iPad printing via Airport Express

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niekerkj

52 posts

Master Geek

# 96257 23-Jan-2012 20:36

Hi All,

I'm one of the many people who are struggling to find a reliable and simple way to print from my new iPad2.

I've currently got a Brother 2270DW wireless laser printer which works very well over my existing wireless network. I use a Telecom supplied Thomson router and my laptop runs on Vista.

I also have a Qnap 219P NAS which have a print server, but I was never able to get my previous Brother printer to work with that.

Now my question: will I be able to over-ome my problem with an Apple Airport Express? Ideally I would just want to link it to my current wireless network and thereby enable my Brother printer to be available to my iPad for printing.

I also have a Canon inkjet printer which I occasionaly use for photo printing - I believe the Airport Express also has an USB port, so hopefully I'll be able to print to the Canon as well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

apdv1

19 posts

Geek

# 572717 24-Jan-2012 13:10

Check out Printopia by ecamm (if you haven't already)

niekerkj

52 posts

Master Geek

# 572758 24-Jan-2012 14:18

hi,

Thanks for your reply.

My understanding is that Printopia requires:

- Mac OS X 10.5 or newer
- The Mac to be always logged on

As I'm running a Vista laptop which is not always logged on, I may not be able to use Printopia - unless I'm missing something?

I'm found a similar product called Fingerprint by Collobos, but again, I'll have to keep my laptop switched on.

Thanks

UncleArk

92 posts

Master Geek

# 572816 24-Jan-2012 16:00

Have you tried the "Brother iPrint&Scan" app which is free in the App store?

While I don't have a Brother printer I use a similar app for my HP and Canon printers and these work just fine for printing directly from the iPad or iPhone over my home WiFi...

niekerkj

52 posts

Master Geek

# 572822 24-Jan-2012 16:07

Hi,

Yes, dowloaded and tried it and it does not pick my printer up. The app only works with Brother's multifunction printers and high-end laser printer - hopefully they will roll it out to all their printers at some stage....

MontyP11

1 post

Wannabe Geek

# 572941 24-Jan-2012 20:23

I use an app called PrintCentral Pro, it is very popular and it works great with both my wireless printer and also my USB printer that is hooked into my airport express. There is not need to have your computer on like printopia because it prints directly to my printer straight from the ipad. Also it has useful document storage and transfer. Just do a search in the app store for PrintCentral Pro and you will find it.