Imagewriter II and Lion.

Sorry, starting with snow leopard appletalk is no longer supported so you cannot directly connect your old printer to your new machine.

Here's some possible other ideas:

Overcoming missing AppleTalk printer connectivity in Snow Leopard

Hi Alain,

Most likely all you need to do is download and install the new 64 bit driver from Keyspan.

For Lion, download the 2.6.x beta driver.

The instructions direct you to unplug the Keyspan before you install the driver. If you don't it will crash. Attach the Keyspan adapter after the driver installation is complete. A reboot is not required.

Everything else should work as it did with your Snow Leopard MBP.

What's with the strange quoting?

I thought the appletalk protocol was dropped there so is nothing to encapsulate even if you have the software/hardware that could encapsulate it.

I have an old personal laserwriter NTR and I have found no way to use it directly on my mac pro with snow leopard.

What's with the strange quoting?

It's a scan of an Imagewriter print of your post 🙂 Screenshot, so 72 DPI. Printing from Safari would look better.

AppleTalk is gone, but the OP isn't using it. The Keyspan adapter he referred to is USB to serial - not AppleTalk - otherwise it could not have worked with Snow Leopard.

If you can configure the Personal LaserWriter to use serial in lieu of AT it should work too.

The package at OpenPrinting.org is really broken for OS X 10.6 and later. You can still get your ImageWriter to work on a serial connection. Here are the steps:

1. Download and install the latest KeySpan drivers. This one should work.

2. Download and install Foomatic-RIP and Ghostscript from here.

3. Download your PPD from http://openprinting.org/ppd-o-matic.php?driver=iwhi&printer=Apple-ImageWriter_II &show=0

4. Edit the PPD file. Remove the line:

*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-pdf 0 foomatic-rip"

5. Place the PPD in the folder /Library/Printers /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/

6. Download and install the serial backend from my website Serial Print Enabler

7. Plug your printer into Port 1 of the Keyspan adapter and add your printer using the CUPS web inteerface at http://127.0.0.1:631/admin

8. Select KeySerial1 under Local Printers.

9. Set the printer to use 9600 baud, Parity:none, Data Bits:8, Flow Control RTS/CTS

10. Select the PPD that you just added to the PPD folder

"Apple ImageWriter II Foomatic/iwhi (recommended)"

You should be able to print.

Message was edited by: Matt Broughton

Hi Matt,

Which Linux Foundation package or packages are broken? I installed the Imagewriter printer on a brand new Lion installation on completely erased partition, as well as upgrade installations, and each time the packages opened and installed without complaint. I had read where you advised editing the PPD file but this was not necessary.

I developed a comprehensive description with screenshots for someone who asked and varied the methods to determine exactly what would happen if one or more components were not installed correctly.

All told five downloads and installations were necessary, and installed in the following order:

• The Keyspan USA-28x 2.6.x beta driver
• The Foomatic-RIP runtime component installer: Foomatic-RIP 4.0.6
• GPL PostScript interpreter / CUPS interface: gplgs-8.71.dmg
• The Foomatic ImageWriter driver: imagewriter-foomatic-1.2-1.ppc.dmg
• Your Serial Print Enabler version 1.5

After that the printer is added via the CUPS interface as you explained.

If you have the time, could you please verify this will work? I would eventually like to post the procedure on ASC as a sticky or User Tip and would appreciate it if you could verify everything works as well for you as it did on my systems.

Thanks!

Hi John,

John Galt wrote:

I installed the Imagewriter printer on a brand new Lion installation on completely erased partition, as well as upgrade installations, and each time the packages opened and installed without complaint.

If you look at the iinstall.log, you will find that the postinstall script will have logged some errors.

Here's what's going on. The imagewriter-foomatic-1.2-1.ppc.dmg package will install

1. PPDs for all the ImageWirters at /usr/share/model,
2. A ppc only serial backend at /usr/libexec/cups/backend
3. The old, old cupsomatic filter at /usr/libexec/cups/filter
4. foomatic-gswrapper at /usr/local/bin.

The good news is that once you get everything tied together, the old PPDs will work with the old cupsomatic filter and the cupsomatic filter will work with the foomatic-gswrapper.

