RobRR
Level 1
(0 points)
Q: impact printers (dot matrix) and 10.6
I am the process of converting a database from an ancient PC based dinosaur to Filemaker Pro running on an Apple.
The one problem I keep coming up against is printing labels. We print about 100-150 labels a week- with the cost of Dymo or Brother labels for their small thermal printers being 4x or more the cost of the old fan-fold tractor feed labels, it seemed obvious we should stick with an impact printer. Several companies still make impact printers. They are simple, bullet proof and inexpensive to run. (And though the cost of the printer itself is 2x the cost of the little Dymo or Brother, the savings in labels makes up the difference quickly.)
HOWEVER, Epson doesn't support Apple's operating system. There is a generic "Epson 24-pin" print driver option in Snow Leopard, but the image quality of the labels is abysmal - and there doesn't seem to be any options to improve the print quality. A call to Epson tech support reveals that they don't support the Apple environment and suggested calling Apple. The other big player in the tiny 24-pin impact printer market is Okidata - but the research there looks to be about the same. (And there are a few other companies still making impact printers, like Panasonic, but I think the story is the same.)
Does anyone have any suggestions?
One of the ideas I have heard is to have another Apple machine running 10.4 or 10.5 and run my labels through that - that seems crazy to me. I know dot-matrix printers are dinosaurs, but, if you have to printer more than 20 labels a day, they are MUCH more cost effective than anything else I am aware of.
I am open to suggestions.
Thanks
- Rob Rinaldi
Several, Mac OS X (10.6.8), I work with several different model Apples
Matt Broughton
Level 5
(4,980 points)
Thanks. Having the make and model number does help in sorting out your options.
When you tried the Epson 24 pin driver that comes with the printing system, did you try the various dpi settings under Printer Features in the print window? The default is set for 120x60dpi, but the driver allows up to 360x360dpi.
The other altermative that would seem to fit the bill would be for you to try a driver from OpenPrinting.org. To use that driver, download and insstall Foomatic-RIP and Ghostscript from http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/macosx/foomat ic.
You will then need a PPD. The manual for your 590 indicates that the LQ-2550 is compatible (see the section of the manual dealing with choosing a driver for DOS programs). You can get a PPD for this model at http://www.openprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.php?driver=epsonc&printer=Epson-LQ-2550& show=1. You can save the file to your Desktop or somewhere else and add the .ppd extension. For this PPD to work properly on a Mac, you need to delete the line
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-pdf 0 foomatic-rip"
and save the file.
As for some of the other suggestions that were offered here. The Gutenprint/Gimp-Print drivers will not work for you. They only support laser, inkjet, and some dye-sub printers. I took a look at the LQ-300 model driver from cups.org as that was mentioned as a possible source for drivers. It uses the same driver that is already on your system. That is, it uses the rastertoepson filter from CUPS. As far as I can tell, the PPD for the LQ-300 only differs from the generic driver in some of the media sizes offered.
There is no need to use a computer that runs a lower version of OS X. The only case where that might be a solution is if Epson offered a driver for Mac OS X 10.4.x or some such that would not work in OS X 10.6.x.
