Printer bodge

Okay i have currently two computers

One running win2k and a apple powerbook with osx

Now my problem is that they can't share printers but i have thought of what could be considered a bodge.

The powerbook can spit out any print as a pdf now what i am wondering is the possibility of getting the mac to save the pdf to a folder on pc (easy) then for a little program to watch this folder and then if anything new comes along it then prints it out and then either deletes the file or just leaves it.

Do you have a network ? If you do you could get a print server and just connect the printer to the network.

As the big yellow man sayes Doh

Okay i want this as i have a network with apple on wireless and everything else hard wired

Now i am not too sure of getting a printer server as it may involve cash and being a scots man well.

I have a few old pcs lying around that are willing to put their life on the line but i am about as non techy as you get here.

Either i find a solution or i walk into toy room and plug it in

What printer is it ?

Can't you just share the printer from the PC and the mac can access it? Or vice versa?

sadly there be no easy or cheap was of sharing printers via a mac and a PC it is basically samba that is installed on the mac for talking to PCs

Keep the printer on your Windows and do the following on your Mac:

1. Open the Terminal program
2. Type "cd /usr/libexec/cups/backend"
3. Type "sudo ln -s /usr/bin/smbspool smb" and type your password when prompted.
4. Type "sudo killall -HUP cupsd"
5. Close Terminal, and open Print Center
6. Hold the Option key, and click Add
7. Select Advanced, then Windows Printer via SAMBA
8. Name the printer in Device Name
9. For Device URI, type smb://192.168.0.10/printername/ (Change the 192.168.0.10 to the IP of your Windows 2000 machine)
10. Select the Printer Model and Name, then click Add

Second solution is to upgrade to Panther this Friday, it has Windows Printing enabled out of the box, and even supports browsing the network to see the printer.

Damn

you realise that your post has cost me £100

i now have a perfectly good reason to go and buy panther

i was going to buy it anyway i just hadn't thought of a reason to until now

)