I have a serial HP Deskwriter 520 that I would like to print to from
my Powerbook G3 Firewire under OS X. I have been able to print under
OS 9 using a Keyspan Serial Adapter plugged into my USB port. Just
printing from within the Classic OS shell isn't sufficient because I
want to be able to print from OS X applications. |
Clarification of Question by
pangloss42-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 17:11 PDT
Checking the HP website for an OS X driver was the first thing I
tried. What I'm asking is if there's a way to do it without an OS X
driver, like channeling the OS X print request through the Classic OS
driver.
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Request for Question Clarification by
juggler-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 17:14 PDT
Do you have a second Mac (with a serial port) that you could attach
the printer to?
If so, you might be able to network the two computers and print over
ethernet. I do something similar with an old laser printer. I could
provide more information if you're interested.
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Clarification of Question by
pangloss42-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 17:22 PDT
No second Mac, I'm afraid.
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Request for Question Clarification by
supermacman-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 17:30 PDT
Hello -
You could print to a PDF file in Mac OS X, and then open the PDF in
Adobe Acrobat Reader within Classic. From there you can print your PDF
to the printer.
In pictures:
Mac OS X document (i.e. Word file) --> print to PDF
PDF --> open in Adobe Acrobat Reader (in Classic)
Classic Acrobat Reader --> print to Deskwriter
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Clarification of Question by
pangloss42-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 18:14 PDT
Close but no cigar, supermacman-ga! I'd thought of this. For some
strange reason, Classic Acrobat Reader 5.1 opens as an OS X
application. I tried going on to the Adobe Website and getting AR
5.0.5, but that also opens as an OS X application. AR 4 says it's
only for OS 8.6 and earlier.
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Request for Question Clarification by
juggler-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 19:23 PDT
For what it's worth. Acrobat Reader 4.0 will run on OS 9.2. I tried
launching it from inside OS X. It triggered the Classic mode and
worked perfectly.
You might also be able to do something similar with VirtualPC. Do you
have that?
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Request for Question Clarification by
juggler-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 19:24 PDT
That should have read:
"For what it's worth, Acrobat..."
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Request for Question Clarification by
supermacman-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 19:27 PDT
I know how to get around that --
1) Click on the Acrobat Reader 5.0 application.
2) Check "Open in the Classic environment" box.
3) Voila ... open your PDF file and print away!
Let me know if this works and you're satisfied - I can post it as an
answer ;-)
------
In response to juggler-ga - Reader 4.0 opens in 9.2 because it's
non-carbonized... Reader 5.0 is carbonized, meaning it can act as an
OS X *and* OS 9 application.
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Clarification of Question by
pangloss42-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 22:36 PDT
Hm. I clicked the "Open in the Classic Environment" box and launched
the app. I get an error box, "The application Acrobat Reader 5.0 has
unexpectedly quit. InterfaceLib--GetComponentResource(-2624)" which
hangs around for a while and then goes away.
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Clarification of Question by
pangloss42-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 22:50 PDT
Reflecting, I realize that, even if I could get the Acrobat thing
working, that would not be a satisfactory solution. I don't want to
have to print to a PDF, open it and Acrobat, and print from there
every time I want to print something.
Isn't there a way to channel the OS X print request through the
Classic environment?
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Request for Question Clarification by
supermacman-ga
on
03 Jun 2003 04:32 PDT
Hmm - I just tried it on my Mac and it worked fine .. maybe you're
running Mac OS 9.0.4 (as opposed to 9.1 or 9.2?)
Anyhow, I can't think of any other way to print from an OS X
application directly...
This page explains the problem in detail, for your information:
http://homepage.mac.com/mdouma46/pressready.html
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Clarification of Question by
pangloss42-ga
on
06 Jun 2003 09:25 PDT
I'd seen Gimp-Print, juggler-ga. It works with DeskJETs but not
DeskWRITERs. Thanks for your continued attention to this question,
though.
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Request for Question Clarification by
endo-ga
on
07 Jun 2003 09:27 PDT
Hi,
Sorry to jump into this question.
But from a very quick search, it appears that the HP 520 is quite an
old printer and seems a bit outdated. Modern printers can be bought
for little more than the price of the cartridges that you get with
them. Quality has also vastly improved over the years.
For example pricegrabber has color inkjets for MAC starting at $30
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=21/popup1%255B%255D=1:273/popup1_attr_id%255B%255D=273/popup2%255B%255D=20:344/sortby=priceA/ut=3e1f1260b8d761d9
Hope this helps.
Thanks.
endo
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