Cool Droid App: "PrinterShare"

[Jay Honeck]

I recently downloaded an app for my Motorola Droid called "PrinterShare". This slick little app allows you to print documents directly from your phone onto any wireless printer.

I'm using it with a new wireless HP printer (that acts as its own "node" on my network), but the app supposedly works on any wireless network that has a printer available.

The business utility of this app can't be overstressed. Just yesterday, DSL service was knocked out on the island for five hours. This is a real problem at our motel, since we receive on-line reservations around-the-clock. With PrinterShare and Droid, it was a complete non-event. I was still able to receive -- and print -- reservations throughout the outage, via the excellent Verizon 3G network. Very slick, indeed.

There are a jillion aviation applications for this capability, of course. The ability to view charts on my Droid is cool -- but being able to now print them is even cooler! Printing out METARs and TAFs for the flight is nice, too.

This was science fiction stuff just a few years ago. We truly live in amazing times.

 

[gkainz]

cool stuff ... funny tho, 5 or more years ago my lowly palm pilot (pre-Treo) had an app to print via a printer's IR port ...

 

[Jay Honeck]

cool stuff ... funny tho, 5 or more years ago my lowly palm pilot (pre-Treo) had an app to print via a printer's IR port ...

Curious: What's an "IR port"? Infra-red?

 

[gkainz]

yeah, IR = infrared ... the same technology as a lot of tv remotes, et al. The HP (and I assume other brands) printers had those cute little red square sensors that would accept data from the palm.

Ah, here it is - PalmPrint www.stevenscreek.com/palm/palmprint.html
and another like it - Teal Print http://www.tealpoint.com/softprnt.htm

Edit - geez ... 11 years ago, not 5 or 6 ... yikes!

 

[mikea]

cool stuff ... funny tho, 5 or more years ago my lowly palm pilot (pre-Treo) had an app to print via a printer's IR port ...

You didn't need an "app." You just print and point it at the printer.

I just resurrected my LaserJet 6MP and have the LaserJet 6P stowed. I found a school selling fresh, sealed HP toner, which was all it needed, for $30!

 

[Jay Honeck]

You didn't need an "app." You just print and point it at the printer.

I just resurrected my LaserJet 6MP and have the LaserJet 6P stowed. I found a school selling fresh, sealed HP toner, which was all it needed, for $30!

Yeah, I just saved my old HP LaserJet 4100 by adding a parallel-to-USB thingie. That old tank just keeps going, and going, and going...

 

[TangoWhiskey]

I recently downloaded an app for my Motorola Droid called "PrinterShare". This slick little app allows you to print documents directly from your phone onto any wireless printer.

I'm using it with a new wireless HP printer (that acts as its own "node" on my network), but the app supposedly works on any wireless network that has a printer available.

I'd like an app like this. Downloaded it to my Droid, but it doesn't find my Dell Color Laser printer... it's not natively WiFi enabled, but it is plugged directly into my wireless router via Ethernet. App doesn't find the printer.

 

[mikea]

Yeah, I just saved my old HP LaserJet 4100 by adding a parallel-to-USB thingie. That old tank just keeps going, and going, and going...

Me, too. Buried in teh same stash I have a really long IEEE 1494 cable so I can connect two computers at once.

My neighbor asked me what printer could print fast and cheap. I said get an HP laser, even an old one like mine. Then I looked to see what the new HP Lasers are like and read the buyer reviews. In every case HP screwed them up by shipping them with 12 pages worth of toner where the first set of toner for the $129 printer costs $149. My original "buy an old HP laser" is sounder advice than I knew.

I looked at what the JetDirect network adapters go for. Even on eBay they're still around $100. Then I remembered that the VPN firewall on my work computer won't let it talk to anything the LAN so I can only use USB anyway.

 

[gprellwitz]

Leslie just got a new HP 1606dn that she likes. Fast, and it duplexes, which her old 2100 didn't do. The print cartridge is good for 1000 pages. The old one just started having very poor print quality after about a decade.

For the DroidPrint, did you need the premium key to print to the wifi printer?

 

[Ghery]

My neighbor asked me what printer could print fast and cheap. I said get an HP laser, even an old one like mine. Then I looked to see what the new HP Lasers are like and read the buyer reviews. In every case HP screwed them up by shipping them with 12 pages worth of toner where the first set of toner for the $129 printer costs $149. My original "buy an old HP laser" is sounder advice than I knew.

A friend of mine works for HP in the group that designs their ink jet printers. Your story doesn't surprise me as he has admitted that they don't make any money selling printers. They make money selling ink. So I harrass him in standards committee meetings whenever we propose removing some text by saying that we'll save ink when we print a copy.