I’m looking at a new Imac to replace my old PC but I need to run a older Okidata MC591 printer that uses a parallel port, my question is what is the best way to do this. And who makes the hardware that would work best with apple.
I could find any obvious web page with specs for that printer. If it can connect by Ethernet to be a network printer, it may possibly work. I think making it work using some type of parallel port to USB adapter would be a long shot. The key thing is the existance of a Mac OS X driver for that printer; if you can find such a driver, then there is probably some way to make it work.
All current major printer makers make products that are compatible with Mac OS X. Just read the specs for a particular printer model to make sure.
It is not an ML591?
http://my.okidata.com/PP-ML591.nsf?opendatabase
Regarding the hardware, it may be possible to connect a parallel-port printer via a parallel-to-USB adapter or a parallel-port printer server (to Ethernet), providing that suitable device drivers are available. In addition to that, finding an appropriate printer driver would be essential, as Kenichi Watanabe already indicated. The following web page could perhaps be of interest.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3669
Jan
When I looked for Okidata MC 591, google suggested Okidata ML 591.
What do you need this printer for? What is special about it?
Perhaps you could network to the printer through your existing pc. Can you print pdf to the printer?
Getting a printer to print is messy.
With what is special about this printer, we could suggest a substitue.
You may look here for the driver, although I didn't see it.
Parallel printer port help
