Is there any dot matrix printer that will work with a Mac???

My brother tells me he has just had to buy a new Windows PC because there is no way a Mac can print to a dot matrix printer - tell me it isn't so! I know dot matrix printers are very 20th century but his business requires him to provide delivery dockets in duplicate using carbonless paper so that both the customer and the driver each has a signed copy of the delivery docket - until now he has been a dedicated Mac user and is currently running OS X 10.4.11.

I'm hoping that someone might read this and tell me that there is a way to use his Mac with his dot matrix printer!

Any suggestions???

Cheers
Tricia

2GHz 20-inch iMac G5 (ALS), Mac OS X (10.5.2), 1.42GHz G4 Mini; 12-inch G4PowerBook; 500GB Lacie f/w hd; Video iPod; iPod mini;

Posted on Apr 14, 2008 3:47 PM

19 replies

Apr 16, 2008 4:18 AM in response to Matt Broughton

Matt, you are A HERO!!! Thank you so much, I've just spent an hour on the phone with my brother and, having scrupulously followed all your instructions, he is now printing from his Mac to his OKI Microline 184 Turbo+ dot matrix printer! He fired up his accounting package and printed an invoice and I could hear the printer squealing away while it printed it off (who would ever want to use such a noisy printer).

I cannot begin to tell you how happy you've made him (and me) - he can now get rid of his (almost new) Windows notebook and buy the MacBook that he's been ******* after but couldn't buy because, as everyone knows, 'you can't print to a dot matrix printer from a Mac'.

Thanks to your clear and concise instructions, a couple of Luddites like us can make this work, then anyone can do it

There is really serious disinformation out there ...

I only wish I could award more than 1 'solved' !

Cheers
Tricia

Apr 16, 2008 4:19 AM in response to Patricia Henwood

Why on earth did I get a *** for a completely innocuous word???

Apr 16, 2008 5:49 AM in response to Patricia Henwood

Patricia Henwood wrote:
he is now printing from his Mac to his OKI Microline 184 Turbo+ dot matrix printer! He fired up his accounting package and printed an invoice and I could hear the printer squealing away while it printed it off (who would ever want to use such a noisy printer).

Glad to hear that the printer is working. There are a lot of printers that we can get to work with Mac OS X through third party open source software. I can't remember when, if ever, the Mac platform could use so many printers.

Matt

Apr 16, 2008 10:58 AM in response to Patricia Henwood

Great success story! Fantastic help from Matt, and on your part walking through this over the phone. Wow!

Patricia Henwood wrote:
I could hear the printer squealing away while it printed it off (who would ever want to use such a noisy printer).

I remember our first EPSON dot-matrix printer that we used with our Apple II+ when I was a kid, (I think my Dad still has it) it was also very loud, so we put it in a rather large sound-proofing case with a flip-open lid and a paper slot in the back, that helped reduce the sound a lot, not sure if that came with the printer or if we got it separately. Do they make such cases anymore that will fit that OKI printer? He could probably make his own sound-proofing foam lined box for it.

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Is there any dot matrix printer that will work with a Mac???