The problems :

• The PPDs that are installed are written to use the old cupsomatic filter and don't touch the more modern foomatic-rip filter.
• Beginning with OS 10.7, the postinstall script in the ImageWriter package will fail because the old PPD path of /usr/share/cups/model is not recognized.
• The serial backend is PPC only.
• The serial backend will break with OS X 10.6 where they switched to a side channel read from a back channel read in prior versions of OS X.

The current PPDs found at OpenPrinting.org are all written to use the foomatic-rip filter which calls Ghsoscript automatically. There is no more need for the foomatic-gswrapper. There is a problem with the foomatic-rip filter on OS X however.

Foomatic-rip is written to use the poppler filters which are really Liinux based. A problem arises when a PDF file is submitted (the OS X standard) to Foomatic-RIP. Many of the job options are not passed along properly to the filters OS X uses. Options such as landscape orientation and output resolution are ignored. Therefore, OS X users need to delete the line that allows Foomatic-RIP to handle a PDF workflow. In other words, OS X users have to "trick" the OS X installation of CUPS and the OS X filters into thinking that the printer is a PostScript printer to get all the job options honored when we use the Foomatic-RIP filter.

Did I answer all your questions? It's actually quite amazing the any part of a package developed under OS X 10.2 still works at all under OS X 0.7. There is some basic information on serial printing for OS X on my web page. It does need some updating however.

Message was edited by: Matt Broughton

Thank you Matt, yes that does answer my questions. After thinking about it most of the day, some of it is even starting to make sense.

May I bother you with more?

... The imagewriter-foomatic-1.2-1.ppc.dmg package will install

1. PPDs for all the ImageWirters at /usr/share/model,
2. A ppc only serial backend at /usr/libexec/cups/backend
3. The old, old cupsomatic filter at /usr/libexec/cups/filter
4. foomatic-gswrapper at /usr/local/bin.

On my normal work machine:

1. I have 57 folders at /usr/share/ but none with the name "model" 😕
2. If the serial backend it installs at /usr/libexec/cups/backend is PPC only, it would be completely inert on a Lion iMac (Intel), right? The "serial" file I have in that location is dated 3/31/2010 so I'm assuming its presence is due to your Serial Print Enabler, right?
3. Yes, it's there, dated 12/11/2002, therefore it can't possibly be Intel and is thus useless as well?
4. foomatic-gswrapper - same date, same question?

From the above it would appear the imagewriter-foomatic-1.2-1.ppc.dmg package is completely pointless. Does it install anything useful? If so, what and where?

The current PPDs found at OpenPrinting.org are all written to use the foomatic-rip filter which calls Ghsoscript automatically. There is no more need for the foomatic-gswrapper.

Which of the downloads that I linked contained the foomatic-gswrapper you reference? Is it imagewriter-foomatic-1.2-1.ppc.dmg? If so it should be omitted from my procedure, and only Foomatic-RIP is necessary, right? And if that is the case, which of the files I referenced (if any) contains an ImageWriter PPD?

From what you wrote it seems as though I have no ImageWriter-specific PPD installed on this Lion Mac. Can that be right? I have absolutely no Imagewriter- specific files at /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/ Only HP and Brother gzip files and a couple of empty localization folders.

If I have all that correct I have another question - namely how does a PostScript output become a raster file. The only component left is what I called the GPL PostScript interpreter / CUPS interface gplgs-8.71.dmg that installs at /usr/local/share/ghostscript/

Is that what does it?

The good news is that once you get everything tied together, the old PPDs will work with the old cupsomatic filter and the cupsomatic filter will work with the foomatic-gswrapper.

I think this is the essence of my remaining confusion. Where are those "old PPDs", since I can't find them anywhere, and if the cupsomatic filter is as old as foomatic-gswrapper - both pre-Intel - how can it possibly work?

Thanks!

John Galt wrote:

I have 57 folders at /usr/share/ but none with the name "model" 😕

Old rules never change. Garbage in, garbage out. The path should be /usr/share/cups/model. You may or may not have the "model" directory. I can't remember if they even include that anynore.

If the serial backend it installs at /usr/libexec/cups/backend is PPC only, it would be completely inert on a Lion iMac (Intel), right?

Inert under 10.7.x. Would still function on an Intel computer that was running Rosetta.

