Scanner compatibility problems are well documented, but it's printer support that has proven a real bugbear, because of printers' relatively long working lives and prohibitive replacement cost. It's equally true, however, that manufacturers are reluctant to update drivers for older machines, their inaction tacitly encouraging users to upgrade to a new printer.
Given the dearth of native printer drivers for OS X, Apple licensed the Common Unix Printing System in OS X 10.2. This led to support for a wider range of printers, including several that were previously Windows-only.
However, bug-ridden native drivers have continued to plague users. Fortunately, GIMP-Print, a set of 300 drivers that works with the CUPS printing system, fills the void. These open source drivers provide a better range of printing options, such as borderless printing for some Epson models, than those provided by the manufacturer's own drivers.
Here we'll show you how to install and set up GIMP-Print to help you put some life back into your old printer. It's easy to be confused by the roles of CUPS and GIMP-Print in OS X 10.2 printing, but the difference is simple. CUPS provides a printing layer in OS 10.2, and GIMP-Print's collection of printer drivers are effectively plug-ins for this system.
GhostScript, an open source PostScript interpreter, must be installed alongside GIMP-Print, because when using such CUPS printer driver plug-ins, Carbon-based applications in OS X generate PostScript rather than PDF output. GhostScript converts this PostScript data to a raster image suitable for printing on non-PostScript devices.
Keeping your printer functional is only partly a driver issue. One significant hardware obstacle to extending your printer's life is its connection interface. If your printer is more than five years old - and that sort of longevity isn't unusual for laser-based workhorses - it's likely to have a LocalTalk serial port rather than a USB connection.
In larger environments, it may be worth investing in a network print server, such as HP's JetDirect, which can add Ethernet or USB connectivity to existing printers. For single users, a more affordable option is an adapter, either USB-to-serial or parallel-to-USB, which allows USB-based Macs to talk to printers with only LocalTalk or Parallel ports. Although inexpensive - adapters cost about £50 - GIMP-Print can be fussy about those it works with.
While the instructions in the tutorial above apply to setting up a printer attached to your Mac, it's easy to to share a Windows printer via SAMBA.
In step four, select Windows Printer via SAMBA from the Device menu. In the Device URI field, type
smb://username:password@workgroup/host/printername where username and password are the XP login name and passwords respectively; workgroup is the XP workgroup name, and host and printer are the names of the host PC and name of the shared printer. The printer details are entered in the normal way.
You can test and administer a CUPS-based printer that's connected to your machine remotely, via a standard Internet browser, by typing
127.0.0.1:631/printers into the browser's address field.
What happens if your printer's manufacturer delivers a printer driver after you install GIMP-Print? Deleting GIMP-Print is a tortuous process, so, given that GIMP-Print doesn't affect your existing printer settings and can sit alongside an existing manufacturer driver, it's much easier simply to delete the relevant GIMP-Print entry in the Printer List window.
Click 'Next Page' below for the step-by-step guide...Author: Tom Gorham
Printing with GIMP-Print