Parallel printer problems

M

mpirie

Registered
Guys,

I'm new to Mac's (especially MacOSX, though I have used them on and off since the Classic) so excuse my ignorance which was caused by 20 years worth of PC'dom.

I'm trying to use an HP5MP on a G4 with a USB to parallel adapter. I've read all the posts relating to this on the site, but my problem is that the printer queue looks like it's going to process the request, but it then shows "Printer not Responding" and the paper transport LED and the Ready LED, both stay on the printer. I've tried other drivers with no luck, so i must be close? The printer also has LocalTalk and 1284C connectors.

Any suggestions (other than the obvious "buy a USB printer")?

Thanks,
Mike
 
OS X doesn't play well with Parallel.
Use a LocalTalk to Ethernet adapter.
 
Guys,

Yeah, tried gimp-print, that's the driver I'm using but get the "not responding" error. I'm using "usbtp" too.

I can't really use an Ethernet to Localtalk as I'm using the ethernet for my wireless bridge (gave up on so called USB wireless adapters for Mac).

Last resort will be a wireless print server with a parallel port.

Thanks,
Mike
 
If you had an onld PC lying around, you could print to that over the network.. Otherwise, if nothing else works, in my area Goodwill has tons of working printers, some of them even connect via USB. Most cost unter 10 bucks. Thats assuming, of course, that you can afford to not print to your parralell printer.
 
Thanks Simbalala, the cable your url shows, is the one I have (F5U002), and it's moulded plugs, so not detachable. Belkin (UK) said the BLU and MAC versions are discontinued (I assume they have detachable cables). I could setup a hub etc, but i'm trying to wean myself off the PC, so the more I can do with just the Mac, the better! If your cable worked, which drivers are you using? Thanks, Mike
 
Thanks Sibalala,

But the cable your url shows is the one I have (F5U002) and it has moulded plugs, not detachable ones. Belkin (UK) told me the MAC and BLU versions are discontinued now, and presumably, they have the detachable cable. I could setup an ethernet switch, but I'm trying to wean myself off the PC, so the more I can do on the Mac the better ! If your cable is the same, what drivers are you using?
Thanks, Mike
 
mpirie said:
Thanks Sibalala,

But the cable your url shows is the one I have (F5U002) and it has moulded plugs, not detachable ones.
Thanks, Mike
Click to expand...
No, the one I have looks exactly like the one in the picture and it does have a removable cable. If you look closely at the photo you'll see how thick it looks on the back (cable) end of the parallel connector. There's a USB jack there and I can plug any USB cable into it. So basically it's a little box with two connectors and a supplied cable.

Look at the wording in the description:

• Includes a Belkin Pro Series 6 ft. USB Device cable for a quality connection.

I bought it off eBay a few years ago and didn't realize there were two different types till I someone else mentioned it here.

It's not specifically a Mac version, the disks that came with it had no Mac software. I bought it not knowing whether it would work or not but it only cost me $20. It was to be for an older Powerbook but I never did get around to setting up USB printing on that machine.

USB is a cross platform standard and so is parallel. The new "no name" one I bought worked but it didn't seem to handshake back to the computer. So I'd print one job but the next had to wait till something timed out. I think it also had problems printing images. I dug the old Belkin one out of my box of cables, tried it and it works just fine. I just plugged it in and it worked, no extra drivers were required, happy me :)

I agree about avoiding extras, if one cable does the job why bother with extra cables and boxes?
 
I don't seem to be able to print via a usb-parallel adapter.


When I click print, iWorks quits. So does Final Draft. And any other software.

iMac G5 2.1 Ghz connected
to HP LaserJet 6MP postscript printer
via Keyspan usb-parallel adapter (the newest version for os 10.3 or higher)
under 10.4.7

Printer shows up in system profiler, printer shows up in system preferences, and it reports to my mac (idle)

I would very much appreciate if somebody could give me a hint of two what is going on here? Who is sniping at my files?
 
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