Setting up Printing From Macs

Macintosh printing used to be based mainly on Appletalk, which was easy to configure and use. However, Appletalk is being phased out for a variety of reasons, and we recommend the use of standard Unix lpr protocols. Apple has introduced new technologies which may turn out to be as convenient and easy as Appletalk, but we have not yet implemented them. In the meantime, you can print from your Macintosh to the printers on the above list using lpr, but you must first configure them as follows.

The following instructions apply to Mac OS X; no instructions for OS 9 are being provided, but the procedure is similar.

1. Open the Print Center (located in the Utilities folder, inside the Applications Folder).
2. Click on "add Printer," and select "IP Printing" from the pop-up menu.
3. In the "Printer's address" field, enter "printserver-1.math.berkeley.edu".
4. Uncheck "Use default queue on server."
5. Under "Queue Name", enter the name of the printer you wish to configure (e.g. "744"), and choose the printer model according to the list of public printers.

It is a good idea to select as a default printer the one you will use most. Once this is done, you can print from applications, using the application's print dialog window to change the printer and choose options as you like. Or you can use the lpr commands (with the default printer only) from a terminal window.

Last updated 9 February 2006