What to do if your printer driver is incompatible?

With each new OS X release many printer drivers become incompatible. Even more often, printer manufacturers stop support for older models. Rather than discarding your printer, consider this alternative...

Gutenprint (formerly Gimp-Print) is an open-source, high-quality, free printer driver that supports over 1300 inkjet, dye sublimation and laser printer models from many manufacturers. One of its strengths is maintaining support for abandoned printers.

A list of supported models is here http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.phphttp://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.php

Like many open-source projects, Gutenprint is maintained for multiple platforms, including Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X and others. This means the user interface is designed to be universal, i.e., not very Mac like. On the other hand, Gutenprint drivers usually support more features and are of higher quality than the original manufacturer's driver, especially for lower-cost printers which are often handicapped by their drivers, not their capabilities.

Links:

Read about the latest driver here: http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php

Download the latest Gutenprint driver from this SourceForge site: https://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-print/files/

The FAQ is here: http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/p_FAQ_OS_X.php#description

Note:

On multi-function devices, Gutenprint drivers support only the printer functionality.

Gutenprint is based on the standards-based, open source CUPS printing system developed by Apple.

All information and links accurate as of May 23, 2016.