Can I do this wirelessly with Apple and Dell, desktop, laptop, and one printer?

Asked by rowenaz (2441

) March 29th, 2009

As some of you know, I have ventured into Apple, and now have a laptop. I don’t know anyone personally who has an apple, has a wireless network set up, or even knows very much about computers – and try as I might to read wikihow, google, etc. I still am not sure that I understood this.

I have an Airport. I got the Mac to work wirelessly, the Airport light is green. I set up the wireless printer – but the printer will only work if I attach the USB cable to the airport. Did I not understand this correctly? I thought that by having a wireless printer, that it wouldn’t need to be attached to the computer or the airport. Am I right or wrong?

The reason I ask, is because we are also awaiting a dell desktop that is NOT WIRELESS and does not have a card (all computers crashed and burned, hence the new ones-don’t ask) and I had thought that I could attach the wireless printer to the dell using the USB, and both the dell and the mac could share the one printer.

I also thought that I would use a networking cable to attach the dell to the airport, so that we could get the internet. Have I not understood all of this properly?? Thank you so much for your help.

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5 Answers

Which airport do you have?

Bagardbilla (4580

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Time Capsule

rowenaz (2441

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you can attach your dell to the airport using ethernet, but where does this dell hail from that it doesn’t support wireless? you may need to review your choice of dell.

for the printer, i had a very similar issue and found that my firewall was interfering. when you attempt to load the software for your printer wirelessly, does the install program discover the printer? if so, then firewall is not your issue. if not, then try turning your firewall off then install the printer software. hopefully it finds your printer that way. if it doesn’t, contact the printer manufacturer’s tech support unless anyone else here has ideas.

you should be able to share the printer off of your dell, but, again, you should not have to resort to this.

avalmez (1614

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Depending on the vintage of the printer (and, if it’s wifi-enabled, it ought to be of fairly recent vintage), the printer supports UPnP. So, if your Mac can see the printer, it will “auto-configure” the printer for you.

The question, here, is, “is your printer actually on your main wifi network”. Unless you set it up to join your wifi network, there’s a good chance that the printer is setting there, un-networked.

If you do decide to attach the printer to your dell, you can always turn on print-sharing in your Dell. Your Mac would then be able to print through the Dell.

getoffmylawn (175

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Yes, depending on the brand of the printer. Some printers allow you to plug them into your router. Then, all computers on that network should be able to print there.

pandamonia (34

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