How to print remotely in Tiger OSX

November 20, 2005 12:00 PM

How do I print remotely from my Mac laptop to my Canon printer?

I have a Canon PIXMA iP6000D hooked to my G5 iMac. The iMac (and the laptop which I mention in a moment) are both running Tiger (OSX 10.4.3). I directly print from the iMac to the printer. I also have a G4 TiBook that I'd like to print from, via Airport. When I send a file to print, though, the Canon iP6000D software comes up, showing the file I'm trying to print, but nothing happens. It says it's looking for the printer, but never seems to find it. I am assuming that this is possible to do, but that I just have something set wrong somewhere. Can anyone help me? Thanks.

posted by unclejeffy to computers & internet (10 comments total)

I believe you have to turn Printer Sharing on in the setup on the G5 iMac.
posted by tomierna at 12:02 PM on November 20, 2005

Yes, I checked. Printer Sharing is turned on on both the iMac and TiBook.
posted by unclejeffy at 12:11 PM on November 20, 2005

I think, unless the printer is set up for WiFi, you may need to plug a USB cable from the Airport to the printer and then access the settings from the Printer Utility Setup on the Mac you want to use. I used to do this before I got my way cool HP Deskjet 6840 that hasn't failed on any wireless connection yet using a variety of computers. Hope this helps.
posted by thebarron at 12:36 PM on November 20, 2005

That makes sense. Thanks.
posted by unclejeffy at 12:44 PM on November 20, 2005

On the computer to which the printer is connected (and you can print from), go:
System Preferences -> Print & Fax -> Sharing tab

Make sure the printer is shared there.

Then, on the client, print to the printer as listed in the "Shared Printers" list when you hit Cmd-P. If it doesn't show up, check the firewall settings on both computers. Don't try adding it manually via System Preferences.

In Terminal.app, "lpstat -t" should show the queue on both computers.
posted by LanTao at 12:47 PM on November 20, 2005

You might try deleting your printer from the "Printer Setup Utility" on your TiBook and re-adding it. I had a problem with my printers when I upgraded from 10.3.X to 10.4.X and this fixed it.

Alternatively, you could plug the printer directly into the Airport and print remotely from both your iMac and your TiBook.
posted by istewart at 1:33 PM on November 20, 2005

Oops, thebarron already suggested my alternative.
posted by istewart at 1:35 PM on November 20, 2005

It sounds like the two computers might not be on the same subnet. Can you give an overview of what's plugged in to what on your network?
posted by cillit bang at 1:55 PM on November 20, 2005

It's working! I did as istewart suggested, and removed the printer via Printer Setup Utility. I was then able to select it as a shared printer in the print dialog box. Before that, it was not available as a shared printer, for some reason. Anyway, it's working and I'm thankful to all of you who responded!
posted by unclejeffy at 3:31 PM on November 20, 2005

Yeah, I have a similar setup at home, and my printer will occasionally turn into a black hole for my g/f's iBook- it'll be a chooseable as a printer, but nothing happens. Deleting the printer and re-adding it always works, though I wish there were an easier fix...
posted by mkultra at 4:39 PM on November 20, 2005