Patricia Henwood wrote:
Thank you for giving such a detailed response. Obviously, what my brother wants to be able to do is to get his OKI Microline 184 Turbo+ to work with his Mac, however, neither of us is exactly sure how to go about implementing what you suggest.
Sorry about that. I work with this stuff on a daily basis and sometimes I think everyone does also.
Am I right in thinking that he would first download the Foomatic_RIP.dmg and drag it to the Applications folder? Would the GhostScript app (gplgs-8.61-ub.dmg) also be dragged to the Applications folder?
These two downloads come on a disk image. As Greg mentions, you double click on the disk image to "mount it" on your Desktop. A disk image is just a container. When you double click on it, the system acts like you inserted a CD-ROM or the like. In other words, Mac OS X will mount a pseudo disk. Included on these disks are installers which you have to double click to run. Also included on the disk image are some documentation and an uninstaller. You can use the uninstaller to safely remove the software if you no longer want it on your system.
Then, download the Okidata compatible PPD file and drag it to ~/Library/Printers/ folder?
No. You want to use the Library at the very base of the hard driver. You may or may not have to make some intervening folders, but you want the full path to be /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/Okidata-Microline
IBM_compatible_9pin-okiibm.ppd.
I'm pretty sure that when I installed OS X 10.4 on his iMac I only installed the Printer drivers for his (Brother) laser printer. Given that there are no PPD files installed, would it be OK to drag the PPD file to the above location or have I missed something?
I think you are looking in the Printers folder of the Library of your home directory. You want to go to the Library folder at the base of the hard drive as I mentioned above.
Then what? Is it as simple as opening Print & Fax in System Preferences and selecting 'Add Printer' or is it more complicated than that?
That is pretty much it. You just add the printer in the normal fashion. The only catch is that the system will not be able to match the correct PPD to the printer. It will most likely default to a Generic PostScript printer. That is when you use the pop up menu to select the make and model. Look for the manufacturer Okidata and the model will be "Okidata Microline IBM compatible 9 pin Foomatic/okiibm (recommended)".
What if the Mac doesn't 'see' the OKI printer? Is that the end of the story?
If the Mac does not see the Oki printer, restarting your computer should solve the problem. Actually, all you need to do is to restart the printing system. You can do that by going to System Preferences -> Sharing. Toggle the printer sharing on and off. That will restart the printing system. During the restart process, the printing system will look again for any printers that are attached.
From memory, I thought there was a 'Printer Setup Utility' in OS X 10.4.x, but I'm now on 10.5 and it isn't showing up under Applications/Utilities in Leopard so perhaps I was mistaken.
You are correct. OS X 10.4.x used Printer Setup Utility. You could also get to Printer Setup Utility via System Preferences -> Print & Fax. In OS X 10.5.x, there is no application/utility Printer Setup Utility. You use Print & Fax System Preference.
I'm sorry if I'm asking all the very obvious questions here but I just want to get it right first time (if it's going to work at all).
No problem asking any question. If I missed something or you have any other questions/problems in setting up the printer, be sure to ask. If you don't get it right the first time, just describe what happened and we can find a way to fix it.
After all this, I hope that this printer driver will work for your printer. I tried to get a PPD to use the omni driver I mentioned in my first reply. I couldn't get a PPD to generate for that driver. The omni package looks like a Byzantine maze.
Matt
