New Ink Jet Printer for PPC and 10.4?

[trag]

Anyone know of a model of inkjet printer with drivers to support a PPC machine running 10.4?  I'm guessing by this day and age, one might find one with drivers for 10.4 but they'll likely be Intel processor and 10.4 only, not PPC and 10.4.   I have a friend who wants to get another friend a new ink jet printer, but the host machine is a G4 running 10.4.  She wants to buy new retail or mail order, not Ebay nor used.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Eh...I know Ricoh laser printers still support PPC, surprisingly enough. I can test my Canon inkjet when I get home on my PowerBook running 10.5.

 

[olePigeon]

Xerox has unbelievably awesome driver support.  My 6600dn (which is no longer made), gets regular driver updates.  Supports "10.5 or below" on up through 10.10.

I'm a HUGE fan of Xerox.  Plus, it's a real PostScript printer.  I can even print to it from my System 7 machine using the Laserwriter or PostScript Printer driver.

 

[olePigeon]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=896717&Q=&is=REG&A=details

B&H even has it in stock.  $500 for a networked duplex color laser printer.  No tax, free shipping (which is good for a laser printer.)  I'm still rocking the original "demo" cartridges after 2 years.

Wouldn't hurt to poke around, though.  I got mine for around $400 on sale.

 

[trag]

Yes, if network color laser printer will meet his needs, then this is much easier.  I have sent my friend an email asking her whether the other friend is stuck on inkjet or would be good with color laser. 

Four years ago I almost bought the Phaser 6180 (IIRC) for about $250 shipped.    It was a weird season.   There were three different color laser printers availble for between $200 and $300 shipped.  All with Postscript, ethernet, and fairly sturdy duty cycles.  One Xerox, one Kyocera and one Brother.   The Kyocera specifically specified AppleTalk (the protocol, not LocalTalk Media) support, so I bought that one.  The Xerox might have had AppleTalk support but it didn't mention it in the specs.

Given that your newer printer works with System 7, I bet that Xerox must still be including AppleTalk support and not necessarily mentioning it.

After that season the prices all went up to about $400 plus shipping.   Now they seem to be back down again.

 

[olePigeon]

It actually doesn't support AppleTalk, but you can print to it via TCP/IP using the Desktop Laser Printer software.

 

[NJRoadfan]

Just about any printer with PCL5, PCL6, or Postscript language support will work with PPC machines. Since OS X 10.4 uses CUPS, all you need for them is the PPD file.

 

[trag]

Just about any printer with PCL5, PCL6, or Postscript language support will work with PPC machines. Since OS X 10.4 uses CUPS, all you need for them is the PPD file.

I have been working on the assumption that network printers, such as color laser printers support PCL and PS, while USB connected ink jet printers all use custom print drivers that must match the host machine.    So getting a modern (not super high end) ink jet printer that will work with a PPC computer will be extremely unlikely.   Please correct me if my assumption is wrong.

 

[olePigeon]

You're correct.  Actually, many laser printers are host based now.  Most of HP's lineup is host based, which is infuriating because every time Apple updates OS X, it seems like our HP laserjets stop working.

However, you can download Gutenprint.  It's an open source printer driver collection for many printers and may work with whatever printer you decide to buy.

 

[Scott Baret]

Oh man, this brings back memories of when I was in high school. I'd bring my clamshell iBook and do my work on that while the others used the computers in the lab. When we needed to print, I could just hook up an Ethernet cord from an unused computer and print right from the iBook. It recognized pretty much every PostScript printer on the network. Definitely paid to be one of the IT guys at that school!! (I was also the first student to take part in "bring your own technology").

 

[trag]

You're correct.  Actually, many laser printers are host based now.  Most of HP's lineup is host based, which is infuriating because every time Apple updates OS X, it seems like our HP laserjets stop working.

However, you can download Gutenprint.  It's an open source printer driver collection for many printers and may work with whatever printer you decide to buy.

I have forwarded the Gutenprint suggestion along.   That might be the ticket.  I wonder if print quality suffers.  It seems like some print drivers might contain some kind of dithering scheme or something that would get lost on a generic driver.   

Thank  you.  I have not heard back from her about whether a laser would be okay.   Haven't heard anything actually, but we've been friends for over 20 years.  If she takes a month to respond, it's no big deal.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

I know I tried my Canon, but didn't get much response from it (I need to nuke that 10.5 install and redo it).

 

[olePigeon]

My concern with Gutenprint is trying to use it with a brand new inkjet printer.  It's great for last-year's model printers (and older.)