, I brought it back to Best Buy.

I have three computers, and two printers. I was hoping to hook all the computers up to one printer, and, to get rid of the separate fax machine.

What's next?

Hyradlique,

Thanks for the information on the Buffalo network.
Could this be a possibility for two laptops and a desktop?
 
Gary,

I think there are lots of folks here who can help you.

But, ok, here is how I hooked up my parents' printer-scanner-copier-fax to their network. Maybe this will help.

First, every computer IP-Radio and laptop using the wireless network at their house supports WPA-PKA security. They all are able to see each other and work with each other. All the Windows computers have passwords to log-in when you start Windows as that resolves some weird network problems with file sharing.

I bought them a Lexmark 6000 series printer-scanner-copier-fax at Walmart. There are many others, including duplex print and ADF units, that one just plain fit their needs.

Plugged it into a computer with a usb cable and let the CD set it up. Made sure it had the WPA-PSK password and that the wireless light was showing green before I set up all the other computers. They did not have to be plugged into the printer, just be on the network. The setup CD asked each time whether it should look for an existing printer in the network or setup a new one.

One of the Vista laptops refused to make the printer 'default', so I had to delete all the other printers and manually set it to default. The other Linux and Windows Vista and XP laptops and workstations had not problems.

That was it.

Hell, even my mom's Powerbook works, and isn't that a frigging nine-day wonder.

If you aren't familiar with setting up wireless networks or some of the terms I used aren't clear, just ask.
 
I don't have a wireless printer, but I have a HP 4-in-one printer, and the software/drivers are a royal pain in the ass. It prints, copies, faxes perfectly, but I can't scan directly from the printer. The only way I can scan is through the computer. HP told me what to do, but I fogot to to save the email. I love HP printers and scanners, but their drivers and software leave little to be desired.
 
I'm not sure if the UK market models are different, but I have an HP wireless all-in-one printer and it's fantastic. I do a lot of printing for my uni course, especially photo printing, and it performs substantially better even if I sneak it onto Draft mode than my flatmate's Canon and Epson printers.

I run Windows Vista on my laptop and have no problems whatsoever with it... I've always been an HP guy when it comes to printers and I'm on my 3rd now in 10 years and will never look back. Admittedly I have to use the wire connection at uni as there isn't a wireless network here, but at home the wireless on it works seemlessly - and it's great being able to print something whilst I'm sat in the living room watching television :-)

Their laptops, on the other hand, are another story. Both my mum and my boyfriend have HP laptops and have had nothing but trouble with them!

Jon
 
INK!!!!

I just bought some ink for my HP printer and decided the next time I need ink it will be cheaper to buy a new printer. I needed the ink now and I ended up paying $25 at Office Depot for their refilled black cartridge. Color is $39. I long ago tired of refilling my own and I've tried Walgreen's and others and am not happy with them. I do like Swift Ink but often do not have the time to wait for a shipment, and don't like having ink sitting around when I may not need it for 6 or 8 months. I guess I should manage my ink usage better but it's low priority.

Does anyone base their printer decision on consumables? I noticed the HP in the OP used thermal ink, is that any different from standard ink? What printer has the cheapest ink?
 
> Does anyone base their printer decision on consumables? <

We spent hundreds trying to keep an Epson R800 fed, with its eight cartridges at $15 a pop, then we realized nearly all of our printing was text based. We got a Brother HL-5250DN laser and haven't looked back since. One toner cartridge lasts 6+ months, and it's way faster than the inkjet.
 
I ran the numbers

and decided a while back that I would only by HPs which can be refilled.
So now, I refill the cartridge three times, get excellent results and throw it away after the third filling is exhausted (be unfair to return it, we have a cartridge recycling program in Germany, but I don't think they intended for people to turn back in cartridges which are quite that high mileage.)

I refill the color cartridges with whichever ink has recently been rated best by our version of Consumer Reports.

The black cartridges, I refill with Pelikan Brilliantschwarz 4001. And before anybody brings up the horror's list, I have been doing this since 1993 and never lost a cartridge, once.
 
Canon

I have always bought Canon printers, and think they great machines. The first color printer we bought (remember daisy wheel and dot matrix printers) was a Canon based on their ink system and overall cost of consumables. As far as I know, Canon was the first to offer separate ink tanks for each color, which snap into the print head. Run out of one color ink, all you buy is that color ink. HP, Lexmark, Dell, Kodak and even the low end Canon printers use cartridges; ink tanks and a disposable print head all in one. That's why the cartridges are so damn expensive.

Agree with others that HP drivers are a nightmare. We have helped so many friends with their computers, and the problem turned out to be the HP printers.

As for a network printer, the Canon (which is about six years old) works well. We can print from any computer in the house to it, as long as the computer it is connected to is turned on. My brother in law wanted to do the same thing with his brand new HP all in one - no such luck. Have to buy the HP network printer to do that, or the HP wireless.

I will stick with Canon printers, they are reliable, and the drivers are small and well programmed. Plus the ink is cheap enough that I can stick with the name brand stuff, no need to mess around with refilling.

Lisa
 
I have a Canon too along with the HP and the ink is cheaper, but when I ran out of ink in the HP I tried the Canon which had been sitting unused for some time and found the print head is clogged. True, it is my fault for not cycling it every now and then, but it was always a bit slow and the HP print looked better. I may try and soak the print head in alcohol and see if that clears the few jets that are plugged, water did not do the trick.

We had one of the Xerox thermal ink printers at the office and when we closed I got the unit but it too is not working. It had BEAUTIFUL print when working, a raised ink look, but the color ink was $$$$$$$$$$ and we simply fed black ink bars into the color slots to keep it running, the unit would not run with some of the slots empty. Got 2 lifetimes worth of black ink for this puppy, I'd use it if it only worked, but it's a monster and about as difficult to repair as any machine you've ever seen.
 
Canon all the way baby!!

I have a Canon Pixma all-in-one (scanning, printing, copying)and it's amazing. Took me about 20 minutes to set up and I'm printing from two laptops and my iMac wirelessly with no issues. ALSO...I can put a document or a photo on the scanner portion and it will ask me what format I want to use and to which PC I want to save it to, again over my 802.11G wireless network. Freaking simple. It also handles envelopes like a champ! It cost me $99.
 
Canon all the way baby!!

I have a Canon Pixma all-in-one (scanning, printing, copying)and it's amazing. Took me about 20 minutes to set up and I'm printing from two laptops and my iMac wirelessly with no issues. ALSO...I can put a document or a photo on the scanner portion and it will ask me what format I want to use and to which PC I want to save it to, again over my 802.11G wireless network. Freaking simple. It also handles envelopes like a champ! It cost me $99.
 
Matt

Try the alcohol soak, I have revived print heads this way before. It works even better if you have an ultrasonic cleaner to put it in. I scored one 30 years ago at the drugstore on closeout. It was an ultrasonic denture cleaner. Still works! Don't let it soak completely covered, keep the contacts on top of the printhead out of the alcohol.

Lisa
 

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