Printing from iPad2 to portable printer
- Thread starter Kyray
- Start date
twerppoet
iPad Fan
No solution (that I know of) yet. Here's what does work, and none of it is easily translated to portable. Not one of the currently available AirPrint printers could be described as portable. You also need a network to use AirPrint, or the other solutions. That means a wi-fi router.
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Some printers are directly compatible with AirPrint on the iPad. This includes several HP printers and a smaller selection of Canon and Epson printers. Be absolutely certain the printer supports AirPrint before buying. Some printers may require a firmware update to work. These are usually available on the manufacturers site. If you get this kind of printer you can print directly from within apps that support the feature, which is many.
iOS: AirPrint 101
Of course some of us already have printers and do not want to buy a new one. There are a couple ways to do this.
One is to use a printing app on the iPad.
Most (or all) other print apps can only print pictures and/or files that have been copied to that app via Open In or other method. Print n Share used to be able to print from AirPrint enabled apps if it was loaded the background. It lost this ability with iOS 5. It may still work with iOS 4 if you get it before the app is updated in the App Store.
The second method is to load a program on the computer that will emulate an AirPrint compatible printer. Your computer must be on and have the printer available to it. The cheapest (free) is Airprint Activator. More features can be had with FingerPrint (mac and windows) and Printopia (mac only).
There is a third way. A few printers (mostly HP's again) can be set up with their own email address. PDF attachments can be sent via this address to be printed. The last review I saw (several months ago) said it could be quite slow (big files not recommended), and sometimes the emails got lost and never printed. The advantage was that you could literally send/print from anywhere you have an internet connection.
:::::::::::::::::
Some printers are directly compatible with AirPrint on the iPad. This includes several HP printers and a smaller selection of Canon and Epson printers. Be absolutely certain the printer supports AirPrint before buying. Some printers may require a firmware update to work. These are usually available on the manufacturers site. If you get this kind of printer you can print directly from within apps that support the feature, which is many.
iOS: AirPrint 101
Of course some of us already have printers and do not want to buy a new one. There are a couple ways to do this.
One is to use a printing app on the iPad.
Most (or all) other print apps can only print pictures and/or files that have been copied to that app via Open In or other method. Print n Share used to be able to print from AirPrint enabled apps if it was loaded the background. It lost this ability with iOS 5. It may still work with iOS 4 if you get it before the app is updated in the App Store.
The second method is to load a program on the computer that will emulate an AirPrint compatible printer. Your computer must be on and have the printer available to it. The cheapest (free) is Airprint Activator. More features can be had with FingerPrint (mac and windows) and Printopia (mac only).
There is a third way. A few printers (mostly HP's again) can be set up with their own email address. PDF attachments can be sent via this address to be printed. The last review I saw (several months ago) said it could be quite slow (big files not recommended), and sometimes the emails got lost and never printed. The advantage was that you could literally send/print from anywhere you have an internet connection.
keithwhite
iPF Noob
There is a solution ... I've been happily printing for a while from my iPad to my battery-operated HP H470 with absolutely no wires (and no router / pre-existing WiFi connection - it operates in AdHoc mode). Literally just the iPad and the H470 - in fact, one time in a marquee in the middle of a muddy field with no power and a long way from the nearest WiFi connection, so it can be done from literally anywhere.
I also couldn't find any info on a true mobile printing solution for iPad (or iPhone/iPod for that matter) but felt sure it must be possible, somehow - so once I'd sorted it all out, I wrote down the solution and the steps to get it to work in the hope of helping others:
http://genuinely-original.blogspot.com/search/label/iPad Printing
Hope that's useful to someone!
Thanks,
Keith
Check out Walk'n'Print Portable Printing Solution ...
twerppoet
iPad Fan
Not available yet, but interesting and certainly worth keeping an eye on. Thanks!
twerppoet
iPad Fan
A bit much for most people, but a neat solution. Thanks.
sliceoflife
iPF Noob
HP released a new product that makes their HP 100 mobile and HP 150 mobile printers work with the iPad. It is called the HP 1200w NFC Print Accessory. It only works on those two printers, but that is two more than we had before.
This video shows how to set it up.
twerppoet
iPad Fan
Awesome find! Thanks.
