After recently installing a wireless router, I decided to un-retire an old but functional HP LaserJet 6MP and see if I could incorporate it into my network -- one desktop Mac, two 'Books, all running OS X 10.3. The process turned out to be a bit more involved than I had first thought, mainly because of a lack of documentation. Hopefully the steps below will assist others attempting something similar. In figuring out this process, I was able to assemble a number of pieces of information from around the web, including several hints -- and especially the comments -- directly from macosxhints, #1 and #2 in particular. In contrast to several other approaches I have seen, the technique below did not require using CUPS (directly) or Gimp-Print.
The first step was to buy a print server: I settled on the HPS1P by Hawking Technology, because (1) it was relatively cheap (under $50), (2) it was advertised as working with Macs, and (3) some of their other products have received positive reviews on this site. However, opening the box revealed no instructions for Macs at all. Looking through their web site wasn't much help either. However, it all works in the end, as described below. Connecting the hardware was easy: the HPS1P connects directly to the parallel port on the LaserJet, then a standard ethernet cable runs from the print server to one of the unused LAN ports on the wireless router. In fact, the HPS1P is small enough to fit inside the port cover on the LaserJet. Tip: Power on the print server before the printer.
Figuring out how to set up the printer on each Mac was slightly more challenging. Here are the steps that worked for me:
arp -a -n and look for the IP address corresponding to the MAC address of the print server (printed on a small white label attached to the back of the print server).
lpt1. (It was not case sensitive in my tests.) Other suggestions, such as typing lp or leaving it blank, did not work!
lpstat -t) that all is in working order.)
One unresolved issue that I haven't explored is what happens should power to the router be lost. In that case, the printer might be assigned a different IP address by the DHCP. I suspect this problem could be avoided by using arp -s to assign a fixed address to the printer (indeed, the same IP address as originally given in step 1 above), as described in this hint. Also, the documentation suggests that it should be possible to set up the print server as an AppleTalk printer, but I was unable to get that to work. Nor would trying "Internet Printer Protocol" (IPP), despite following the Linux instructions (more or less) in the manual.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20040111180540993