I have the Speedtouch 585 Gateway (Wireless router/dsl Modem all in one). My printer is plugged into the Imac, the Printer sharring option is checked in the Sharing folder of the System Preferences. I'm running OS X.4 on the Imac and XP on the PC. Can't get the pc to see the printer. What steps do I need to do to accomplish this?
ALSO: after many hours of trial and error, I managed to get my pc and Imac back on the internet. I had messed up the router settings a month ago trying to get the pc to see the printer and somehow couldn't get the pc back on-line after I had pressed the re-set button (on the router-modem). NCF (my ISP) sent me a set of instructions but I could only get the pc OR the Imac on-line, not both at the same time. The settings called for PPPoe which was fine for the Imac on it's own or for the PC, but I accidently found the the Imac needs to be using TCP/IP. I don't know anything about these (protocols?) but anyone can explain what was going on here?
(Post split by AdminMan because it is a bit different...)
First of all, solve the router problem, then worry about the printer.
The router itself should be capable of running PPPoE. You should find the setting somewhere under "WAN" or "Internet". You should also make sure that on the LAN side, the router is running DHCP, the protocol that lets machines attach themselves automatically to the LAN.
Neither the Mac nor the PC should run PPPoE - the router is doing it for you!
Both machines should be running DHCP to connect to the LAN. This should be a choice under TCP/IP.
Try this setup, make sure each machine can connect to the internet at the same time, and then setup the printer on the Mac. The PC should be able to see it as long as it is running something like Win XP. Older OSes were not as capable.
Thanks for the quick reply. Both computers, the Imac and the pc are connected to the net one with PPPoE and the other TCP/IP. What's the disadvantage of leaving them this way? I'm not too keen on spending any more time changing this config after so much failure try to get it to work the other way...
BTW,I just managed to get my pc to see the printer after downloading Bonjour. Works like a charm.
I am surprised that it works at all in this configuration. Part of the reason for using the setup described in my earlier reply is that it allows the modem/router to do the heavy network lifting and completely isolates your internal (LAN) network from the world. If one of the machines is running PPPoE directly, then it may be exposed directly to the internet without the benefit of the router firewall. It is hard to tell what is going on in your setup and that means it might be vulnerable.
Note that the settings I have recommended are normally the defaults on all routers, Macs and PCs.
Congratulations on your decision to use a combination DSL modem/firewall/router. They are popular devices in Europe but in North America the need to save energy and space is not taken seriously.
I have a similar set-up so I thought to share my experience. In my opinion, the simplest ("lowest maintenance, least headache") solution for printing is network using a print server. Connect the print server to your router then, for each operating system, create a New Network Printer with the native printer driver and point the definition to the IP address of the print server. The advantage of this set-up is that you can use any sort of printer that will connect to the print server -- you don't have to worry about other connections. I use a very old enterprise laser printer with my print server and have OS X, Ubuntu, and Windows XP printing to it.
As the other member said, only your Speedtouch should be using PPOE. All the router clients should be DHCP clients connected to the LAN. It is almost no effort at all to set this up correctly.
Thanks again.
I'm starting to understand a bit more what's happening here.
I used the pc to configure the dsl modem/router for PPPoE. I then went to the Mac and in Sys Pref. i configured it in the TCP/IP set up. So I do have the dsl in PPPoE and the Mac, at least, TCP/IP. Not sure if the pc is set up properly but it works. Will look into it...
I have my printer attached to my PC. Im going through a Firewalled Belkin Wirless G (hardwired) to both computers. I am using a prog called DAVE for connecting the Mac to the network. You can get a free trial of DAVE if you google it, It is simple and easy to set up and uses DCHP on both computers. I have my TCIP set on DCHP to both connect to the net and my home network . I hope this gives you a little more info, but I have found that it's a lot easier to network the printer off the PC than off the MAC..of course Im running an antique Power Macintosh 5500/225....