>I did not buy one yet. I was thinking I'd get a low-end laser printer, >supposedly compatible with Ethernet and both PC and Mac. I think I have >seen such advertised, no?
Ahh, yes, such do exist, and if you haven't yet bought one, that is all you really need to do, plug an Ethernet capable, Mac/PC compatible printer into your hub and go. However, you may have to plug it into a Hub and not a DSL (or other internet) router. Some router's built in hubs won't pass anything but TCP/IP packets, and for Mac use, you want to use EtherTalk, which many of those built in hubs will not handle. EtherTalk is AppleTalk over Ethernet. To get around the limit of the router, simply plug the printer and the Macs into a hub that is then connected to the router. Some printer makers are starting to claim Mac compatibility by relying on the fact that OS X supports CUPS printing over TCP/IP. In otherwords, they are claiming their printer is mac compatible when it fact it isn't really, but rather OS X can "adopt" compatibility by adding 3rd party unsupported software. BLECH!!! I'd avoid those (its a great thing to let you use a printer that doesn't have support, but in my opinion, not a great thing to buy a printer counting on using it that way when you have the option of buying a printer that really is mac compatible). The way to tell for the most part if you are facing one of those is, does the printer support EtherTalk and does it have PostScript (level 2 or better or OS X can't print to it without CUPS, level 1 is supported in OS 9). As long as it has EtherTalk and PostScript then it is natively Mac compatible. Then you just have to worry about proper PPD's (Printer description file for the Mac's LaserWriter driver) that support any additional items such as duplexers, evenlope feeders, extra paper trays, or other add-ons the printer might support that you may want in the future. (An example here is Ricoh that has a PostScript/EtherTalk capable photocopier, but they don't provide PPD's for it. So you can print to it, but you can't do anything except letter size single sided pages. But Windows that has a proper driver can do multiple page sizes, duplexing, sorting, stapling, and tons of other stuff the copier supports... if Ricoh would make the PPD for the Mac, it too could do all that). When it comes to Mac/PC laser printers, I've been rather happy with what HP has to offer. But in today's world of dropping prices on Color Laser printers, it might bear a look at Minolta, or Brother, or QMS to see if you can get a color laser for the cost of a good black & white HP (I think all 3 offer sub $1000 color laser printers, I'm just not sure what their Mac status is). If you do your shopping from the Mac point of view, you can be fairly sure that anything you buy that is network capable will also support Windows, but you may have to verify if it is supported by XP. But that should be easy to find out as Windows support tends to be plastered all over printer literature. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net> ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
