Basic Wireless Printing

S

Silks

Registered
Am new to my iMac, having just moved over from the Dark Side. Still trying to learn all the secrets, so bear with me.

Problem: basic wireless printing.
Have iMac in one room and generic Linksys g router and new Canon Pixma 4000 printer in another.
Mac immediately saw and connected to the router. Cool. So I didn't need an additional AirPort box. But I wanted to print, so bought a wireless print server, a D-Link, since it said on the box that it worked with Mac OS/X.
When I opened the box, there is no install or setup info about anything other than WinXP. Nothing about how to configure with Linksys or using a Mac; I assume there is IP address stuff I have to figure out (?), etc. Nor is there anything about it on their Web support page.
Luckily the Mac sees the wireless device I stuck onto the side of the printer. But to connect to it, I seem to have to disconnect from the Linksys box.
(A) Is that true? In Windows I could connect to numerous wireless network connections concurrently. How to I do so on my Mac?

Anyway, when I try to print to it, Mac says it's unable to connect to that device. Now I'm really stuck.
(B) Any great advice about how to configure such a thing? How to see it and print to it?
(C) Or should just box the thing up and take it back, and if so, any suggestions for what would work instead?
Sorry for so many questions, but I'm really swimming at the moment. This crap shouldn't be so confusing...
Thanks in advance.
 
Dlink has horrible Mac support. I don't recommend it.
You have two isues going at once:
Canon doesn't make drivers for OS X that work over a network, unless you buy the printer models that have ethernet or wireless built in. You can buy print drivers for your model from www.printfab.net that work over a network.

Macs usually need to know the internal print queue name of the print server in addition to the IP address. Maybe you can get the print server to give you that info via built in web admin page or a config page printout. (Windows can detect this internal queue name because the print server software is made for Windows.)

Does that get you pointed in the right direction?

PS, I usually recommend Airport Express instead of a generic print server because Airport software gets around the driver problem by redirecting USB output from computer to the Airport Express USB. But Airport Express is unreliable at this stage of Tiger. Sorry.
 
Yes, it was about the conclusion I came to. After about a week of not being able to even contact the DLink box through the IP address they swear it is broadcasting on, or anything close, and having ABSOLUTELY no other Mac support or help from them whatsoever, I just bagged the whole thing, took the piece of junk back and traded it (plus about $50) for an AirPort Express. But then a lightening storm toasted my telephone access (and thus my DSL). So as soon as Bellsouth gets me hooked back up to the outside world, I'll try to go the AE route and let you know how that works. It has to be better.
Thanks so much for comfirming my suspicions about DLink. This has been a character-building experience...
 
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