Wirelessly Print with PrintBoy Anywhere

Posted By: Ed Wednesday, June 26, 2002 8:06:22 AM

Bachmann Software has introduced PrintBoy Anywhere, which allows users to print with the wireless method of their choice. Whether the users have Bluetooth, 802.11b, modem access, or infrared, it allows them to send their data directly from a handheld to a printer . PrintBoy Anywhere is is available now for $40.

Registered users of PrintBoy Deluxe will be able to upgrade to PrintBoy Anywhere for $15.

Until this release, Bachmann had focused their PrintBoy support to infrared, since virtually all handheld devices come equipped with IR. However, the increasing use of LAN and wireless infrastructure (including both Bluetooth and network alternatives) meant PrintBoy needed to expand to other wireless communication protocols.

Wireless printing fundamentally requires three things: a transmitter, a receiver, and compatible software to allow the two devices to communicate.

The transmitter, in this case the handheld, is equipped with IR, and either Bluetooth, 802.11b, or a modem can be added.

Likewise, the receiver is the printer, and it too must be equipped either with an IR port or adapter that communicates via IR, Bluetooth or a network access connection.

PrintBoy Anywhere serves as the third component, providing software which includes print drivers for most of the popular commercial printers.

It can print from most of the Palm built in applications plus Quicksheet, Quickword, Quickoffice, Wordsmith, ThinkDB, MobileDB, Minicalc, Thinksheet, Thinkoffice, HanDBase, ThoughtManager, DocumentsToGo (documents), Student 4.0, FreeWrite, and more.

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Pranks ahead!

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2002 9:37:59 AM #

I can see it now, wandering around with this on your Palm. You are searching for printers on say a trade show floor or a retail store. One is found and you decided to make someone's day exciting. Scribble down something other than a sales slip or even a cool graphic -- WHAM! -- and in the distance you hear, "What the hell!!!"

Hehehehehehe!!!

RE: Pranks ahead!

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2002 10:06:34 AM #

I like the way you think!

Happened at PalmSource

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2002 10:27:32 AM #

This happened at the last Palm Source meeting. During a demo of a palm os device talking to a printer on stage, someone in the audiance too over the printer and started having some fun. Plan on this in the future... people will be walking down the hall outside an xyz company sending jokes (er,... yea yea, jokes. ) to all the Bluetooth printers. Now I'm not sure I'm happy about being a corp IT person. Ha!

Printer questions?

palmsolo @ 6/26/2002 10:29:29 AM #

If I have a wireless router that has a printer connection (SMC Barricade 802.11b router) will I be able to print from my device to the printer? Or will I still need some adapter directly connected to my printer? Thanks for the help.

RE: Printer questions?

bcombee @ 6/26/2002 12:40:23 PM #

From the specs, it looks like it would work. To quote Bachmann's site:

System Requirements for Network:
Transmitter:Modem sled or 802.11b/Ethrnet card required
Receiver:Network printer with dedicated IP address

However, you'd need to make sure your printer was on the supported list. Just because there's a Win32 driver for the printer doesn't mean that PrintBoy knows how to talk to it.

--
CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Programming help at www.palmoswerks.com

Sheet To Go still not supported

Altema @ 6/26/2002 10:24:45 AM #

Only the document portion of DTG is supported. Just thought I'd mention it as an FYI.

MiniCalc is still my favorite SS, despite the weird 1904 dating which is non-default in windows (screws up date lists big time). You have to change the setting in Excel to match, which messes with every sheet you created in the past. Still, it's nice to create a sheet on the fly and print it on the spot with the onlooker's mouth hanging open.

No ThoughtManager support

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2002 4:32:09 PM #

Unfortunately, it *cannot* print within ThoughtManager

RE: No ThoughtManager support

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2002 4:45:23 PM #

How do you explain that their site says:

Since outlines are often created as a work-in-process, many users prefer to print and edit them on paper. PrintBoy supports ThoughtManager, among the most popular outline applications for the Palm OS.

RE: No ThoughtManager support

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2002 5:04:53 PM #

Yes, I do see that on their website. For some reason, in the version you download at least, there is no outline printer included. It is not mentioned at all in the included documentation either. Strange...