Level 6

16,813 points

Canon Support for Snow Leopard

Canon has posted their support schedule for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) for their consumer printers.

http://support-au.canon.com.au/contents/AU/EN/8200620400.html

It looks like if your product is a few years old then it is not advisable to purchase 10.6, or be ready to buy a new printer.

As for their business products, such as the imageRUNNER series, none of the current Canon printer drivers work on 10.6. Having been involved with the 10.6 seed testing I found that while the drivers appear to install okay, the creation of a network printer queue fails. This occurred with the following drivers.

CUPS PS v2.11
PS v1.81
UFR2 v1.80
Fax v2.20

So if you feel the need to update, then beware.

If your Canon device supports PostScript, then you can use either the Generic PostScript included with 10.6 or install the Canon PPDs so that you get some finishing options.

If your Canon device only supports a Canon proprietary protocol, such as UFR2, CAPT or GARO, then there is currently no solution for them with Mac OS X 10.6.

Pahu

MacBook Pro 17', Mac OS X (10.5.8), Mac Pro, Xserve G5, iPhone 3G

Posted on Aug 25, 2009 11:38 PM

416 replies

dayhox

Level 2

295 points

Dec 17, 2009 1:24 PM in response to PAHU

Well PAHU, not all of it has been covered previously, but thanks for the dismissive pat on the head.

Dec 18, 2009 4:14 AM in response to dayhox

Thanks PAHU, I've read right through this thread and your responses to peoples problems have allowed me to sort printing to a CLC 3200 & IR 7086. The final hurdle I have is printing to a CLC 4040, I've tried all the drivers and I can only get it printing using the Generic Postscript driver and bizarrely the 3200 ppd. However if I use the 4040 ppd it goes to the printer but doesn't print. If I check the command work station it appears in the printed jobs queue but with the copies field blank. Department ID management is off as we have no use for it. Also it has an H1 rip on the back. Any light you could shed on this, I would be most grateful.

Mel Mann

Level 1

70 points

Dec 19, 2009 8:08 AM in response to PAHU

I downloaded the latest driver from Canon for my 9500 MkII and can print from Photoshop but, as stated in the driver notes, Color Options are all greyed out under Colorsync control. Anyone found a way around this to get control of the Color Option sliders? Canon merely says new software will be coming.

PAHU Author

Level 6

16,813 points

Dec 19, 2009 12:14 PM in response to Mr Printy

Hello Mr Printy and welcome to Apple Discussions,

Your issue with no output is not one that I have seen to date. We are also using the imagePASS-H1 RIP which is connected to an iRC5185, which I believe would be called a CLC5151 in your region looking at the PPD.

Given that the C1 and Generic PS are printing correctly, then I would guess there is a problem with the H1 printer files on your Mac. I also have to assume that the C1 is using an older PPD that references a different fierycupsfilter to the one the H1 is using. With that as my angle I suggest you try downloading the following updater file from EFI.

http://services.efi.com/support/drivers/download2.asp?oem=efi&sys=Applemac_osx106&ver=NA

HTH

Pahu

PAHU Author

Level 6

16,813 points

Dec 19, 2009 12:22 PM in response to Mel Mann

Hello Mel Mann,

If you want to control the Color Options menu, you need to set the Color Management > Color Handling menu in PhotoShop to 'Printer Manages Colors'. If this menu is set to 'PhotoShop Manages Colors' then the sliders in the Color Options menu will be disabled.

Pahu

nyav

Level 1

0 points

Dec 19, 2009 1:52 PM in response to PAHU

I use two Canon printers -- an all-purpose MP460 and a iP4000 for photos. I use Canon's Photo Paper Plus Glossy II paper and Canon inks for photographic prints.

Since updating to Snow Leopard, the iP4000 prints images from Aperture or Photoshop Elements 6 that are magenta in areas of yellow to orange tones. When printing from Aperture I print with color management off in the "Print Settings" and by selecting the ICC profile from the drop down in the Aperture print window. I also allow Elements to manage colors when printing. (The color sliders in the driver are greyed out, so I assume that the setting is correct and the application is managing the colors.)

