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Printing from USB to Android - how easy?

OM2

Android Enthusiast
Jun 12, 2010
251
22
How easy is it to print from Android to a USB printer?

I've seen one video.
They get a printer cable and connect an adapter.
Hey presto, you can now print.
This is the video:

I am very skeptical.
Is it that easy?
I didn't see many other videos of the same - there were hardly any, most irrelevant.

Would be good to hear if anyone knows.
 
Printing from Android is going to be a conditional matter, just like with any Windows, Mac, or Linux desktop. If the manufacturer of the printer itself doesn't provide a valid, working driver for their product, the odds it will work with whatever device you have will be a hit-or-miss issue -- i.e. a lot of older HP laser printers will work with using a generic PostScript driver (although just being able to print might not apply to specific features like duplex printing). But most printers are very proprietary and functionally work of off restricted firmware. So even if you can get your Android device to detect your printer, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be able to print from it, things are all based on the printer model and if there's an appropriate driver (and note that with Android the driver/firmware is typically within an app, it's not like you can manually install a driver like with a desktop OS).
 
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