Macbook Woes

[yswrox]

Hi there,

I recently joined an SME that has a sharp copy machine. I've realised that the copy machine which is on lease from Sharp does not have license for Mac. Sharp wants to charge 1600 for the Mac license, which is obviously not going to be approved by the company. I was wondering if there are alternate solutions...

The company has offered a desktop to me to use to facilitate printing. Is there a way that I can send documents to be printed from the pc via my macbook? Short of using a USB to transfer every single document...is there a more efficient form of file transfer?

Kinda regret getting a Mac now although it's pretty nice to use...file sharing is a pain as well, seems like i can't mount shortcuts to shared files in the workplace. I have to manually connect to servers in Finder to the specific shared file PCs to access the shared files...

Appreciate any help rendered

 

[Geforce3]

Simple use both like me.

 

[yswrox]

Trying to avoid that...quite likely I'll have to work on the go as well. Would prefer to have everything on 1 system...

 

[asriznet]

what model is this sharp copy machine? Need license to use it with mac, that's a first for me?

 

[yswrox]

Sharp MX-2310U...first for me too, never knew Mac license would be a separate sale...

 

[asriznet]

Sharp MX-2310U...first for me too, never knew Mac license would be a separate sale...

Users from the Apple Discussion forum claims that it requires additional hardware to be able to print from a mac via network.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/18752192?tstart=0#18752192

By licence I think they meant adding the additional hardware to include in the lease.

Not sure if it's configured with POP3 (e-mail printing), so that's another workaround for you to print directly from your mac by sending an email address assigned to the machine.

Some offices will disable this functionality though.


On the other note: you can actually create alias icons to network volume by holding down command + option key & dragging it to your desktop location.

 

[leinad]

I've never heard of printer companies charging license fees for printing from other OSes either. This is really strange.

I've used Fuji, Canon and Toshiba, no extra fees. I must admit, no experience with Sharp machines.

That said, I'm pretty sure there's got to be a way to print without additional fees. What if it were a Linux machine? Or any of the other obscure OSes? I do note the support thread linked to is a 2012 thread.

Would the November 2014 drivers on this Sharp UK site work? MX-2310U - MX2310U - Digital Copier / Printer - Archive - Sharp

Edit: It probably wouldn't work without the hardware accessory. Three quick fixes - POP/FTP printing, print through a Windows share, or install Parallels and print through that.

I'm not sure if you could get basic printing by attempting using a generic driver with the alternative protocols like HP Jetdirect Raw TCP (port 9100) , LPR printing, or IPP. Worth a shot if you aren't going to install the accessory.

/Dan

 

[eddielimcs]

Perhaps you can try one of these from Gutenprint:
Gutenprint for Mac OS X

 

[yswrox]

Users from the Apple Discussion forum claims that it requires additional hardware to be able to print from a mac via network.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/18752192?tstart=0#18752192

By licence I think they meant adding the additional hardware to include in the lease.

Not sure if it's configured with POP3 (e-mail printing), so that's another workaround for you to print directly from your mac by sending an email address assigned to the machine.

Some offices will disable this functionality though.


On the other note: you can actually create alias icons to network volume by holding down command + option key & dragging it to your desktop location.

Yes, I clarified with the Sharp customer service. By license it does mean a hardware component...I may have to resort to using POP3 if I can't find a better way. I appreciate the help either way!

I've never heard of printer companies charging license fees for printing from other OSes either. This is really strange.

I've used Fuji, Canon and Toshiba, no extra fees. I must admit, no experience with Sharp machines.

That said, I'm pretty sure there's got to be a way to print without additional fees. What if it were a Linux machine? Or any of the other obscure OSes? I do note the support thread linked to is a 2012 thread.

Would the November 2014 drivers on this Sharp UK site work? MX-2310U - MX2310U - Digital Copier / Printer - Archive - Sharp

Edit: It probably wouldn't work without the hardware accessory. Three quick fixes - POP/FTP printing, print through a Windows share, or install Parallels and print through that.

I'm not sure if you could get basic printing by attempting using a generic driver with the alternative protocols like HP Jetdirect Raw TCP (port 9100) , LPR printing, or IPP. Worth a shot if you aren't going to install the accessory.


/Dan

I will probably try to set up a shared folder with the desktop and my macbook to facilitate printing. It's currently looking like the most likely solution since I wouldn't expect the company to foot for a 1.6k bill just for my macbook. Thanks for the help though!

Perhaps you can try one of these from Gutenprint:
Gutenprint for Mac OS X

Not sure if that is a workable solution but I'll try it out...thanks!

 

[asriznet]

Or you can try as what Dan mentioned, setting up the printer using Generic Postscript Driver to use basic printing function. Nothing to lose anyways.

Still find it odd that Sharp have made it an additional option instead of built-in feature.

 

[seesiang]

Does install a VM (windows) solve the problem?

Since they say Mac is a problem, you can try virtualized it as windows.

Mac is called fusion

 

[yswrox]

Thanks for all the help...what I've done for now is to link the desktop given to me to my macbook through shared files...so I have to send whatever I want printed through to the desktop. It's working for now, and should be fine as long as the shared file system is stable. I'm still trying to work out the whole shared file system...