printing osx mountain lion

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Level 1

5 points

printing osx mountain lion

In Mountain Lion, Apple has apparently lobotomized my HP Photosmart Premium 310C with their lame printer driver(s) and HP says - go to Apple for the driver.

The HP 310C has a photo print tray which can hold 5x7 or 4x6 or 3x5 print paper, a standard 8.5x11 print tray, a scanner, color copy capability and memory card feature. It is also both wired network and wireless network capable and the photo memory card reader in the printer can beused to print form the card directly or send the photos to Aperture or iPhoto. The printer is only 2 years old.

Under Lion and Snow leopard, the HP printer drivers supplied with the printer gave me such functionality as:

• Photo print tray & main 8.5x11 tray. The "new" Apple print drivers don't recognize the range of paper sizes, give me choice of whether to use the photo tray or not, and has a more limited print preview and set of print options.

• The "old" HP drivers gave me a wide range of flexibility from Aperture and Preview to customize my print settings for graphics output or photographic output. Ditto from programs like Photoshop and Corel Sketch. Now all I get is very limited "snapshot" prints only for the casual, non-professioinal photographer. I am a professiionial Apple! Why have you lobotomized my very capable printer!

• Flexible scanning, including selecting the area to scan, deciding how to handle graphics vs. text, a preview to determine how best to scan, an array of dpi scan settings and several methods of output: jpeg, PDF, OCR text, RTF text, etc.. Much of this functionality has disappeared.

• Trying to use the printer to read a memory stick duo (Sony) or SDC card into Aperture does not work any more. The Apple provided driver appears to recognize the memory slot as available, but Aperture (3.4.1) cannot "see" it.

As a result I am limited in my printing options to having to change papers in the main tray for each type of photo size I want to print, and am limited by the print driver lobotomizing Apple's own software capabilities to print high quality photos out of Aperture or Preview. Both Preview and Aperture give me presets and customization settings to tweak the output to my liking. This includes paper sizes, paper types, whether to handle color via the printer or via the settings inside Aperture, which print tray to use, and how to handle color output.

All of that is lobotmixed toa print capability dumbed down to the average casual iPhone/iPad photographer who only wants to print a snapshot of Jr. looking cute today for Grandma who still scrapbooks. Yes they should be able to do that and simply. But to prevent me from using the full capabilit of the machine - is that logical?

Apple - are you as a company going backward to pre Apple I days? You took the Photosmart & Premium out of the Printer!

Please update your print Driver for the HP 310C and give me my HP Photosmart Premium 310C back again!

And Apple tech support listen (Read) carefully - I am using the Apple generated HP driver for a HP Photosmart Premium 310C.

Many & Different, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 19, 2012 3:55 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Oct 19, 2012 10:34 PM in response to Clydearch

Hi Clydearch,

First of all Apple isn't listening here. This is a user-to-user technical support forum, so complaints will fall on deaf ears.

Second, HP is responsible for creating their drivers, not Apple. Apple merely distributes them through the App Store.

Third, HP has never cared very much for the Mac market.

Finally, make sure you are not missing anything about your printer's options in OS X's standard Print dialog. Many functions have been hidden in dropdown menus, such as this in Safari's Print dialog:

If your printer has various paper handling options, you will find them there. Same for photograph - specific settings and paper types.

Scanning is also very different in Lion / ML. All your previous options are most likely still available. You can adjust resolution, paper size, file format, everything you did in the past. You simply do this in different ways. Here is a screenshot from Preview, which now performs scanning functions directly:

You will probably find all the options you need there. The Image Capture program also performs scanning functions, as well as the Scan tab in System Preferences > Print & Scan.

All this is radically different from previous versions of OS X. I consider it an overall improvement since there has been no loss of function, and HP's proprietary software for scanning and such was always abysmal in OS X.

