Teacher can't get Open Office to recognize network printers on school macs
 

Hi!
So my Oakland Public school is going ahead with Open Office rather than Word!Schoolwide! Open source software education victory!Next campaign...recycled machines run on Linux! The administration is open, but one step at a time....

We have Apple Emacs on system OSX 10.4.2 and I can NOT get them to recognize HP LaserJets 1320 and 1200 we use....everything else is going good with them...what to do? We have to be able to print...don't want to lose momentum on all this.:confused:

You should use Apple Vi instead ;)

Educate me, please
 

What is Apple vi and why should I use it instead of open office? Not to sound disrespectful, I would just like to truly know...:D

Sorry, that was a joke after your spelling mistake (Emacs vs Macs).

For details google "emacs vs vi".

I have no idea about how to connect a printer with Mac OS X, and I doubt LinuxQuestions is the best place to ask, but who knows ...

Open Source as a door to using linux school wide
 

I do not mean to use this forum inappropriately...using Open Office will open the door to going Linux schoolwide, everyone is seeing this use of Open Office as a test drive for Open Source software in general...so where to go for Open Office help?

The model of macs we have are called eMac....they're alright, I'm not sold on them as the best use of school funds, as I said I'm advocating recycled machines on Linux as the way to go for ou rlab...people just like new stuff so much....

OpenOffice.org forums would be fine.
Okay, so that was a minor typo.
Not using Windows is already a good proof of openness.

My understanding is the eMac is cheaper version of the iMac for the education department. It has no modem and is just designed to run on a network.

Go to www.openoffice.org and go into its technical support section.

One of the first things you will have to state is which version of OpenOffice you are using, as there are tremendous differences in many ways between OO 1.x and OO 2.x.

You are right, though. Show that open software is a viable alternative in general and people start oopening up to the idea of Linux for more than just the geek or curious.

Thanks, good ideas
 

eMacs are alright...we have a good district server all schools are on the network with.....We are using Open Office 2.0 run on the X11 "engine" so they work on the eMacs....any other input I appreciate...going to the tech support section of O.O.org...not too much so far...trying the forum!:)

Have you set up CUPS? What have you tried and do you get any kind of messages?
Which version are you using, because I found this:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/...0_for_Mac_OS_X


Maybe try a newer version if you don't find an answer on their forums?

Moved: This thread is more suitable in General and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

I will check that version
 

The disk we're using was burned in early June, could be the build issued before 6/3.

I know how to configure CUPS in Linux, but not in Mac....uh...will go to an appropriate forum for that...thanks for all th good help...this is an important one!

1) Are your printers recognised by OS X? Can you print from other applications with no problems.

2) I suggest that you try Neooffice. This is a version of Openoffice that runs natively on OS X using Aqua. It is much better than Openoffice for the Mac, because you do not need to use X11. Currently, Neooffice Beta 2 is available - I use it and it is very stable. It is based on Openoffice 2.0.2.

3) The print system on OS X is CUPS. You don't need to configure it like on linux - simply go to the System Preferences and click Print and Fax. Everything should be self explanatory from there.

I hope this helps
--Ian

I'll try Neo-Office
 

Thanks,
The OS does recognize the printers and I can print from Appleworks. We talked about just using Appleworks, but it does'nt import Microsoft docs well at all, and dealing with a constant stream of district communications we have to be able to go back and forth between MS Word and what we use.

Can Neo Office translate Microsoft documents?

My plan is to make sure we have the newest version of Open Office and give Neo Office a test drive.


As stated earlier, we are on a campaign to have under funded urban schools awaken to the Open Source world of incredible software, and eventually have our school and more use recycled machines on Linux! Awareness of it in education is surprisingly thin.:D

Neooffice is Openoffice. It imports word documents exactly the same as Openoffice. It uses the same document format is OOo (Oasis Opendocument). The only difference is that it runs natively, instead on using X11. The menus and everything are exactly the same, the only difference being that they display accross the top of the screen like a proper mac app, rather than in the window.

Neooffice displays much nicer - on my Mac the OO interface was a bit grainy, and the fonts were crap (almost like Linux 5 years ago). Neooffice uses native mac fonts, so has none of these problems.

I strongly recommend that you try Neooffice, since I think it is actually what you want.

--Ian