Also since updating to Snow Leopard, the MP460 prints images that are consistently dark, as though the brightness and contrast were lowered.

I have tried literally every combination of ICC profile and driver setting in Aperture (and quite a few in Photoshop Elements as a "double test"), wasting many, many sheets of paper and ink. I tried allowing the printer to manage color as well as the application (the preferred method.) I still have these poor results each time.

I have had prints made through online services to test my monitor and such and these prints come back accurate, so I am wondering . . . is this a Canon profile or driver issue?

It is very, very frustrating since prints from these printers were excellent before Snow Leopard.

I noticed that Apple posted a driver package update on November 16. Any chance this fixes the problem?

There are no directions for installing these, either. Does one need to delete the current drivers first? Where would they be found?

Thank you,

Anthony

chriskue

Level 1

0 points

Dec 27, 2009 3:14 AM in response to PAHU

I don't know if anyone has done and described this before, because I'm not so keen on reading 15 pages of posts, but I managed to get our Canon MP970 printing and scanning at the same time via Network. I use a white (non-unibody) Macbook and SL.
The important bit seems to be to switch the "filter MAC-Address"-Button off. If it is switched on, you might need to reset the LAN-Prefrences of the printer (which is probably the last thing you would do after hours of installing the network printer, but I had to). In my case the only thing that changed, was that the Adress is not filtered anymore, but in other cases this might erase all other settings as well, so please be aware of that.
Next I used the normal "Add Printer" function on the mac. The MP970 shows up as a Bonjour-Scanner, which you ignore first and then the "More printers"-Button becomes click-able. If all printer drivers (Version 6.9.3) and the Canon Network utility are installed correctly, a window will pop up, where the printer should appear after a few seconds. You press OK and the printer should be added.
Then I used the add printer button again and chose the Bonjour Scanner from the Default-Menu and pressed OK again.
The important bit with the scanner is, that in order to scan you need to use the System Preferences Pane "Print+Fax" choose the scanner and click on "open Scanner". The MP970-Tool doen not seem to work.

I hope that helped.

bkester2

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2010 11:09 AM in response to David MacDonald2

I was sniffing around on Canon's site today and discovered, what I think is a set of PPD for the Canon ImageRunner C3380.

Can anyone verify if these work, I don't have a machine yet that run's snow leopard . I have been waiting to upgrade until Canon figures this out, or I can buy a new printer.

Here is the link: http://www.usa.canon.com/opd/controller?act=OPDSoftwareAct&fcategoryid=2321&mode lid=14355

PAHU Author

Level 6

16,813 points

Jan 6, 2010 1:42 PM in response to bkester2

Hello bkester2 and welcome to Apple Discussions.

The Canon PPDs have been available since the launch of Snow Leopard. It was about the only 'driver' that Canon had listed at the time indicating support for SL. After installing the PPDs and selecting the iRC2880/3380 in the Print Using menu, you will have about 90% of the functions provided by the previous PS driver. However the PPD does not support the Dept ID function (aka Job Accounting) and cannot print to Mailbox. If either of these is a requirement for you then you would have to look at using the Canon UFR2 v2.05 driver.

Looking through the list I could not see this driver. But given the terrible way in which they have listed the drivers (why have older versions of the same driver??) then I suggest you download the driver via the consumer products section (it is the same driver). Here is a link to an MF7460 that uses the same v2.05 driver.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=124&mo delid=16096#DownloadDetailAct

Pahu

it_matt

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2010 1:53 PM in response to PAHU

Hey PAHU, I've been reading your posts for a while now as we've been waiting for drivers for our iR C6800 with a D1 on the back. Over the holidays Canon USA posted PPD v2.85 that supports the C6800.

The local canon service rep has been trying to get the that new PPD to work, but now he says that the problem is that the D1 drivers are still from back in 2004, and he suggests that we lose the D1 and print to the C6800 directly. Do you know of any way of getting the D1 to work with SL? Or do you know what we'd be losing if we used the new direct C6800 driver without the D1?

