An open community 
of Macintosh users,
for Macintosh users.

FineTunedMac Dashboard widget now available! Download Here

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
#8193 02/05/10 06:13 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
Douglas Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
I've had a number of AIO printers from HP and Canon. All of them allowed PC's to fax documents from the PC through the AIO fax. This option is not available for Macs.

Is there something in the Mac architecture that prevents us from being able to fax directly from our computer using the fax in the AIO. I don't know about others but it would certainly be handy if I could fax files directly from my computer.

Yes I know I can fax from my mac with the external USB modem but why should I have to buy one of those when I have a perfectly good fax in the AIO machine.

Thanks

Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Douglas #8200 02/06/10 12:50 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
> Yes I know I can fax from my mac with the external USB modem but why should I have to buy one of those when I have a perfectly good fax in the AIO machine.

I assume you meant to say "I have a perfectly good modem in the AIO machine?"

I'm guessing that you clicked on some manner of "Fax" button and got a "No fax modems were found" pop-up; if so, did you try sending your doc to your printer and faxing it from there, rather than trying to fax it directly from your Mac?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
artie505 #8202 02/06/10 02:17 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
Douglas Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
So far as I can tell there is no way to send a document to the printer without printing it and then putting the printed document in the fax.

PC's are able to fax documents directly from the computer to the AIO fax modem.

Yes I did mean a perfectly good modem in the AIO machine.

Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Douglas #8205 02/06/10 06:53 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Sorry, but I've exhausted my capacity for guessing; it might pay you to contact your AIO's manufacturer.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Douglas #8211 02/06/10 03:01 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Originally Posted By: Douglas
... why should I have to buy one [...] when I have a perfectly good fax in the AIO machine.

For your purposes 'a perfectly good fax' is one that in addition to being in good working order is (1) properly connected to both computer and phone line and (2) has the appropriate fax driver software installed on the computer(s) it is to work with, be they Macs, Unix or Windows machines. (In this context I consider 'fax' equal to 'modem'.)

Your AIO manual should have instructions for both external requirements, as well as for obtaining updates for the fax software. If you don't have a manual any longer, most manufacturers usually have PDF copies available on their Support web sites.


alternaut moderator
Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
alternaut #8218 02/06/10 04:15 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
Douglas Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
I'm sorry but everyone is missing the point of my question.

I'm not seeking a solution. PC's can fax straight from the computer with most AIO printers. With those same AIO's Mac's cannot do that.

I was just curious if there was something in the Mac OS architecture that prevents AIO's from from offering that same feature. There must be some reason why AIO's would offer that on a PC but not for a Mac.

Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Douglas #8219 02/06/10 04:36 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Offline

Joined: Sep 2009
Originally Posted By: Douglas
I was just curious if there was something in the Mac OS architecture that prevents AIO's from from offering that same feature.

Architecture is not the problem. The driver needs to be there. Why don't Macs come with every single driver in existence pre-installed? Who knows... probably because It would waste more space than is already being wasted, imho. [have you measured the size of /Library/Printers lately?] Or, perhaps the company hasn't written the Mac version of some particular driver for some particular model. They're being lazy because they think PCs are all that matter to their business.

It's all a bunch of ones and zeros under the hood. Macs can do anything PCs can do (in terms of hardware capabilities). There just needs to be the willingness on the part of software designers to sit down and write the code.

So, it probably all boils down to money. Money is the "problem".

^- that is, if the driver doesn't exist. Like alternaut says, just go get the driver and you're all set.

Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Hal Itosis #8229 02/06/10 07:14 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
Douglas Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
Neither HP or Canon drivers for their AIO's allow Mac's to fax directly from the computer. All the PC drivers allow PC's to fax directly from the computer.

It obviously can't be that difficult so I was just wondering why they would short Mac's on features for no apparent reason unless there was something about Macs that made it much more difficult.

Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Douglas #8231 02/06/10 09:25 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
If you don't mind my saying so, you're looking at things from a wrong (albeit reasonable) perspective. What you see is an example of Mac Marginalization, and it has little to do with the Mac or the Mac OS other than that developers have to do extra work to port their software to Mac OS. They or their employers choose not to do so for a variety of reasons, several of which are hardly reasonable (something you might—erroneously—expect), but widespread nonetheless.


alternaut moderator
Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
alternaut #8233 02/06/10 10:13 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
Douglas Offline OP
OP Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 2
I guess that's the answer but it just seemed that since HP, Canon and Epson all allow faxing from PC's but not from Mac's there must be some technical issue.

Just to be more competitive one would think that one of them would offer faxing directly from a Mac.

But what do I know I'm just the 800 pound gorilla. . . .

Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Douglas #8235 02/07/10 02:41 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 5
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 5
I'm VERY far away from my home AIO HP7600 series right now, but looking at the drivers installed here on my MacBook I see a printer listed as "Fax (Officejet Pro L7680)".....it was an install option when I ran the HP Install software and exists in addition to and separately from the main AIO printer driver that prints to paper.

It's been a really long time ago that I made the installation, but as I recall I was able to send a fax directly from the computer by selecting this printer driver (which is different from the printer that I select to send a print job to paper on the same AIO device) as the print destination.

FWIW, this AIO is accessed over my home WiFi network from anywhere in the house (as the AIO is attached by ethernet cable directly to the wireless router in my office) and I can print, scan and fax to the device directly from the computer.....

If you aren't able to use any of the other features for your AIO except your printer (to paper) then it is most likely because you don't have the full software suite of utilities and drivers installed.

I can't address the Canon or Epson AIO's directly, but in my case I got the install software directly from the HP support site for my AIO.

Hope this helps.


Freedom is never free....thank a Service member today.
Re: Curious Question Regarding AIO printers
Douglas #8237 02/07/10 04:49 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
I just set up one yesterday that when you set it up, it adds TWO printers. One is a printer printer, and the other prints to the fax. When you go into the print dialog after selecting the fax print, change the view from pages/copies to fax settings. set the number and hit print.

I've set up a dozen of these in the last few years and that's how they all work. You don't set up a fax, it works as a printer. This particular one was integrated into Addressbook even.


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department

Moderated by  alternaut, cyn 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4
(Release build 20200307)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.035s Queries: 38 (0.027s) Memory: 0.6288 MB (Peak: 0.7299 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 11:27:33 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS