Network Laser Printer Does Not Appear in Chooser, OS 9.2

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Network Laser Printer Does Not Appear in Chooser, OS 9.2

Hello All,

My Samsung CLP-550N works fine in OS X, but even though the 'Classic' driver has been properly installed, and is present in System Folder/Extensions/Printer Descriptions folder, the printer does not appear when I click on 'Laserwriter 8' in the Chooser, as Samsung's setup instrux say it should.

I have contacted Samsung's tech people, who have been generous with their time, but they are baffled. They confirm that the driver is appropriate for OS 9.2 (actually we've tried several) and that the printer is designed to work on OS 9.x.

Could my network setup be at fault? Appletalk control panel dialog shows 'No Zones Available'. If I type the printer's IP address into a browser window, the browser can't find it. . . . Forgive me if I'm missing something stupid; I never networked in OS 9.x before. . .

Thanks All, -Angus

PowerMac G4 sawtooth 400 MHz, Mac OS X (10.3.8), Booting up in OS 9.2

Posted on Feb 2, 2006 11:21 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 2, 2006 12:19 PM in response to Angus McC

I don't know that printer and unless Samsung says it's specifically meant to work with Classic, the fact that it's "designed to work on OS 9.x. " is no indication that it will ever work with Classic 9…

If Samsung techies were going into the kind of detail you've posted, they should also have explained that what's in System Folder/Extensions/Printer Descriptions folder isn't a driver, but a printer description or PostScript printer definition file that provides details for the actual driver - LaserWriter 8 - to work on…

If you have it, some printers prefer the other "standard" PostScript driver - AdobePS - which might work when LaserWriter 8 doesn't…

With either driver, the version can be crucial. Some printers even require downgraded versions of LaserWriter 8 or AdobePS, instead of the latest, presumably "correct" versions of either… in which case Samsung should be specific, rather than ask for "the latest version…"

Some printers also require specific, sometimes downgraded, versions of, for instance, the PrintingLib Extension…

Classic 9 should be taking its network settings from X - which you said works, yes? - but since this is an older G4, what happens when you try it in pure, booted OS 9 instead of Classic, please?

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Answer 2

Angus McC Author

Level 1

50 points

Feb 2, 2006 12:46 PM in response to Robbie Goodwin

Hello Robbie,

Thanks for that. I've only been trying with the Mac "pure booted in OS 9", not in Classic mode with OS X running. That said, a solution to this problem that worked in Classic would be much more useful.

Understood that 'driver' in this context really means PPD.

I don't have the Adobe PS driver; but even granted that the folks at Samsung are not perfect, the fact that the manual and the techs specify Laserwriter 8 satisfies me that a foray to the Adobe is unlikely to be productive.

Thanks for the suggestions, anyway. - Angus

p.s. off-topic - Luton, eh? Last time i was there was half way through a 4-hour cross-country bus ride in December 1980. Sorry i was unable to stop. How is Lorraine Chase these days?

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Answer 3

Feb 2, 2006 1:19 PM in response to Angus McC

Ah - well if Classic more useful, not all but most people can create virtual desktop printers using the Translator PostScript option in Apple's own Desktop Printer Utility…

That will become the default printer for Classic apps - though it will not actually show on the Desktop.

Then tell the Print dialog in any Classic app to Print to File and it should produce a .ps file that can be manually dragged into any open X print queue and that should be all there is to it…

That doesn't work for everyone and it isn't elegant. It is possible to use scriting to eliminate the manual drag and I don't know the details - they did appear in several recent posts both here and and on other forums, but I failed to find them again…

Whoever said that 'driver' in this context really means PPD was being casual… the difference doesn't often matter but when it does, can be crucial.

I agree that the manual and the techs specify Laserwriter 8 satisfies me that a foray to the Adobe is unlikely to be productive - and still there are several different versions of LW 8, some printers are picky and some designers are too casual to warn their techs…

Going back to pure bootable OS 9 it's also possible something else is interfering, in which case rather than mess with your current System Folder, you could make a fresh tst platform alongside it by re-running the 9 installer and using Option to access the Clean System Installation routine, which will preserve the current System Folder denatured and renamed Previous System Folder, but otherwise unchanged.

If you boot to the new System Folder then install nothing other than Samsung's software, there should be nothing to interfere…

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Answer 4

Angus McC Author

Level 1

50 points

Feb 2, 2006 3:22 PM in response to Robbie Goodwin

Well, we'r making progress. Following your suggestion, I was led to these help instrux:

*****************************************************
Printing to a Mac OS X shared printer from Mac OS 9 via LPD/LPR

To print to a Mac OS X user's shared printer from Mac OS 9, you must select the printer using the Desktop Printer Utility application included with Mac OS 9.1 or later.
1 Open Desktop Printer Utility, located in Applications (Mac OS 9)/Utilities.
2 Select Printer (LPR) and click OK.
3 Select a PostScript Printer Description (PPD) file, and then click Change next to the LPR Printer Selection box.
4 Enter the IP address of the computer that's sharing the printer.

If you don't know the IP address, contact the user who's sharing the printer. They can find the IP address of their Mac by opening System Preferences, clicking Network, and then clicking TCP/IP.

5 Enter the printer's queue name.

If you don't know the printer's queue name, contact the user who's sharing the printer. They can find their printer's queue name by opening System Preferences, clicking Print & Fax, clicking Printing, and then clicking the Set Up Printers button. They then need to select the printer in the Printer List and choose Printers > Show Info.

6 Click Create.

*******************************************************

So now the Samsung laser printer appears as the printer under Laserwriter 8. Great.

However when i try to print a graphic from Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, a sheet prints out with the error message: "An error occurred while processing this page. Error:typecheck. Command: get. Stack: "

If I'm lucky. A photo from Photoshop came out as sheet after sheet with ASCII printed in a few lines st the top.

Any ideas? Thanks.

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Answer 5

Feb 3, 2006 2:47 AM in response to Angus McC

Ah - it could behave differently because it's shared… If this is meant to be natively networkable, I'd try it that way first…

"Error:typecheck. Command: get. Stack: " is a PostScript error, which suggests data is getting through, but being mistranslated - with no clue to which end is mistranslating it…

The wrong PPD could do that and, depending on the combination of printer, driver and application doing the printing, so could any of the PostScript Options…

Can you find options to control either PostScript compatibility level (1, 2 or 3) or Data format (ASCII or Binary)? Those are the most obvious candidates…

Even if you already tried the right Samsung PPD, does it behave better using Generic?

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