I just discovered a major annoyance in how OS X.3 Panther handles wireless networking and sleep. I have been trying to figure out why I could no longer print over my wireless connection, and it turns out that if I let my iBook go to sleep for more than a minute or so, it loses the ability to locate printers hosted by cups servers.
If I connect to a wired network, I see the shared printer as Shared Printers in the Printer Setup Utility.
And if I examine the contents of /etc/printcap, that looks OK:
# This file was automatically generated by cupsd(8) from the
/private/etc/cups/printers.conf file. All changes to this file
will be lost.
lp@red.paulbeard.org|kludgy non-PS HP1100:rm=127.0.0.1:rp=lp@red.paulbeard.org:
But if I drop off the network, I can’t re-establish connections with the same services. I have tried restarting the airport network, powering the card on and off, nothing doing. The only solution I have found so far is to connect to a wired network.
And if I create a static printer that points to the same device, it doesn’t work. That may be a workaround I try next: the printers.conf file is empty right now, so the warning header in the printcap is actually an untruth. The printcap is actually populated by whatever the cups daemon sees on the network. If I create a working printer in the printers.conf file that will survive network outages, that might work.
Very annoying. What the &^*&^(* is it with OS X and printing, anyway?
[Posted with ecto]
<update> It has bupkus to do with sleeping or waking. If the machine is rebooted on a wireless network, it can’t find the printer here. If I switch to wired ethernet, it just takes a few seconds to pop up. Stopping/starting services or hardware does nothing.
Color me annoyed.