Dear mac Users,
Quote from Peripherals thread-today
"I own a Brother HL-5250DN, it's got duplex printing (will print on both sides of the page automatically), an ethernet port (plug it into my switch and all the computers can print to it, without needing a server turned on),

Best laser I've owned since the venerable HP Laserjet 5L (which is still kicking on at my parents place - it's been in service for about a decade now) "


I also have a HP Laserjet No4 and wish to use it connected to my wired switch which in turn is connected to my two mac's 10.4.11.
In simple terms how do I get the thing to work?
mulquemi

You'll need a print server device, that will allow the HP LaserJet 4 to connect to it, and then the print server device has a ethernet port. Turns the printer into a network printer.

PS. I own a Brother HL2070N Network Laser printer and it rocks too. Has built in ethernet print server, so you just hook it upto the lan, assign it a IP (or use DHCP) then use printer drivers to print to the IP directly. Supports IPP, Bonjour etc.

Does the HP have an ethernet port already ?
If so then it should also have postscript support, and work.
If not, unless it is a 4m model which has postscript support then getting it to work isn't easy.
A Laserjet 4 only has PCL language support for PC's.

Dear Mac Users,
Yes to JimWOz Q : Does the HP have an ethernet port already ?
Ethernet and PC parallel printer port.
Was in use on a mac edu network prior to my acquisition so should just "hook up" you suggest ?
purana You'll need a print server device, !! What is that ,do you mean a router switch or something else?
Turns the printer into a network printer.!! Does that mean both mac's can "talk" to printer as a network printer?
Please be gentle as I'm no computer geek!
mulquemi

It may have a fixed IP address assigned to it by the guy who set up the network in its previous location. This would stop your machines from seeing it on your network.
You need to change this to be an address that is within the range of your home network for it to connect with your macs. Open network preferences and look for the IP address on one of your machines, should be something like 10.0.1.2 or 192.168.1.2. Give the printer a similar address where the last number is say 20.
I suggest you download a manual for the printer from HP.com and follow the instructions to configure an IP address manually on the printer.

Then you should be able to see the printer with Printer set up utility.

JimWOz,
Thank you for the straight forward answers,I should be able to follow your advise without much difficulty.
mulquemi