zebra printers and mac os

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zebra printers and mac os

I am looking for advice on using a Zebra printer with Macintosh OS 10.6.8. I do not have the Zebra printer yet. It would be part of a packaging system from Quadrel. Both Zebra and Quadrel do not officially support Mac OS. The printer itself would be a 110PAX4 printer engine. As configured I would be able to connect to it wired or wirelessly using an ip address. I see that the Mac OS has 4 zebra printer drivers, including a ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) driver. I just need to print simple text labels for inventory, not even barcodes.

Is anyone using such a system now with Mac OS, or familiar with this?

Thank you.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 14, 2012 9:40 AM

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Answer 1

PBFTom

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Apr 6, 2013 9:09 AM in response to Rick Lotz

I'm struggling with my Z4M. I was running it on an old windows tower with XP and just upgraded all my windows machines to mac mini's running parallels and Windows 7.

I can't answer your question yet but I can tell you the throwing $250 at Parallels / W7 doesn't make it easy.. I can't get the printer to communicate. I bought a Serial to USB adapter, which might or might not be the problem. No clue what you are supposed to do when the windows wizard asks what port you are connected to and lists 50 random looking choices.

So far the only Mac solution I have found is through Peninsula-group.com and costs $113 for one user. I downloaded the trial version and it is not working.

Good Luck !

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Answer 2

Vfrank

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Apr 16, 2013 9:07 AM in response to Rick Lotz

How much time can you invest in solving this? I ask because I have developed a generalized system for Zebra printers using a web front end. Short summary - on submitting forms the system creates zpl files which are then sent to the printer. The system is apache/php/mysql based so would require some work in initial setup - but on the up side its extremely flexible and is independent of printer drivers. I currently have a distributed labeling system producing hundreds of labels per week so I know it to be reasonably robust.

If you think this might be of use I can supply some further more information.

Regards

FC

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Answer 3

Jul 23, 2013 3:40 PM in response to Vfrank

@Vfrank -

I'd be interested in the solution you worked up. We're sturggling with this as well and I'm ready to invest some time to try and solve it.

Thanks.

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Answer 4

Sep 16, 2014 1:02 AM in response to Rick Lotz

The only way you can print reliably and correctly on OSX to a Zebra ZPL or EPL printer is with a commercial printer driver.

This printer driver prints to all Zebra manufactured printers, straight from any Mac application with no pixelation. The only drawback is you have to purchase it.

Details are here.

http://www.peninsula-group.com/mac-thermal-printer-driver/default.html

Hope this helps people.

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Answer 5

Feb 8, 2015 1:55 PM in response to Rick Lotz

theres an app called FixZPL that does a really good job at printing ZPL files without having to install any plugins, drivers or modding files. The app is standalone and all you do is drag the files onto it. Theres a video on the site that shows you how it works. We use it to print about 20 labels per week, not much but it saves us hours of headaches and worth the price as we get more orders in. So far no issues and all the labels we have printed are crisp with no pixilation. App website is www.fixzpl.com. Hope this helps anyone looking for a solid solution.

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