On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 12:43 PM, Ken Kixmoeller f/h <[email protected]> wrote: > > I had just been researching these a couple of weeks ago. I gave up (or > procrastinated really) when I found out that printers were only > compatible with certain print server models. Many of the reviews I read > of various products say things like: "There is a very short list of > printers with which <this device> is compatible." > > What did you do? I suppose there's no shortcut to going to each > manufacturer's web site and looking to see if our printers are > compatible? I tried googling to see if there was a generic compatibility > guide -- not in the first couple of results pages. >
I bought an HP OfficeJet 8500 Premier, which included a JetDirect compatible network interface. That interface works with most software familiar with JetDirect, including Windows drivers from HP, the Open Source HPLIP project, and native drivers for OS X (a varient of CUPS, which after all is an Apple project). I have full access from Windows and Linux to all the features: scanner, memory card reader, printing, but limited functionality from OS X as the HP driver has just never gotten installed and configured successfully, and I haven't had the need to put in the effort to fix it. The other printer I'm using, a LexMark Optra E312L, uses a standard USB connection. I picked up an inexpensive Iomega print server several years ago, a model no longer made. The size of a matchbox, it's got an ethernet connection in one end and the USB on the other. The server can be accessed via its builtin web server and supports the industry standard Novell Bindery, TCP/IPP (aka IPP), SNMP and AppleTalk. Windows installation is a PITA, while Linux and OS X understands the native protocols just fine. I'm surprised there are printers incompatible with print servers; I guess it must be printers that are "stupid" and require drivers on the computer to do the rendering and other work for them. Seems like a poor deal to me: save a few bucks in printer hardware in exchange for perpetual incompatibility. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
