TCP/IP Printing to Epson Stylus Color 850Ne via WiFi from PowerBook G3

[redsully]

My mother is having problems with her printing. She's recently switched from a wired to a wireless network, using A NETGEAR MR 314 wireless access point/router and a Lucent Technologies WaveLAN 11MBps card. The problem is that her local network printer, an Epson Stylus Color 850Ne (w/ Type B 10MBps card), only supports printing over an active AppleTalk network (which cannot be done with this wireless setup, as AppleTalk protocols are NOT supported). She would like to be able to print without having to physically plug into the network each time she needs a page or two. There is not a problem with her printing abilities under OS X.1.5 (which she is running), as she can print fine to an Apple LaserWriter 12/640ps (via a TCP/IP connection) over the same wireless network (since it is not trying to use AppleTalk). If I try using the "Generic" setting under the "lpr" tab (and enter the Epson's IP address), it will send information to the printer and will print, but the printout is jargon... I guess what I need is a printer profile (possibly a driver from a different company which has similar protocols as the Epson) which supports TCP/IP printing on the macintosh. Do any exist?

 

[rhb]

Saw your posting re wireless connection to an Epson 850ne while I was searching for info on the NetGear MR 314 wireless router. I have the same printer connected via an Airport card to a PB G4 running OSX.1.5. I purchased an Epson 802.11b print server on ebay that is the wireless component to the SC80WN printer package. This server connects to the printer parallel port and establishes a computer to computer link with my laptop. It works great using the Epson 850 OSX driver available at Epson's web site. The setup software for the print server is also available in the SC80WN files. The Epson wireless server is still available on ebay for about $100. I'm not sure how this setup would behave in a router network but it may be an option you haven't considered.

 

[Guest_imported]

redsully - did you ever find an answer? I'm in exactly the same situation, except with MacOS9 rather than OS.X. Please let me know if you have an answer.

Thanks,
Andy