AirPrint

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

AirPrint
Developer(s)Apple Inc. and Hewlett-Packard
Initial releaseNovember 22, 2010; 13 years ago (2010-11-22)
Websitesupport.apple.com/en-us/HT201311 Edit this on Wikidata

AirPrint is a feature in Apple Inc.'s macOS and iOS operating systems for printing without installing printer-specific drivers.

Connection is via a local area network (often via Wi-Fi),[1][2] either directly to AirPrint-compatible printers, or to non-compatible shared printers by way of a computer running Microsoft Windows, Linux,[3] or macOS.[2][4][5]

History and printer compatibility

Following the iPad's introduction in 2010, user concerns were raised about the product's inability to print, at least through a supported Apple solution. Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs reportedly replied "It will come" in May 2010 to a user request for printing.[6]

AirPrint's Fall 2010 introduction, as part of iOS 4.2, gave

Mac OS X Lion release.[7]

At launch, twelve printers were AirPrint compatible,

Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One series. As of July 2020, that number had grown to about 6,000 compatible printer models from two dozen different manufacturers. The current list can be found on Apple's support site.[7] The related technology is covered by US patent 2011194123A1
, "Printer that supports driverless printing" .

AirPrint was originally intended for iOS devices and connected via a Wi-Fi network only, and thus required a Wi-Fi access point. However, with the introduction of AirPrint to the macOS desktop platform in 2012, Macs connected to the network via Ethernet connection could also print using the AirPrint protocol—not just those connected via Wi-Fi. Direct Wi-Fi connection between the device and the printer is not supported by default,[7] but has appeared as the 'HP ePrint Wireless Direct AirPrint' feature. It uses a proprietary page description language called Apple Raster.[9]

Non-AirPrint printer support

A number of software solutions allow for non-AirPrint printers to be used with iOS devices, by configuring support on an intermediary system accessible via Wi-Fi, connected to the printer. Since AirPrint is driverless, such a configuration compensates for the printer's lack of native AirPrint support by using the drivers on the intermediary system instead.

The simplest solution for all platforms is to create a new

open-source solutions in Linux.[3] This works in many cases because AirPrint is an extension of the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), which many printers already support either directly, or as a result of being shared through an intermediary system (typically CUPS
, the Mac/Linux printing system). This approach is limited however, as the AirPrint-specific components of the protocol are missing. This can lead to compatibility issues and unexpected results. Some software packages address this completely by translating between the two dialects of IPP, avoiding compatibility issues, while most just re-share printers using the AirPrint service name.

For Microsoft Windows, there are free[10] and paid solutions.[11]

On macOS, a Bonjour service exists that enables AirPrint support for non-AirPrint printers.[12] Commercial macOS software for this purpose includes Netputing handyPrint[13] and Ecamm Printopia.[14]

In most Linux distributions, AirPrint support should be automatic with the CUPS default printing subsystem since version 1.4.6, which has been released on January 6, 2011

DNS-SD printer service discovery records to a name server.[18]

Apps and utilities

There are a number of third party solutions, available on the Apple

subnets. It requires a server running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, and one server can potentially serve an entire organization.[20]

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ "Software update", iPad, UK: Apple
  2. ^ a b "AirPrint" (Press release). UK: Apple. September 15, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Finnie, Ryan (November 13, 2010). "AirPrint & Linux" (how-to). Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  4. ^ AirPrint: how to make it work for shared printers, TUAW, November 11, 2010
  5. ^ "Printing from iPad AirPrint via Cups" (how-to). CC: Rho. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  6. ^ Kim, Arnold (May 9, 2010). "Steve Jobs Says Printing "Will Come" for iPad". MacRumors. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c "About AirPrint". Apple. September 28, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  8. ^ Kovach, Steve (January 7, 2011). "Only 12 Printers Work With Apple's AirPrint — Here's The List (AAPL, HPQ)". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  9. ^ "Driverless Printing Standards And their PDLS". OpenPrinting. April 29, 2022.
  10. ^ "AirPrint Installer". Forums.macrumors.com. December 19, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  11. ^ "Collobos Presto". Collobos.com. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  12. ^ "AirPrint enable your legacy printer". Rigsb.net. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  13. ^ "handyPrint (formerly known as AirPrint Activator)". Netputing.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  14. ^ "Ecamm Printopia". Ecamm.com. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  15. ^ "All Articles - CUPS.org". CUPS. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  16. ^ "Please test AirPrint on Natty and Oneiric". Ubuntu Developers Mailing List. June 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  17. ^ "Distrowatch.com: Fedora". DistroWatch. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  18. ^ "DNS Service Discovery". Dns-sd.org. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  19. ^ "Netgear Genie App Makes Any Printer Airprint-Compatible". Netgear.co.uk. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  20. ^ "iPhone and iPad printing for Enterprise". Printopia Pro. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AirPrint&oldid=1186334741"