I have an Epson WF4640 All in one printer. I'd like to be able to print over the network to it. It is a network printer. I'd really like to be able to print from it using my eMac running OS 9
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Print over network using OS 9 to unsupported printer
- Thread starter flashedbios2012
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You'd need some computer that supports that printer to be an intermediary between the printer and the OS 9 computer. Essentially, you'd need a computer to pretend to be a different type of printer that is supported by OS 9, possibly even on AppleTalk.
I don't know specifically of anything that can do this.
I don't know specifically of anything that can do this.
Another option would be to set up a network share on the intermediary with an Automator routine to print whatever ends up there, then set up a print-to-PDF driver on the eMac. I saw that done in reverse once to print to an old ImageBanger from an iOS device using AirPrint.
Another option in some cases is running a print server, the trouble is, I don't think that any print server an OS 9 computer will be able to connect to will be able to talk to such a new printer.
One possible option is setting up a Mac with 10.5.8 installed, and sharing the printer on AppleTalk.
I, of course, do recommend against this option for the reason I always recommend against it: network security.
One possible option is setting up a Mac with 10.5.8 installed, and sharing the printer on AppleTalk.
I, of course, do recommend against this option for the reason I always recommend against it: network security.
If there's a Linux box on the network the problem could be solved one of two ways after setting up CUPS drivers so Linux can print to it:
#1: Set up the Linux box to also be an LPD server, and then use the "desktop printer" functionality available in classic MacOS versions back to 7.x to print to it as if it were a generic Postscript printer. (CUPS can autotranslate Postscript assuming you have Ghostscript filters set up appropriately.)
#2: Install Netatalk and use its pretend-to-be-an-Appletalk-server functionality to route print jobs, again pretending to be a generic postscript printer.
There are methods of setting up LPR servers and Ghostscript translation on Windows as well, or at least there used to be, but it's been the better part of *two* decades since I last did it.
I like the LPR thing. Is that something a Raspberry Pi could do?
You have more than one Pi, huh? Clearly you're the man who has at least two of everything. Won't ask how you manage it on $200 a week.
Anyway, the answer to your question is that it's almost certainly possible on a Raspberry Pi as long as the driver for your printer doesn't rely on some proprietary module that's only available for x86 versions of Linux. (I went as far as googling that some sort of Linux driver for your printer exists, but that's it.) Here's the steps:
1: Install "CUPS" on your Raspberry Pi, set it up to talk to your printer, and verify it works by printing something from a web browser or whatever. There are plenty of howtos out there about setting up a Raspberry Pi as a print server, follow one of those.
2: Verify the cups install has the foomatic-ghostscript magic set up to autofilter postscript by throwing a raw postscript file at the print spool and see if it renders it. Pretty sure most distributions set this up out of the box, if it's not set up telling you how to do it just ain't going to happen.
3: Look up how to either:
A: Use cups-lpd to enable legacy UNIX print server support and configure the desktop printing application on your Mac. (Tell it it's printing to an Apple LaserWriter Plus or something else really generic.)
B: Install Netatalk (with cups support) and setup papd.conf to share your printer so it shows up in the Chooser. For legacy Macs I recommend Netatalk 2.x, not 3.x
As for the snark I'll try to put a fork in it, but I might have a hard time doing so since I don't have an iPhone 7 yet and my car cost less than $19,000 when I bought it ten years ago. Uneducated losers like that have difficulty controlling themselves.
Anyway, the answer to your question is that it's almost certainly possible on a Raspberry Pi as long as the driver for your printer doesn't rely on some proprietary module that's only available for x86 versions of Linux. (I went as far as googling that some sort of Linux driver for your printer exists, but that's it.) Here's the steps:
1: Install "CUPS" on your Raspberry Pi, set it up to talk to your printer, and verify it works by printing something from a web browser or whatever. There are plenty of howtos out there about setting up a Raspberry Pi as a print server, follow one of those.
2: Verify the cups install has the foomatic-ghostscript magic set up to autofilter postscript by throwing a raw postscript file at the print spool and see if it renders it. Pretty sure most distributions set this up out of the box, if it's not set up telling you how to do it just ain't going to happen.
3: Look up how to either:
A: Use cups-lpd to enable legacy UNIX print server support and configure the desktop printing application on your Mac. (Tell it it's printing to an Apple LaserWriter Plus or something else really generic.)
B: Install Netatalk (with cups support) and setup papd.conf to share your printer so it shows up in the Chooser. For legacy Macs I recommend Netatalk 2.x, not 3.x
As for the snark I'll try to put a fork in it, but I might have a hard time doing so since I don't have an iPhone 7 yet and my car cost less than $19,000 when I bought it ten years ago. Uneducated losers like that have difficulty controlling themselves.
whats your beef with me gorgonops? I appreciate the help but then you go off and insult me at the end again. You seem to have a real problem with me. And FYI a Toyota Avalon costs way more than 19k
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And that's exactly my point. You were driving one of those, shouldn't you be the one telling me how to do things?
Umm... I don't know what planet you live on, but driving a nice car doesn't magically plant the knowledge in my head that I need to solve this issue.
It doesn't? Let's see what you think about that:
Clearly you don't take believe in taking advice from anyone with less than a Lexus?
and if you looked at what I wrote after that i said i realize its irrational! You got a problem with me come out and say it instead of hiding behind snark and sarcasm.
Yeah, I have a problem with you, feel better that I've stated it flatly? Here's the real issue: at this point I can't help but feel like you're probably a troll and/or a habitual liar, and if you're neither of those things you're a person with some pretty significant personal problems and a frankly bizarre financial/family situation who'd *probably* be better off not airing that dirty laundry on a tech forum or collecting eighteen bazillion decrepit computers (with borrowed money?) to house in an apartment they can't pay for. The various puzzle pieces you've scattered all over this site simply don't fit together into a picture I find at all pleasing and, perfectly honestly, I hope I'm wrong about what I'm seeing.
Since it's not my place to keep needling you I shall do my best to stop. Good luck with your technical issues. As much as I'd like to help out with this one for the sake of other people who might be trying to solve this same problem rightly or wrongly I'd kinda sort of feel like I was enabling bad behavior by doing so. Pretty sure there have been other threads on this same topic in the past, you can try your luck with the search engine.
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