Answers...

to commonly asked questions.

wireless printers, USB hubs and old school macs



We have replaced an older, HP printer that I could not get to function wirelessly.  We now have an HP OfficeJet Pro 7590.  This generation can function wirelessly, but I am uncertain that I purchased one that has that capacity since I cannot get it to work.  As before, we would prefer to eliminate the cords and have this function wirelessly.  
Can we have this printer on another wireless system?  

we should have no problem getting it onto your wireless network but it looks like we'd need to use an airport express to get data over to the printer.  As a note, some multifunction printers lose certain functions when wireless. ie:  scanning, faxing.  HP seems to be ahead of the rest of the printer manufacturers in this area however so we'll just have to see how the 7590 acts once wireless.   Sometimes it's a few extra steps but I feel confident we can accomplish it.  

I have an Extreme and one Express network connected now.  How many Express extensions can my Mac Mini handle?

On mac mini really only related to one express.  The more appropriate question may be "how many expresses can an Extreme handle?".  The Extreme can support up to 5 airport expresses.  Each express can support audio out to a stereo or printers via their usb port.  So purchasing an additional express for your printer may be a good idea unless you feel we can use the current express that you have with the printer.  

We also have purchased, an Epson V700 digitizer, to begin digitizing the over 5000 slides I have taken over the years for my class use and for a digital library.  I do not need the digitizer to function wirelessly and can move it around to hook it up through USB ports when I need it.  However, with my screen, my backup (Lacie) hard drive, my usual portable thumb drive, I seldom have a spare USB port.  The extension devices I have seen seem to “hang off” the back of the computer with no support for the cords that will connect into them.  Is there a better way?

a USB 2.0 hub may be a better answer for your setup.  USB connections will support up to 127 devices chained together over mulitple hubs.  The only thing then to consider is how much power each device needs and therefore you'll need a USB hub that can be plugged in so it supplies its own power instead of relying on the USB port from the computer only.  
Is there a way that I can have more ports in a location a few feet 
away from my Mac Mini?
You can use the USB hub to connect to your your computer using one port.  Just use a long usb cable to connect into the back of your monitor or mac mini directly.  

Finally, I need to clean off an older computer – a Power PC 8500-180 which was supported by an Iomega Zip drive.  We would like to be able to get the contents of this computer into to a format we could read on my Mini so that I could determine what to toss and what to save.  I am especially concerned about the contents of I Photo and Nikon and Sony camera processing software that I may have used before I went to I Photo.
Wow, into OS9 we will go.  Depending on what type of documents we're trying to convert into present day, our success rate will vary.  iWork has the ability to recover older clarisworks and Appleworks documents and Microsoft Office does a descent job of recovering old word and excel documents.  As for your pictures, if we can find the originating folders they are stored in, we shouldn't have a problem retrieving them.  The more difficult issue at hand is that the drive in that old 8500 is a scsi drive.  I hope the computer still boots and even if it does, networking from OS 9 to a modern operating system can be a bit difficult.  However, if all else fails we should still be able to port the data over by other means if necessary.  flash drive, floppy drive, etc...

If all of these things can be done, I assume I will need to purchase some equipment – another Express? and/or some sort of USB extension device?  I can have whatever you need here for you when you come if you will give me a list.
Things you may want to consider purchasing:
1 additional airport express
1 USB 2.0 powered 7 port or greater hub.
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