Lastly, if you want to get a printer from a quality manufacturer with good support, one that is guaranteed to work well with OS X Mountain Lion and everything likely to come after it, avoid HP. They have had over a decade to adapt to this market and I gave up waiting for them a long time ago.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Oct 20, 2012 12:21 AM in response to John Galt

Agree with the fact that if the printer instance is properly set up, all printer adjustment controls are there although maybe not immediately evident.

And as a counterpoint to the HP abandonment of the Mac market, just had a wonderful experience with a new 5200tn LaserJet we just got at work. Given that my Mac was up to date with the latest round of printer drivers (several of which have been released recently), turns out that as soon as I typed in the IP address for wireless TCP/IP printing, not only was the printer and its features immediately identified, a full printer configuration utility was offered via a button that popped up, allowing complete printer configuration of all its operation aspects, including passwording and security. Didn't even have to pull the CD that came with the printer out of its bag; all the goodies were awaiting in the Mac's system already.

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Answer 3

Clydearch Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 20, 2012 12:11 PM in response to John Galt

John,

Thanks very much for your nicely studied and illustrated helps. I will do some more poking around t see if I can get at some of the functionality that appears lost.

The other responder, Courcoul, has an interesting idea as well. So I'll look for the IP address assinged to mypriniter and try his suggestion as well.

re: your comment: "First of all Apple isn't listening here. This is a user-to-user technical support forum, so complaints will fall on deaf ears."

Please excuse my ranting at apple here. I understand that this is a user to user, help your Mac neighbor forum. I just could not get any answer form Apple tech support areas. So I just ranted here.

Do you know of a place on the Apple support site where I could rant? {;<)

Message was edited by: Clydearch

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Answer 4

Clydearch Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 20, 2012 12:11 PM in response to Courcoul

Courcoul,

Thanks for your interesting response. I will trry yours and John Galt's ideas to see if I can regain the functions I appear to have lost.

Again, many thanks!

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Oct 20, 2012 12:44 PM in response to Clydearch

Clydearch wrote:

Do you know of a place on the Apple support site where I could rant? {;<)

I understand the occasional need to blow off steam, but it would be more productive to direct your energies into a more worthwhile endeavor. Rants just get deleted here, so all that gets accomplished is beating your poor Mac's keyboard. Go split some firewood, spend another hour at the gym, or just go all Office Space on your printer.

An even better idea is to direct your money to a company that is motivated to support Apple's consumers. With respect to my friend Courcoul, HP doesn't qualify. IMO.

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Answer 6

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Oct 20, 2012 3:47 PM in response to Clydearch

Needless to say, first ensure the latest round of HP printer drivers (v2.12, released 10/11/12) is installed. Either via Software Update or download directly from here: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL907

On HP printers with JetDirect network cards, printing out a configuration page will include an extra page with the JetDirect's data, including the IP address, and whatever name the printer is announcing on the network.

If you have already set up a printer instance, I'd suggest you delete it and start anew: open System Preferences / Print & Scan, select the printer on the left column if present, click on the minus button at the bottom ( - ), click ok on the deletion confirmation. Now click on the plus button ( + ). In the ensuing new printer dialog, if the Mac locates the printer via Bonjour, it will appear in the default list to choose. Else click on the IP tab, use the HP Jetdirect protocol, type in the address you obtained as well as whatever Name you want to identify your printer with. As soon as the IP address is typed in, the Mac will attempt to communicate with the printer and determine which driver to use based on the model, just make sure it is correct in the Print Using box. Click Add. Back on the original Print & Scan window, after choosing the newly created printer instance, click on the Options & Supplies button and go thru all tabs to finish setting it up, filling in all the data.

Now the print dialog for all applications will let you access all the goodies your printer has to offer.

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Answer 7

Apr 4, 2013 10:42 AM in response to Clydearch

@Clydearch this appears to be a problem only with premium vs glossy paper selection. It won't print from the photo try if you pick premium paper.

I can find no others refering to this problem 😟

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