Thanks for everything you share with all of us!

PAHU Author

Level 6

16,813 points

Jan 6, 2010 2:18 PM in response to it_matt

Hello Matt and welcome to Apple Discussions.

As the rep has seen, the Canon PPD is not happy playing with the imagePASS (Fiery) print controllers. The PPD is meant for the Canon printer board and the process to take the iRC6800 back to the Canon board requires the replacement of the Fiery interface card in the iRC6800 (the card that the thick control cable connects to between the D1 and 6800). The card you need to replace it with is called a Sub-PCB R-A (or something similar to that). I understand it is also known as the UFR2 board, which is why the machine doesn't support the UFR2 driver when the imagePASS is attached. Obviously all of this would cost you and probably not worth your money given the aga of the 6800 model.

So, I would look at using the imagePASS-G1 driver, which is meant for the iRC6870 (the later model to the 6800). The imagePASS is a much better controller than the Canon board, especially if you are using it for any graphics work.

There is a MacTel (Universal Binary) version of this driver available via this link. There are a few issues with using these UB drivers on 10.6, first is that you need Rosetta to install the driver. Then when it is installed, you will get lines through the Fiery options when using 64bit applications, so you need to set the apps to open in 32bit mode. But even with these minor issues, leaving the imagePASS on the 6800 is the better option in my opinion.

One last note. Since the imagePASS is true Adobe PS, rather than the emulated PS used in the Canon board, it will work with other brands of Fiery controller drivers or even some of the LaserWriter drivers included with 10.6. Even the Generic PS driver will get you printing from 10.6. So you could experiment with some of the drivers that are included (you may have to load the 10.6 disc and run the Options Installs package to get the additional drivers). If you simply print without any finishing function, then this could be an immediate win for you rather than waiting for EFI/Canon to support their older products.

Pahu

mac-fool

Level 1

0 points

Jan 7, 2010 12:30 PM in response to PAHU

Does anyone have any information as to when/if a newer version of the UFR2 drivers will be made available for SL (I believe the latest is 2.05)? I'd really like to get my iR5570's up and running with job accounting on SL so I can upgrade all the laptops.

Thanks again for all your help PAHU. You've been assisting so many in this forum.

ViPeR__

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2010 12:43 PM in response to PAHU

Hi,

I have a MP620 is not working at all.

I have tried all the stepes you mentioned, but still not working. I can see the bonjour scanner but the printer never comes up.
If i press de add button i can see the mac address of the printer but when I try to add it nothing happens.

I am going crazy with this.

I some one can figure it out something different, it will help a lot.

Thank you very much

PAHU Author

Level 6

16,813 points

Jan 13, 2010 3:31 PM in response to ViPeR__

Hello ViPeR and welcome to Apple Discussions.

Canon has released a new version of the printer driver for the MP620. It is version 10.26.2.0. You can check what version you have installed on your Mac by connecting the printer via USB to the Mac. This will create an entry for the MP620 in Print & Fax. If you select the MP620 and click on Options & Supplies, you should see the General tab and under here will list the driver version of the MP620. If it is an earlier version than 10.26.2.0, then I suggest you update the driver by downloading the latest version via this link.

http://support-au.canon.com.au/contents/AU/EN/0100140602.html

Pahu

Jan 13, 2010 4:59 PM in response to PAHU

As a Network Administrator of a school that has purchased new machines for 2010 which require Snow Leopard.

I am now facing the dilemma for printing to our iR3025s and iRC2880s :

Reducing security and using Apple's native postscript driver (best reliability - little features)

OR

Using the native UFRII driver with the generic "iR Series" which allows Job Accounting but has had more problematic results from some of the school's applications.

Any idea of when the Canon Postscript driver will be out with a decent range of product support?

BTW Thanks PAHU for sharing some of that great wealth of your knowledge.

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Canon Support for Snow Leopard