32-bit ghostscript, required for ImageWriter and other printers using CUPS

I have a new installer if anyone else wants to try it: https://etresoft.org/download/ghostscript64.pkg

It is notarized and should install on Catalina without any complaints. It is very similar to the version that John tested above and found to work.

Disclaimer: This is my own web site. This is free software downloaded from (https://sourceforge.net/projects/ghostscript/files/GPL%20Ghostscript/8.71/) with some custom patches and procedures applied. it’s GPL, so contact me if you want full build procedures. Downloading this software or using it could give me some form of compensation, financial or otherwise.

I had a LaserWriter Pro 630 that that was just too cantankerous and didn't do anything any disposable laser printer can't do. I gave it to an enthusiastic hobbyist. She was thrilled, but it's a PostScript printer and that's easy. I gave up on QuickDraw printers.

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I didn't even bother checking Stack Overflow until today:

• a scolding from Stack Overflow moderators that Stack Overflow was for developer questions, and this discussion should go elsewhere (to which I responded Ghostscript told us Stack Overflow was their official forum)

I saw that. I had posted the identical question on SuperUser as suggested. Zero replies.

Links on the Ghostscript web site say that THIS (StackOverflow) is the official forum for discussing issues related to Ghostscript.

Exactly!

That's the reason I posted it there, but... 🤷🏻‍♂️

There's no point in arguing with mods about which forum is appropriate and which isn't. Unlike SuperUser, at least StackOverflow got replies. Can't argue with that.

That test version has Etresoft's Developer Certificate right?

Yes.

So if you get Linux Foundation to put up the 64-bit version of Ghostscript 8.71 (not notarized unless somebody ¿Artisoft? want to tie it to their developer certificate) then it has to be installed as an Un-Identified Developer product, right?

I don't know. As I wrote I was given authority to edit that page and presumably provide links to a package installer. Once I have a suitable package I suppose I could tie it to mine. Or Etresoft's, assuming he's amenable to it. I don't know.

• A confession that Chris was the one who removed gdevadmp, and possible conditions for putting back.

Aha!

I agree legacy equipment can't be supported forever, but the IW hasn't been "supported" in ages. I thought that's what OpenPrinting was all about. It's just a dumb printer, but it's a good one, and as I recall I spent $1000 apiece for them back then. I've got one of them in use with a program I wrote for a handheld calculator's serial port (an HP-48GX). It's unencumbered by "security" nonsense. Paper gets shredded 😆

Anyway I replied to Chris, so all I can do is wait and see what happens.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

That test version has Etresoft's Developer Certificate right? So if you get Linux Foundation to put up the 64-bit version of Ghostscript 8.71 (not notarized unless somebody ¿Artisoft? want to tie it to their developer certificate) then it has to be installed as an Un-Identified Developer product, right?

Good luck with that. You can use the version I posted. I don’t plan on doing anything with etresoft.org for a while, so it should be safe. And it is open-source to begin with, so copy at will.

I have detailed build instructions if anyone wants them. The original project needed a couple of fixes. Distributing open-source software via a stand-alone installer can be difficult. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could scramble it. Since I definitely didn’t know what I was doing with Ghostscript, my build procedure is a bit of a kludge. I have no idea how to get a newer version running. I don’t know the software and don’t have the hardware.

There is more activity on ghostscript thread at Stack Overflow, summarized thus:

• A confession that Chris was the one who removed gdevadmp, and possible conditions for putting back.

• a scolding from Stack Overflow moderators that Stack Overflow was for developer questions, and this discussion should go elsewhere (to which I responded Ghostscript told us Stack Overflow was their official forum)

• a link to a slideshow by Michael Sweet (now of Apple) proposing the total elimination of "fringe" non-compliant printers in future versions of CUPS

Typical Stack Overflow. What a mess.

Check Stack Overflow. Chris indicated at least some willingness to reinstate the IW drivers, provided someone with the requisite hardware and other skills steps up, so that's a hopeful sign.

So the 9.20 version probably works.

It probably does. My original (ideal) goal to create a macOS installer package remains though, so reinstating the IW drivers in current and future Ghostscript releases would be commensurately ideal. For now all I can do is wait and see

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

If nothing else, seeing that 9.20 seems to work adds credibility that the main developed versions of Ghostscript going forward may still do the job for Mac users. They don't seem to have changed it so much that it is falling apart for Mac users.

Just to keep you updated, a week or two ago Chris at Artifex told me via email:

"The Apple devices were updated and reinstated as contrib devices."

I don't believe they have quite yet made it into a public gs release, but I expect that it will occur soon.

This is the best possible outcome, much better than I would have imagined. Apple's 35 year old ImageWriter printers are alive and well in Catalina, with full 64-bit Ghostscript support, thanks to you, Etresoft, and perhaps one or two others in the known universe.

I'll update my User Tips at an appropriate time. I have some other equipment on order (a modern, wireless serial device server, as well as a commercially available cable) which I'll also be evaluating presently.

Thank you all! Without your interest this outcome would never have gotten off the ground.

😄

Wow. Outstanding work everyone.

I don't have an ImageWriter anymore nor am I likely to hunt out and get one but I can see the (rare) use cases for it still. I did use to have one originally being used with an Apple ][+. When I borrowed a Mac 128K as part of the 'Test Drive a Mac' scheme prior to buying a Mac I did manage to connect the ImageWriter to the Mac. This was harder than it sounds because back then the Apple ][+ and most other computers used DB25 plugs and the Mac used a new fangled DB9 plug.

I 'solved' this at least for the period of my test drive loan by having a DB25 to bare wires cable and using large pins to hold the bare wires in to the DB9 socket on the Mac. Being again so new I also had to work out the wiring for this frankenstein DB25 to DB9 cable. 😄

I was later able to buy the proper DB9 bits from Tandy here in the UK, known as Radio Shack in the US.

I used to use all this for school work and back then when dinosaurs still roamed the earth I had more advanced kit than most schools.

Tried building (only) x86_64?

https://www.ghostscript.com/doc/9.27/Make.htm

Homebrew lists Catalina, too:

https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/ghostscript

Have you already checked the supported printer list in Gutenprint 5.3.3?

I just compiled Ghostscript. Only took about 3 minutes. I don’t know if there are any associated files requires. The basic gs command seems to work.

Sure.... I don't know what to change though.

I don't know what to include or where to find it.