Printing With WebTV

Printing with WebTV

There are so many neat things you can do, if you have a printer connected to your WebTV.

You can print out birthday cards, recipes, emails you want to save, web pages, coloring pages for your kids and so on.

You can also find a good word processor, (there is a link on the bottom of this page to a word processor, along with some printing sites.), and type up your own letters and things to print out.

So let's find out what kind of printer you need, and let you in on some of the options and problems you may run into.

Printers Compatible with WebTV

There are approximately 13 different makes and models of webtv units out there now.

To find out what printers are compatible with your make and model webtv unit, you will need to go to the webtv homepage, click on the "HELP" button, then look under "EQUIPMENT", and click on "PRINTERS", then "DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS". Then Click on "BEFORE YOU CAN PRINT", and then click on "COMPATIBLE PRINTERS". You will then be able to find a printer that is compatible with your unit.

In addition to a compatible printer, you will need a parallel printer cable...also called an "IEEE-1284 Compliant Centronics C36 male to DB25 male" cable.

You can double check this information by following the same routine as described above, only instead of clicking "COMPATIBLE PRINTERS", click " PRINTING REQUIREMENTS"

Note to classic users: If you are using an old classic unit, you will also need an adaptor. THis will be listed under "PRINTING REQUIREMENTS" also.

PRINTER COMPANY WEB SITES

Hewlett Packard
Canon
Epson

Once you've hooked up all the necessary equipment, your receiver will automatically determine what kind of printer you have.
Note: Your printer may have included some disks or a CD containing software. Because your receiver already has the software it needs to operate your printer, you won't need these disks.

Where is the Print command located?

The Print command can be found by either pressing the OPTIONS KEY, or by pressing the CMD and P keys at the same time. If you do not see the option to print, make sure the connections from the WebTV terminal to the adapter and from the adapter to the printer, are secure. The adapter must be firmly seated into the WebTV port.

Printing a Page

When you're on a page you want to print, press the OPTIONS button on your remote control. Or, if you have a wireless keyboard, you can press the OPTIONS key. The OPTIONS panel will appear.

Choose the button at the bottom of the panel, labeled print. A panel will appear.To print the entire page, including any part of it off the screen, choose PRINT.

To print just the part of the page that is visible, choose PRINT SCREEN.

The Printing Options button allows you to change how pages will be printed.

Printing Options Available

1.You can set your printer to always print text with black ink.

2.You can have the date, time, and Web page address added to each printed page.

3.Some images don't appear when you print a page because they are background images. You can set your printer to print background images.

To set any of these printer options, choose printing options and check off the appropriate box:

These options affect how pages will be printed.
Print text in black
Print date and Web info
Print background images

PRINTING

Keep in mind, when you print, that your printed pages will sometimes look different from the pages you see on the screen.

When you choose PRINT, often the page gets reformatted using the printer's smaller fonts.

When you choose PRINT SCREEN, the page is not reformatted, so there are fewer differences.

Also, if you are printing a WebTV page, the sidebar on the left of the page won't be printed.

Printer Problems

Here are some common problems that you may encounter when printing.

THE PRINTER NEEDS MORE PAPER

Your printer may run out of paper while you are printing a Web page. If this happens, you can add more paper to the printer and it will finish printing that Web page.

PRINTER NOT FOUND

Make sure your printer is connected and turned on. Check the cable to make sure it is firmly in place. You might need to tell WebTV which model printer you have.

PAPER JAMMED

If paper gets stuck inside the printer, you need to remove it before the printer can operate properly. Open the printer and remove any jammed or damaged sheets of paper. Make sure to check the place where blank paper enters the printer. When you're done, press the paper feed button on the printer.

PRINTER IS OFF-LINE

When a printer is off-line, it is not paying attention to commands from your receiver. Push the on-line button on the printer to put the printer back on-line. You should also make sure that your printer's cover is closed and that its ink cartridges are firmly in place.

PRINTER BUSY

If the printer won't print because it says it is busy, it is probably still printing the last page you asked it to print. Wait until the printer has finished and try again.

PRINTER CARTRIDGE IS MISSING

Before you print, make sure the ink cartridge is firmly in place. If your printer has more than one cartridge, make sure they are both installed.

PHOTO INK CARTRIDGES

The "Can't use this cartridge" message means you've installed a photo ink cartridge in your printer. WebTV can print with this cartridge, but can't use it fully. You should replace the photo ink cartridge with an ordinary cartridge.

PRINTER IS LOADING IMAGES

When you print a page with lots of images, it might take a while for the printer to get all of the information it needs to print. A page with many images may take as long as several minutes to print.

We hope this page has helped you somewhat, in finding the right printer for your web, and helping you with some of the common printing problems.

Printing Links to get you started

Word Processor-This is great for writting stuff up that you want to print out

Printing Help Sites

Printing Resources

H.P Printer Cleaner

Tutorial written and researched by Don, REMEMBERTHEN@webtv.net .

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