cMP + Airport Extreme + USB slot + WiFi printing

[MIKX]

Would appreciate any suggestions to my printer sharing problem.

Target : I want to share printing between a 5,1 cMP & a MacBook 7,1

I have a flashed cMP 5,1. which mainly runs Mavericks 10.9.5
I have an Airport Extreme connected to the cMP.
The cMP also has a cheap, working USB WiFi card connected.
The Airport Extreme has a USB slot.
I have a Laser printer connected by USB to the cMP. This Laser is non-Ethernet/WiFi USB only connection to the cMP

===================================

I want to share the Laser printer with the MacBook.

The MacBook can "see" the Laser printer but can't print from the MacBook to the cMP laser.
Print sharing is turned ON in both the cMP & the MacBook & the Laser's driver is installed on both computers which are both running Mav. 10.9.5

Any ideas ? I'm a 100% noob re WiFi printing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[prisstratton]

Have you tried plugging your laser printer into the Airport Extreme. I use a Time Capsule (so essentially the same thing as an Airport Extreme) and I used to share printers on my network through this.

I do not use this for sharing anymore, but as far as I can remember, once the printer is plugged in it should be recognized by the Airport and should be easily added to your systems through the “Printers and Scanners” interface. I cannot remember if I needed to do anything through the Airport Utility, but the printer should be visible in the utility.

Using this I was able to share printers with both Mac’s and Windows systems on my network. I do not remember it being all that difficult to setup (famous last words…).

 

[MIKX]

Thanks for your reply.

I have an Airport Extreme but imy Airport Utility neither has the "Printers" nor "Share Printers over WAN" options. It only has a "Add a WPS Printer" drop down menu.

My printer does not have a "WPS" button.

 

[prisstratton]

You may not see the same options as my Airport Utility as I am using an older version that someone "fixed" to work with newer versions of Mac OS. It does not mean that your printer is not being shared by your Airport Extreme. I would suggest as a first step that you plug in your printer and see if your Mac devices can see it.

Give that a try and please report back.

 

[MIKX]

I'll give it a shot toight. Thanks for your interest.

Incidentally where can I find your "Special Airport Utility " ?

 

[prisstratton]

I am using Airport Utility 5.6.1, it comes with a launcher that makes sure that appropriate support files are loaded to make it work with newer Mac OS versions. I do not remember where I originally downloaded it, but the following link has what you need:

http://njdnjdnjd.blogspot.ca/2016/11/this-post-is-steps-to-set-up-old.html

I am currently running this under High Sierra with no problems.

 

[MIKX]

Thanks again, downloaded the files in your last post. I'll try 5,6,1 and the script on a spare Mavericks HDD tomorrow - bit busy at present.

 

[MIKX]

I got everything setup as per your links but still no luck. I am a real noob regarding printer sharing.

Some questions ..

( Note : I did the setup in another install of Mavericks on another HDD. Currently
the printer is not connected to the Airport Extreme but it DID show up in the above field. )

1. I'm connecting using a USB cable to the airport Extreme.
In the "Printers TAB should I select WAN or Bonjour or both ?

. . Anyway I selected BOTH.

2. I re-installed the driver for my printer - it was seen as a Bonjour printer.

3. Turned ON Printer Sharing.

When I tried to print the printer went to "Paused".

Bonjour Browser can see the printer in the Airport Extreme.

but still can't print.

4. Should I use IP printing and only select "Connect over WAN" in Airport Util 5,6,1 ?

 

[prisstratton]

I have never found printer sharing to be an exact science.

You do not need to share printers over WAN or over the Internet using Bonjour. You are just exposing yourself to the Internet, so please do not do that. Those options were not checked in my screen shot, so I am not sure why you decided to do that.

Let us step back.

First, plug the printer into the Airport Extreme and report back if you can see it in your Airport Utility.

If you can, do you also see it as an available printer in your “Printers and Scanners” interface on your Mac ?

If you do, then add the printer. If the system does not recognize what it is, it will ask you to identify the printer and appropriate driver.

Please try this and report back.

It sounds as if you are trying all sorts of different things. Please stick to the plan so that we are both talking about the same thing at the same time.

 

[MIKX]

OK, I'll try that tonight.

 

[MIKX]

Still no success.

Tonight.

1. With the printer ( which is a Japanese Canon A# LBP-1610 laser ) connected to my cMP.
I re-installed it's driver.

2. I then connected it the Airport Exreme.

3. I ran Airport Util 5.6.1
The printer was seen by 5.6.1

4. Tried to print from TextEdit.

5. The printer went into paused mode - as it has with every possible config I can think of.

I ran Bonjour Browser which shows a numberof IP addresses.

Now I turned on Printer Sharing . .still puttin the printer into paused mode.

SHould I try setting it up as an IPP printer or HP Jetdirect or ?

Which IP address should I use ?

Is it worth enabling Bojour in 5.6.1 Utility ?

I noticed the Bonjour Browser comment " Can't resolve link-local name" could ythis be a problem ?

This printer works in High Sierra 10.13.0 in USB - no Airport. It is 15 years old but works faultlessly in direct USB - cMP printing.

