I can’t connect to a shared printer on my XP computer through my 7 one

I’m trying to print to an Epson printer over my network that is hooked up by a USB port to a Dell tower that is running Windows XP. I have a Toshiba laptop that is running Windows 7. I want to share files between the two, and I want to print documents, that are on my laptop, on the printer that is hooked up to the Dell tower. I have only once seen the Dell on the computers list on my laptop through the network window, both machines are in the same workgroup, I can ping the Dell successfully from my Toshiba through Command Prompt and vise versa. The printer IS shared on the Dell, and other XP machines can print to it.
I’m not sure what to do next since contacting Microsoft didn’t work well.