Before adding a printer in Mac OS X, make sure you have the driver installed first. A lot of the time, the printer driver is already pre-installed depending on how new the printer is and/or how current your version of OS X is. Its not such a big deal if you plug the printer in before installing the drivers like it can be with Windows. Below are the steps to add a USB printer to Mac OS X.
1. Install the driver if necessary. Most installs are very basic, just launch the installer and next your was through it. If its not needed, skip this step. (Note: Sometimes the printer software will tell you when to plug in the USB cable...if so, skip all remaining steps and follow the printer software instructions instead.)
2. Click on the Apple Menu in the top left, then click on System Preferences as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
3. Click on the Print & Fax
System Preference as shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2
4. Click on the + as shown in
Figure 3 to add a printer:
Figure 3
5. The Printer Browser Window
will launch and in the center box, will show all the
connected printers using either USB, or through the network
(see figure 4). Select the printer you want to add and then
click on the Add button below. The Printer should now be
added and you're ready to print from any OS X app.
Figure 4
Later on I will add a tutorial
for adding a Windows printer.
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