Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of e_palmer
e_palmer

asked on

Mac driver for ProPrinter

I have been tasked with connecting some line printers to a Mac via ethernet.  These printers have a IBM ProPrinter emulation and a network interface.  I have been searching for network drivers (found some serial drivers) with out any luck.
Avatar of hdhondt
hdhondt
Flag of Australia image

As I understand it, Apple has never supported any text-only printers, and IBM has never produced any Mac drivers for the ProPrinter. While some current printers still emulate the ProPrinter (for use with legacy appliications on PCs) they also support graphics protocols for which there are Mac drivers.

Of course, as any real Mac-man knows, the only real printers are PostScript, LaserWriter-compatible ones. And PostScript does not support text printing.

Do your printers support any other emulation?
Avatar of e_palmer
e_palmer

ASKER

Epson FX and DEC ANSI.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of hdhondt
hdhondt
Flag of Australia image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
hai

you can search it in

http://www.driversguide.com

rkr
Well, it looks like I have two solutions:

- Connect serial and use one of the text drivers at http://www.macdrivermuseum.com/printer.shtml.

- Connect serial or ethernet with PowerPrint from Strydent.  http://www.strydent.com

I cannot get the Epson driver from Epson's site to work.  Since the documentation specifies the Epson NIC, I suspect it checks the MAC address or the NIC name via SNMP.
Even if they have a NIC, it will probably need to be running Appletalk, and you would need a postcript card or emulation.

If you run OSX, you could try CUPS (common Unix Print System) which it supports, and will talk to most printers.

www.cups.org

No comment has been added lately, so it's time to clean up this TA.
    I will leave a recommendation in the Cleanup topic area that this question is:

   accepted answer -hdhondt

    Please leave any comments here within the next four days.

    PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER!

    WylieCoyoteUK
    EE Cleanup Volunteer
Since moving to OSX, this solution is now easily resolved.  CUPS is included with OSX and has several Epson drivers (an emulation supported by these printers).