[G4] Re: New USB Device Needed

Daniel Brieck Jr. djbrieck at mac.com
Fri Dec 9 14:09:06 PST 2005


Printer Sharing built into Mac os 10.4 is the easiest*** and cheapest  
way to share a usb printer with multiple computers.  As long as the  
computers are networked together.

For more on Mac os 10.4 printer sharing go to Finder then click on  
Help -> then select from the drop down Mac Help. Then type in to  the  
search field "printer sharing".

***Note: Easy between macs, but a little tricky with Windows...    
that is to get the printer to work  from Windows I had to select a  
generic printer driver from the windows printer driver list when  
setting it up. Eg a "Apple Color Laser Writer" and that seemed to get  
it to work... Using the same name as the actual usb printer in my  
case did not work, so it does not for you try like a did...


Note that you can't connect two computers to a single powered USB  
hub... There is only one (Root or Master) for a usb hub or device.

There is a device that does the kind switching that you want to do it  
is called a USB KVM it will let you share usb devices between  
computers with the press of a button...
http://www.usbgear.com/USB-KVM.html




Daniel J. Brieck Jr.


> On Dec 9, 2005, at 12:34 PM, Samuel D. Bays wrote:
>
>> Wouldn't it be great if one of the electronics device  
>> manufacturers like
>> Belkin could invent a USB device that would enable both a Mac and  
>> a PC to
>> share a USB printer without having to switch the wires from  
>> computer to
>> computer.
>>
>> In the meantime, what is the preferred method  enabling a WIN XP  
>> PC and a
>> Power Mac and PowerBook running OS X 10.4.2 to print to the same  
>> printer?
>>
>> Sam Bays


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