![]() Despite my best efforts, I can't justify the expense, at least not right now. My wife has a Kindle Fire which I use quite a bit. In addition to my desktop machine, I have an iphone and a laptop. ![]() For me, the expense and overall lack of necessity are the other reasons. Printing, though, is just one reason I don't own an ipad. So, while people such as myself are in the minority and will always be in the minority, the number of people who want to print from an idevice is only going to increase. But, Apple has pushed the ipad as device that can be used to create, even going as far to offer creation apps such as pages for it. Why not build something into the iOS that makes printing universal, reliable and easy, regardless of printer? Of all the companies out there, Apple is easily one of the ones that could find a way to do it. One way or the other, it was easy to print, even if you didn't have the software that shipped with the printer. You just might not be able to use all of the features build into the printer. Use the generic postscript laser printer PPD and you can still print. Don't have the right PPD for the printer that you have handy? Fine. You had the "laserwriter printer driver" in your computer and a PPD for the given printer. I loved when I had postscript (or postscript emulation) printers at home. But, print a hardcopy? If only it was that easy! Unlike an iPhone, you can do some serious work on an ipad. The lack of a true printing architecture is one of the reasons I don't own an ipad yet. The system that exists right now is jerry-rigged at best and, overall, a big pain in the butt. ![]() Great stuff! You can download a free demo of the software here.I've been saying for a long time that Apple needs to include an actual reliable printing architecture in the iOS. This means you don’t need to think about opening an Application on your Mac for it to work, instead you just know you can print if your Mac is turned on. ![]() The application is hidden away on your Mac due to it being in the System Preference panel which I also really like. Overall Printopia is one of the most useful Applications you can download currently and it works brilliantly well with your iPad and iPhone. I have used a huge variety of printers and they all print out what I have told them to identically, so it is consistent one of my original worries. Information is sent from your iPhone and iPad very quickly through the Mac and to the printer of choice. Once you’ve ticked a printer you can start printing web pages, emails, notes, iWork documents ect. The interface to set all this up is literally just ticking the boxes of the printers you want to be shared, very very easy to use. The Application installs itself on your Mac within the System Preference panel and allows you to select which printers connected to your Mac (also lets you use network printers) to be usable from an iOS device. ![]() So we can now only print from our iPhone’s, iPod touch’s and iPad’s to selected printers which have wireless (walk up technology) printing onboard. Apple had the original intention to include this ability but decided to strip it from the final release of iOS 4.2. You may or may not know that iOS 4.2 lacks the ability to print to a shared printer connected to your Mac. ![]()
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