The "serial" file I have in that location is dated 3/31/2010 so I'm assuming its presence is due to your Serial Print Enabler, right?

Correct. An installer will clobber any file of the same name but with an earlier creation date unless they take specific action to make a backup of existing files.

Yes, it's there, dated 12/11/2002, therefore it can't possibly be Intel and is thus useless as well?

A serial file that is dated 2002 will be ppc only and will not work. My installer will archive any serial file that it finds and remove the executible flag before it installs the one in my package. I don't like messing with people's computers without giving them a way back out.

foomatic-gswrapper - same date, same question?

foomatic-gs-wrapper and cupsomatic are written in perl. As such they are neither ppc or Intel. They rely on the ppc or Intel perl interpreter that comes with OS X.

From the above it would appear the imagewriter-foomatic-1.2-1.ppc.dmgpackage is completely pointless. Does it install anything useful? If so, what and where?

The current package doesn't do much useful right now for Snow Leopard and Lion users. At least it installs PPDs, cupsomatic, and foomatic-gswrapper that will work together if you install a more recent serial backend and manally add the printer.

The current PPDs found at OpenPrinting.org are all written to use thefoomatic-rip filter which calls Ghsoscript automatically. There is no more need for the foomatic-gswrapper.

Correct.

Which of the downloads that I linked contained the foomatic-gswrapper you reference? Is it imagewriter-foomatic-1.2-1.ppc.dmg? If so it should be omitted from my procedure, and only Foomatic-RIP is necessary, right? And if that is the case, which of the files I referenced (if any) contains an ImageWriter PPD?

As noted above the imagewriter-foomatic-1.2.ppc.dmg installs the cupsomatic filter, foomatic-gswrapper, and PPD files. These all work together.

From what you wrote it seems as though I have no ImageWriter-specific PPDinstalled on this Lion Mac. Can that be right? I have absolutely no Imagewriter- specific files at /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/ Only HP and Brother gzip files and a couple of empty localization folders.

Look at the correct path as cited above -- /usr/share/cups/model. That used to be the CUPS default location. Only OS X uses /Library/Prinrters/PPDs…

If I have all that correct I have another question - namely how does a PostScript output become a raster file. The only component left is what I called the GPLPostScript interpreter / CUPS interface gplgs-8.71.dmg that installs at/usr/local/share/ghostscript/

Is that what does it?

I'm going to confuse you now. The actual driver for the ImageWriters is built in to Ghostscript. It is the iwhi driver. You may see reference to that if you look at a PPD. Here's a basic run down of what happens during a print job. I'm sure there are some technical inaccuracies here, but it will give you an idea of what happens. Here I use foomatic-rip. The cupsomatic filter does the same job.

1. An application sends a PDF file along with the job options.
2. The printing system takes a look at the job and what the printer wants. In this case, the PPD is saying it wants PostScript and to send the PostScript to the foomatic-rip filter.
3. The printing system converts the job to PostScript and sends it to the foomatic-rip filter.
4. The foomatic-rip filter combines the job options with the Postscript and sends everything to Ghoscript and the iwhi driver built in to Ghostscript.
5. It now comes back in a form the printer understands and is sent to the printer via the serial backend which comminicates with the printer. It all magically appears on the paper.

I think this is the essence of my remaining confusion. Where are those "old PPDs", since I can't find them anywhere, and if the cupsomatic filter is as old asfoomatic-gswrapper - both pre-Intel - how can it possibly work?

The old PPDs are at /usr/share/cups/model. Both cupsomatic and foomatic-gswrapper are perl scripts which are neither ppc or Intel. They are text based command language.

Thanks to all for all The information I have an Imagewriter I working under Mountail Lion no problems! Just to encorage other users!

Good work Amichai B!

How did you get past the CUPS authentication when adding the printer? CUPS won't take any credential I try.

Where are you in the CUPS administration page Bryan?

Did you get this far?

John,

Thanks for the quick response. Yes, I got to the CUPS interface. In fact, after rebooting, I was able to login with my user account. I was able to successfully add the printer (I'm running Mavericks). I've got it to print, although, it's quite messy. It only prints a portion of the text then shoots the paper out. My guess it it's driver related?