It seems some people may be interested in my posting this a second time. Will S
>The one missing piece to moving to OSX was printing. I could of course >move to a new USB printer . My Epson 850 Color Stylus printer isn't all >that old and works really well. I hate wasting things and replacing >something that isn't broken and works well isn't my idea of sensible >spending. I had all but given up on this fight when along comes. >CUPS and Gimp Print!!! >Cups is Common Unix Printing System and Mac Gimp print is I believe a >port from Linux for Mac PPC. Together you can print to most any Serial >Printer with a Parallel port or Ethernet port/adapter.(most serial >printers have a parallel port for Windows use. It saves the company >from making 2 models ) There is a list of over 300 printers made by >HP,Canon,Epson and Lexmark. A few others may also work. I'd heard Cups >mentioned but had no idea what it was or how I could get it to work. I >did a google web search for Cups and with a bit of reading I found what >i needed to know! >Cups comes with Jaguar but is a hidden program. You need to have >installed the BSD layer when installing OSX 10.2 which you did if you >did the default install. >Gimp Print you get by going to: >http://www.allosx.com/1030154694/index_html > >here you will find all the info you need! It is I think open source >which means it's free and works as well as the Epson Drivers and does >everything they do on Fully Supported machines with the exception of >Utilities ie checking ink level and alignment etc.(they are hoping for >this in the future and already have it for Linux!) > >On this page you will find a link for a list of supported printers and >how much support they have many common machines have full support! >Don't download the software mentioned near the beginning but go down a >ways to "A newer version of gimp-print" highlighted in pink on my web >page in I. Explorer. It is the latest release for OSX and is an easy no >using Terminal install. There are a few tricks to setting things up but >it comes with very good info to read and follow. Gimp Print uses The >Print Center for printing just like Supported machines so it works just >like an out of the box supported printer once it is setup. > >Extras needed: You will need a USB PCI card for your machine. You don't >need to buy an expensive Mac card but you can if you want to! Most any >card labeled >"Open HCI Specification' or "Microsoft OHCI based drivers" should work. >There is another spec for USB cards which doesn't work in Macs. I don't >remember what it's called and it isn't very common. I'm told 2 port >cards are more of a sure thing then 4 port cards but this may no longer >be an issue but was in the past. I bought a SIIG 2 port USB PCi card >and it works fine. Cost like low $20.00's there are now really cheap >cards that may well work fine. >You also need a USB to Parallel cable. I went to my local Fry's and >they had HP cables for $59.00 and Epson Cables for $49.00. That was >more then I wanted to spend. I went over to the PC section and found >one for $39.00 that mentioned in small print it worked with both >Windows and Macs. I then saw a $19.99 cable which only said Windows but >looking at the fine print I saw the same "IEEE 1284 Compliant" listed >on both. I knew I was taking a chance but I bought the $19.99" inland >USB Parallel Converter "Cable stock no.08305. The cable is a bit >lighter then the expensive Mac cables but not cheap nor to thin >looking. It did come with Windows drivers which made me a bit worried >in case i needed Mac Drivers. I got home hooked it up to the Epson 850 >printer's parallel port. Turned on the printer installed the Gimp Print >software. Setup this software for my printer and it Printed the first >time! It did fine with type and a color.jpg of my sisters kid. The >setup is a bit tricky but there is good info to follow. So just be >careful to read it all. I have all the same settings for my printer in >OSX as I do in OS 9. So a bunch of guys can come up with this and Epson >has nothing for us but new machines...?? Who needs them! > >A couple of things that don't work normal yet but do have work arounds. >Some Apps like anything from Adobe and a few others can't directly >print from Gimp Print but need to be opened with the OSX app 'Preview' >and then printed from there. They hope to fix this in the future. If >you need to print in Postscript there is extra software called "ESP >GhostScript" It is also a free download. All this and more is listed in >the info on the above page. > >Can you tell I'm excited! It only cost me $19.99 to get my old printer >working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > >I've moved OSX to my faster IDE Drive hooked to the Sonnet Tempo ATA 66 >PCI card. All works really well. It isn't as fast as OS 9.x but it is >plenty fast enough! I can see soon I won't be using OS9.x much at all. >Will S PS. The final version of Gimp Print 4.2.2 is available at this address. Includes more drivers and extra software for Post script printing http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3 Will S -- Unsupported OS X is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Unsupported OS X list info <http://lowendmac.com/lists/unsupported.html> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/unsupportedosx%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
