when i try and install the printer onto my computer, it tells me "classic cannot find a mac os 9 system folder on the start up disk to use". i do not have any of the disks that came with the computer because i bought it second-hand and i guess i need the mac os 9.1/9.2 or software restore disk. (i have mac os x)

Go to HP printer online support & look for drivers for your model. Hopefully there'll be an OSX update for it. Else, you'll need a utility like GIMPPRINT or GIMP-PRINT, which can create printer solutions for older models. I used it for an older epson printer (also given to us) which only offered OS 9 drivers at the mac/epson site. I can now use the printer for OSX. It originally took me a long time to hunt down that utility a couple of years back.

Here's some links: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9055
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15970
http://www.rosegill.com/Bullpen/Prin...GimpPrint.html
http://packages.debian.org/unstable/graphics/gimp-print

Gimp-print drivers are sometimes better than the originals in what it allows the printer to do.

__________________
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
640 K [of computer memory] ought be enough for anybody. -- Bill Gates (1981)
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. -- Albert Einstein
When facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. -- Albert Einstein
Religion keeps the poor from murdering the rich. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
The important thing is not to stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. -- Albert Einstein
"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians." -- Frank Zappa
"Tobacco is my favorite vegetable." / "May your sh*t come to life and kiss you on the face." / "Scientology, how about that? You hold on to the tin cans and then this guy asks you a bunch of questions, and if you pay enough money you get to join the master race. How's that for a religion?" / "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff." / "There are three things that smell of fish. One of them is fish. The other two are growing on you!" / "Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny." / "The creation and destruction of harmonic and 'statistical' tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese." / "Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over." / "The most important thing to do in your life, is to not interfere with somebody else's life." / "Rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, in order to provide articles for people who can't read." -- Frank Zappa
"The music business is a cruel and shallow trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson
The shy can light the dull dark room with life when their eyes mirror their inner sunrise - LOTR

wont the gimp-print thingie only work if i can install the printer onto my computer? i tried downloading software from the hp website, but my computer couldnt connect or something like that, so i cant do that. arg, why do things have to be so difficult?!

You mean HP do have an OSX driver for the printer? Try again. If you can't access it then go for the Gimp one.

Are you wanting to use the printer with OS 9 or OSX? My impression was you only had the OS 9 print driver. And it sounds like you don't have OS 9. The gimp installer you can install in OSX. It's been a while since I installed it but I remember there was a trick to setting it up for the particular printer. I think you need to have the printer connected at the time you install Gimp so it knows which driver is needed. In fact, I think that was one of the vital issues about the entire process. You also need to get the OSX system preferences open ->Print & Fax (Print option) -> Set up printers (Printer Setup Utility) -> Add. But before this you need to install gimp & name the driver. It's been a couple of yrs since I've done it. However I do need to redo it for another computer soon.

There are instructions on how to set up gimp. If none come with the downld then google gimp.

__________________
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
640 K [of computer memory] ought be enough for anybody. -- Bill Gates (1981)
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. -- Albert Einstein
When facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. -- Albert Einstein
Religion keeps the poor from murdering the rich. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
The important thing is not to stop questioning. -- Albert Einstein
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. -- Albert Einstein
"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians." -- Frank Zappa
"Tobacco is my favorite vegetable." / "May your sh*t come to life and kiss you on the face." / "Scientology, how about that? You hold on to the tin cans and then this guy asks you a bunch of questions, and if you pay enough money you get to join the master race. How's that for a religion?" / "Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff." / "There are three things that smell of fish. One of them is fish. The other two are growing on you!" / "Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny." / "The creation and destruction of harmonic and 'statistical' tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese." / "Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over." / "The most important thing to do in your life, is to not interfere with somebody else's life." / "Rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, in order to provide articles for people who can't read." -- Frank Zappa
"The music business is a cruel and shallow trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson
The shy can light the dull dark room with life when their eyes mirror their inner sunrise - LOTR