HP DeskJet 950C - Do I own the last one?

Question

HP DeskJet 950C - Do I own the last one?

I was upset when I found that HP is NOT supporting the DeskJet 950C printer.

Then I went to my User's Guide and found that the copyright is from 1999.

The CD includes support for Win 3.1! And for Mac 7 and8.

The printer has both a parallel port and a USB port.

It worked perfectly under Leopard.

The Gutenprint drivers under Snow Leopard are an abomination. The quality of the color printing is extremely poor. Unusable.

So, I booted from my Carbon Copy Clone of Snow Leopard and installed the HPIJS drivers, including Ghostscript and Foomatic-RIP.

There is a significant improvement in the quality of the color printing, but, still, not up to par with the original HP drivers from Leopard.

Neither the Gutenprint drivers nor the HPIJS drivers have the nozzle cleaning utility, calibration utility, etc.

I have searched these forum and no one is complaining about problems with their DeskJet 950C.

Therefore, the question:

Do I own the last one?

Thanks,

Roberto

MacBook and MBP 2.2, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Dec 24, 2009 10:24 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 27, 2009 12:43 PM in response to Roberto Sepúlveda

From the number of replies I've got, I DO own the last HP DeskJet 950C.

Such a good printer. So sad.

Roberto

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Answer 2

Dec 29, 2009 6:38 AM in response to Roberto Sepúlveda

No, you don't own the last one. Ours is still going strong. Looking for updated drivers now. Let ma know if you find anything worthwhile

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Answer 3

Dec 29, 2009 7:22 AM in response to danburdge

danburdge,

The best I've done so far is to use the DVD for Leopard to install the HP drivers from there.

The print utility works, so you can test, clean, etc.

The program that you use to print must be run in 32-bit mode.

I installed the Leopard drivers on a Carbon Copy Clone that I made to an external drive, since I don't whether this can damage your operating system. This solution is unsupported.

Your mileage may vary.

I just saw an ad for the local Target. They have an Epson NX215 printer/scanner for $50. It uses four separate cartridges. A set of cartridges for the HP 950C costs more than $50.

So, I am thinking about it.

Roberto

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Answer 4

lkrupp

Level 6

14,296 points

Dec 29, 2009 8:04 AM in response to Roberto Sepúlveda

My only response is that I have an old HP DeskJet 940C and it works just fine with the Gutenprint drivers. One thought would be to see if there's been an update to the Gutenprint system.

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Answer 5

Dec 29, 2009 9:09 AM in response to lkrupp

I have two laptops, one running Leopard and one running Snow Leopard.

I printed a jpeg file from Leopard, using the Preview program, and the colors were bright, clear.

I printed the same jpeg file from Snow Leopard using the Preview program and the colors were dark, muddy, awful.

Both my systems are up to date according to Software Update.

The hpijs drivers in Snow Leopard were better, but not good enough.

Roberto

PS. Text was OK.

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Answer 6

SmileyPR

Level 1

8 points

Jan 10, 2010 10:36 AM in response to Roberto Sepúlveda

Before, when I used my HP Deskjet 959 printer with my PC, I could even use "Ink Saver" and economise ink, apart of printing double-sided. Then, when I got the MacBook a year ago, I was not able to use "Ink Saver" anymore. Okay, it is not Apple's problem and that I accept, but boy did I start wasting ink. Yet, I could still choose between printing "draft", "normal" and "best". I don't recall iff I could still print double-sided. Yes, I did. Well, since I installed Snow Leopard, I am not able to choose the quality of the ink print out nor can I print double-sided. I do have the driver offered from Apple "HP Deskjet 959c (also 950c) - Gutenprint 5.2.3

Did you get to solve your problem?

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Answer 7

SmileyPR

Level 1

8 points

Jan 10, 2010 12:59 PM in response to SmileyPR

Hey! I had the HP Deskjet 950c as default instead of the 959c. So, I changed it and was happy to find that it had lots of features to select from... BUT... once I click it to print... it disappears 😟

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Answer 8

SmileyPR

Level 1

8 points

Jan 10, 2010 1:44 PM in response to SmileyPR

Found the solution!!!

- Make sure your printer is connected and "on"/green light via your USB port (or other which will be recognised by your system)
- Go to System Preference
- Print & Fax
- Your printer will appear.
- Right click on the printer that is giving problems
- Reset printing system
- All printers will disappear !!!
- Click on the + sign under this/these to add a new printer (I suppose you would have to do so for each one you have if you have more than one... not sure)
- In my case, the one that appear was 950c even though the one I have is 959. So, to make sure I would have something, I kept that, but then I click the + sign again.
- I selected the 950C, but then I checked on "PRINT USING".... THEN !!!
- I had to "SELECT PRINTER SOFTWARE"
- I found it and that came where it said "Print using", but this time it was the right software.
- I renamed the NAME of the printer to be sure I would recognise it... LOL

I hope this is useful for all of you.

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