Why can’t I print?

So today I needed to print some documents for work tomorrow and would my Canon MP600R print? No it would not!

It was only while I was doing the washing up that I remembered that my Canon MP600r was wireless and of course I had only recently changed my 802.11g wireless network.

So of course I had to reconfigure the MP600R to join the new wireless network. Alas you can’t do this wirelessly, nor using the control panel on the printer itself. You need to connect via USB and then configure (on a Mac) via Printer Setup Utility.

Though usually this is a straightforward process, I had real problems today. Though I could change the settings I could not actually add the printer. In the end it actually froze my iMac and I needed to hard reboot. Once this was done I found I could add the printer.

Then of course I now need to check I can print from my other computers.

Digital Photography Reviews

Digital Photography Review has recently reviewed quite a few digital cameras these are well detailed and thorough reviews and well worth reading if you are interested in getting a new digital camera.

Olympus SP-560UZ

Canon PowerShot SX100 IS

Sony Alpha DSLR-A700

Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10

The Sony looks like the one I would buy if I was buying a new digital camera, but then I am very fond of my Sony Cybershot and would be interested to see how their SLRs perform compared to my Canon.

Annoying Printer

Though I really do like my new Canon MP600r multi-function printer, there is one aspect which does annoy me slightly.

If you need to reconfigure the wireless connection you need to connect it to the Mac by USB cable. This can be difficult if the printer is not near the computer, which it might well be as that’s certainly why I bough a wireless printer. If I wanted a wired USB printer I would have bought the much cheaper MP600.

Canon MP600r

Ah well, at least I have reconfigured the printer to join my new Airport Extreme wireless network, and now I can print and scan over the wireless network.

A618 Photo Printer

I recently replaced my older HP PhotoSmart 6″x 4″ printer with a new model.

The HP A618 PhotoSmart Printer is slightly bigger than my previous model, but it can print up to 7″x 5″ as well as the standard 6″x 4″.

It comes with integrated Bluetooth which is useful for printing from a mobile phone and from a computer, avoids the need to find that USB cable.

It doesn’t come with a battery, which is an optional extra, but I will be getting a battery, as I found that really useful on my older printer.

The quality is excellent and I am certainly impressed with the quality of the prints.

When it comes to printing photographs, I know I could use my Canon MP600r, but personally I have found it much easier to use a dedicated photo printer such as the A618. Not only is it quicker and easier especially in terms of setup, and choosing the right paper, the fact you can just plug in your camera or the camera’s memory card avoids many of the problems that I have had when printing photographs from my regular printer.