...or more correctly ath64 does, at least in part, with regard to whether a computer can find and automatically install printers on a network. Windows boxes since at least Windows 2000 can be configured to do this provided that both they and the printers are members of a domain or Active Directory, although since printers were put on this earth to sit and eat money-and remember that the more users a printer has, the more money it eats-it's not universally considered a best practice. It isn't done in my workplace, and I wouldn't think it is where ath64 works, either.
That, however, isn't the situation with the purported availability of a Wi-Fi printer at the North Kansas City Public Library. Nonetheless, I'm not having any luck playing around on the Windows side of my MacBook Pro trying to connect to it. The printer, by the way, is an HP Laser Jet 4250n that shouldn't present any problem to either a Mac or Windows user once they're connected and have the driver installed. It's that first step that's the problem. I know I'm connected to the network properly because I can hit websites. But when I go in and have Windows search for any printers on the network...nada.
The nice folks behind the main desk are of the impression that the Wi-Fi printing capability hasn't been set up yet, but someone else they've asked insists it has been and is readlily being used. (He's also rather adamant that, as the announcement on the library's website implies, no configuration is necessary to use the printer, but we've been over that already.) At any rate, I haven't seen anyone but the desktop workstation users printing anything since I've been here. So, either the printer really isn't on the wireless network yet, or you can't use it running Vista Business virtually on a Mac.
And without further information-in particular, either the IP address or hostname of the printer-that's about as far as I'll get this evening. (Memo to the library: Either publish a handout with this info or put it on a small sign attached to the printer. Anyone running anything other than Windows might need it.)
Of course, this has all just been an intellectual exercise to satisfy everyone's curiosity as to this setup. Any laptop users who really needed to print anything before getting home would bring a printer with them. No, I'm serious. Pick up one of the many sub-$40 inkjets readily available at discount stores these days, along with a cheap tote bag to stuff it into, maybe a ream of the least expensive paper you can find, and-if you don't have one already-an AC power inverter to provide 120-volt house current in your car. One that puts out 100 watts should be plenty powerful enough to run both your laptop and the printer, although to plug both in you'll probably also want to add a multi-outlet power strip unless your inverter has more than one outlet. Now bag up the whole nine yards and toss it into your trunk. When the urge to print strikes, find a nice quiet place to park, unpack and connect everything, plug in and boot up, and go to town.
Not that I've actually done anything like the above, of course. But I could.
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