I have installed printer driver cd to run in OSX ok and downloaded driver for OX 9 but don't know how to install it in OS 9. Been told I need to install from classic environment but can't be in classic unless running a prog and must quit all applications to do installation...soon as click on installer icon, system reverts to OSX. Have burnt cd of download but still cant open from classic. Any help much appreciated.
Hi, Gene. I have no experience with the HP printer for which you're trying to install software. But in order to install the software while running in Classic mode, you may only need to double-click the installer's icon. That should cause the installer to look for OS 9, then Classic should start up to provide the OS 9 environment for the installer, and finally the installer should open and be ready to run.
If that doesn't happen, what does happen when you double-click the installer's icon?
To start Classic without opening any application, go to the Classic pane in System Preferences, click the Start/Stop tab near the top of the window, and then click Start. If you also click "Show Classic status in menu bar," you will then be able to start and stop Classic at any time from the menu bar, without opening Sys Prefs.
Thanks for your response. As soon as I click on the installer icon, even with classic running, my system reverts to OSX and displays an alert saying that 'this installer does not support mac OS10.2 and higher'. I think the problem is that I only have the 'classic environment' installed which apparently is a simulator, and not the full OS9 version. I still think there should be a way around the problem as I have been able to install for OS9 from OSX for different printers in the past.
I don't have a problem starting the classic environment - I have an icon in my dock - but I suppose as its only a simulator as I have just found out, I only get the classic menu when I am running a specific program and thus the installation is proving to be a bit of a nightmare...
Hi, Gene. Out of curiosity to see what you were running into, I just downloaded and tried to install the PSC 1610 driver package for OS 9.x and 10.1.x from HP's web site myself. The installer runs only in OS X, so Classic never enters the picture at all. From the very brief descriptive information on HP's site, it appears that this one installer is supposed to install the appropriate software to control the 1610
both in OS X and in Classic mode, whether you want both versions installed or not. But since you're running OS 10.2.x and I'm running 10.3.5, it won't install anything at all on either of our Macs. I get the following error message after entering my administrative password at the prompt:
"This installer does not support Mac OS 10.2 and higher. To download the installer for Mac OS 9.x and 10.1.x please visit the hp support site (www.hp.com/support)."
Since the installer for Mac OS 9.x and 10.1.x is exactly what both of us have already downloaded and are trying to install, this message is profoundly unhelpful. I am forced to conclude that this is yet another instance of HP's cluelessness about the Mac, and its longstanding inability to write Mac drivers and installers that work.
It has been my great good fortune to own an HP LaserJet 4M printer for about 12 years now — and to have realized very soon after buying it that every time I had any trouble with it, it was because of HP's lousy driver software. When I switched to an Adobe driver instead, my problems disappeared for good, and the printer has performed wonderfully all these years. But using Adobe's driver is only an option with a PostScript printer, which my 4M is but your 1610 isn't. You're stuck with HP's driver and its inexcusably-designed installer. Unless HP tech support can help you (which would be a real shocker to me), I'm afraid you just can't get there from here.
The only workaround I can think of would be to 1) erase your hard drive, 2) reinstall OS 10.1.x (if your iMac can run that version, and if you have an installer for it), 3) reinstall OS 9 for Classic operation, 4) copy the HP installer onto your hard drive, then run it in OS 10.1.x, where it ought to work; then 5) upgrade OS 10.1.x to 10.2.x using your Jaguar installer disks, and 6) reinstall everything else that's now on your hard drive, including all your data, which you'd have to have backed up to other media before starting this procedure. Make no mistake: this is a huge amount of tedious effort to go through for the sake of being able to use the 1610 in Classic mode (note that you probably still couldn't use it in OS 10.2.x even after this rigmarole). Before embarking on it, I'd try to return the printer for a refund and buy an Epson unit instead. Epson has been able to write functional Mac software for years and years.
Hey Guys, I first started to share eww's feelings about HP's ability to support Macs when I discovered quite by chance that for a rather different printer, there were three different extant "latest" drivers, after half-a-dozen HP techs insisted there was only one.
I discovered this by begging several people to send me duplicate versions on CD, just in case I had a bad CD, and then in a desperate moment taking a magnifying glass to the tiny writing on the CD rim (or hub; sorry I don't remember which) only to discover slightly different factory markings, despite the same printed part number.
My point being that no-one should easily accept HP's word that what they say is the right driver, actually is the right driver. Take it from a well-experienced techie who understands what I wrote, but not from a youngster who doesn't…
wow guys thanks for the trouble you've gone to! I got the same error message - having downloaded the driver four times thinking I was doing it wrong (three times for me and once at the insistance of the HP help guy who seemed to think it was me and not HP who are at fault...) Don't think I can face erasing my 10.2 and starting again - think I'll either plump for the refund (got it from the apple store, even they assured me it would work fine) or update my photoshop and illustrator to run in OSX.
Thanks again,