This Airport Extreme problem baffles me.

PS : My Airport Extreme is at 7.7.8 firmware.

 

[prisstratton]

I am going to plug one of my printers back into my Time Capsule and I will step through the process again to refresh my memory. I will get back to you on this.

 

[prisstratton]

Hi Mike,

I plugged the printer into my Time Capsule and it was as easy as I remember (which is why I suggested it to you, I was hoping it would be just as simple for you). Once it was plugged in it was visible in the Airport Utility. After that I went to the Printers and Scanners Interface and added the printer to my system.




I cannot see that turning on Printer Sharing is required as the Airport should be sharing the printer on the network, but I cannot see it being a problem either.

I have never used IPP so I could not tell you how to set that up. As for HP Jetdirect, that was a print server that you could add to printers to allow them to connect directly to a network, I cannot see that would apply in your situation.

I tried to find more information on the the comment you saw regarding “Can’t resolve link-local”. There was nothing really definitive, some people suggested it was a pain to deal with but was not necessarily a fatal error.

I am beginning to suspect that something else is going on with your network that I do not understand. Sharing the printer from your MacPro should have worked, I have done it several times in the past. Sharing the printer from your Airport should have worked.

The last thing I would suggest you try is to plug the printer back into your MacPro and try sharing it using the following:

http://www.netputing.com/applications/handyprint-v5/

It essentially turns any locally attached printer into an AirPrint printer. I am not convinced that this will work seeing as simple printer sharing failed to work. But, you can test this for free and if it happens to work for you a license is only $5. I used this on one of my previous configurations and it was easy to setup, they have instructions on the web page I listed above.

Outside of that I do not know what else to say. Maybe someone else can jump in here and help.

Good luck Mike, I know these things can be very frustrating at times, I hope you find a resolution. I am sorry that I could not help you.

Best regards

Mike (aka prisstratton)

 

[MIKX]

Two Michaels !

I installed the driver first . .. then connected to the Airport Extreme.

I'll go through the process once more tonight with the laser and I'll also try with my younger Epson inkjet.

I'll try Handy Pqrint also.

I'll post my results.

Thanks for your patient indulgence & help.

Regards,

Mike.

 

[MIKX]

Mike,

I had 100% success with the younger Epson inkjet being able to print from the cMP and my MacBook in another room.

This leads me to thing that Laser problem COULD be related to the length of the USB cable connections to the Airport Extreme. I have 3 USB cables joined up to the Extreme - one of them is an "El Cheapo" which I gor from a ¥100 store here in Japan. ( Actually ¥108 store since Prime Minister Abe . . .)

I'll try moving the Laser close to the cMP and use the same cable I used with the Epson inkjet . ..

Here's hoping .. . . .

Later.

 

[MIKX]

The laser still doesn't want to cooperate. I really want to solve this.

Some history first.

I bought this Canon (Japan only ) LBP-1610 A3 size laser in 2002 !

The first drivers were for ancient OS8 & 9 PPC.

The last official drivers were for 10.6 & 10.5 & 10.7.5
Somewere along the line I downloaded a now no longer available driver ( lets's call it "104" ) that actually allowed me to install it in Mavericks !

Yes, the printer works flawlessly in Mavericks .. and . recently I discovered that it also works in Sierra 10.12.6 & Hi Sierra 10.13.0 ( not in 10.13.1 ).

To my way of thinking the very fact that it WORKS in Mavericks, Sierra and High Sierra means that it SHOULD be treated like any other installed printer when connected to my Airport Extreme.
( So far, no matter the connect configuration - the printer always ends up PAUSED.)

As my prior post says .. I got my Epson Inkjet working through the Airport Extreme.
the Canon Laser SHOULD also work/connect !
Do you agree ?

I can live without the Laser on my network but it's a challenge and I love challenges.
I'm going to post all of my Airptort Extreme relevant info in the Networking thread and see what happens.

Again, thanks so much for your very patient assistance. I learned a lot.

Regards,

Mike.

PS : If you ever need help with video card ROMMING please PM me.

 

[prisstratton]

Hi Mike,

I am happy to hear that you got a printer working on your network, this at least says that you do not appear to have a problem with your network.

I agree with what you are saying, if you can successfully print to it locally from several different OS versions, then what is the difference when you attach it to your Airport. Particularly when other printers attached to your Airport work normally.

I wonder if this might have something to do with the queue or how the system is spooling the print job. Try have the queue open before you send a print job and see if it reports anything unusual.

I am guessing that the print job is getting through the queue successfully otherwise you would see all your old print jobs just sat there.

Thanks for the offer of help with video card romming.

 

[MIKX]

SUCCESS ! . . sort of . . . .

Turns out that running " http://localhost:631 " in Firefox connects to the Canon ( CUPS protocol) laser and allows connection modification.

So I actually got it to "connect" and spit out some garbage . . but .. it hasn't printed the text in the assigned document.

Not out of the woods yet.

Boy have I learned lot in 72 hours !

Perseverence, Patience & Persistence ! Always wins ( most of the time )