Printing to an Oki C5250n

Question

Printing to an Oki C5250n

Recently purchased an Oki5250n (a networked colour laser printer) which is running off of a Windows XP machine over a network connected to two iBooks.

Unhappy to discover, after the fact, that OKI claims this printer will not run with the Mac operating system. Can't return the printer and am currently "porting" files to the Windows machine for printing - workable, but a pain.

My iBook can "see" the printer over the network, (as "OL94F8C8") but the problem is finding a driver that capable of instructing the printer to do its thing. Have tried an OKI 5450 driver (that is compatible with the MAC operating system) but the printer doesn't respond.

Have looked at gimp-print, and no joy.

I just wonder if anyone has developed a way to get around this problem, or has discovered a compatible driver under another name.

IBook 900 mHz Mac OS X (10.4.5) 640 MB RAM, 80 GB Removable Fireware Drive

IBook 900 mHz, Mac OS X (10.4.5), 640 MB RAM, 80 GB Removable Fireware Drive

Posted on May 17, 2006 12:31 AM

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Answer 1

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

May 17, 2006 5:59 AM in response to Franklyn Hamsher

Some Oki's use HP's PCL page language. Try ADDing the printer and select HP Laserjet 5 Series, Gimp-Print for the driver. This will probably be Black & White, but if it works, we can find a better driver.

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Answer 2

May 17, 2006 7:07 AM in response to greg sahli

Tried the gimp print Laserjet 5.0.0 beta driver and got an "invalid data" in the LCD menu on the printer.

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Answer 3

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

May 17, 2006 11:05 AM in response to Franklyn Hamsher

Then, I don't have any more ideas.... sorry.

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Answer 4

Jun 9, 2006 3:14 AM in response to Franklyn Hamsher

I've got the same printer and the same problem... and was hopin here would be a cool guy to help with 🙂
ok, will search alone 🙂

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Answer 5

Jun 9, 2006 6:28 PM in response to Franklyn Hamsher

A Google search for Unix drivers for this printer turned up this refernce for Oki printers. I can't do a verbatim translation, but looking at the listings for the C5250 and the other printers, it would appear that the C5250n uses the GDI driver. This essentially means that it will work only on Windows machines.

Matt

Mac Mini; B&W G3/300

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Answer 6

Jun 9, 2006 8:12 PM in response to Franklyn Hamsher

"...Have tried an OKI 5450 driver..."

Very big bummer. Have you tried the 5150 driver? I know that "works" with the Mac and 10.4....with a s-load of luck, maybe it will get your 5250 running. Worth a shot...

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Answer 7

Jun 9, 2006 8:17 PM in response to David DeCristoforo

Oh and here's another idea (but it will cost a bit of dough). Get an Airport Express, connect that to your network and connect the 5250 to the AE's USB port. It should work fine as a USB printer and by following this tutorial:

http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1006.html

you can get your windoze boxes to use it too.

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Answer 8

Jun 14, 2006 9:21 AM in response to Franklyn Hamsher

I downloaded the C5000 driver from

http://my.okidata.com/dsdownWeb.nsf/(MOC-c5150n)/280AD8F3BE6C07E2852570670070967D?OpenDocument

The installer contains a c5250 plugin which has served me well over the last 6 months or so, printing perfectly from any of the 6 imacs on my network. I just tried it as a standalone over USB and that seems fine too.

Imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Please note, you will need to copy & paste the URL as this post won't recognise all of that address as a hyperlink.

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Answer 9

tsbecker

Level 1

0 points

Jun 14, 2006 11:44 AM in response to dprkphoto@mac.com

Thank you for posting this!! This information is impossible to find on Okidata's site!

I downloaded the c5000 driver, installed it and the printer was immediately recognized over the network. All the options seem to work. I haven't tried it via USB yet.

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Answer 10

Jun 14, 2006 1:19 PM in response to dprkphoto@mac.com

thank you, you made my day 🙂
now is my mac experience perfect .p

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Answer 11

Jun 20, 2006 5:20 AM in response to dprkphoto@mac.com

excuse me my maybe dumb question, but how can I use the plugin?
when I just install the package, the only OKI printer available is 5450n and not working 😟
i get a The process "OKfilterA" stopped unexpectedly with status 2

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Answer 12

Jun 20, 2006 8:19 AM in response to siva.vlcica

I'm second with the dumb question. I've got an OKI C5200 which this driver supports. I install the driver and then go to add the printer. But nowhere is there an OKI driver to be found?

I've tried adding it normally, the mac see's it as a c5200 on USB, but in the drop down list of drivers there is no OKI driver.

The installer says select OKI USB or OKI TCP/IP but where do you find that?

I've even been into the advanced add printer (Option click on 'More Printers') still no mention of the above - any help would be appreciated.

Trying to install on an iMac 20" Intel.

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Answer 13

Jun 20, 2006 8:34 AM in response to Darren Cornwell

Forget it, all sorted now. I didn't realise that OKI had added intel drivers for their printers.

I went to

my.okidata.com

clicked on solutions support, choose the printer and low and behold there came the proper driver.

Hope this helps someone.

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Answer 14

Sep 13, 2006 5:17 AM in response to Franklyn Hamsher

Sorry all of you, haven't checked this post for a while having temporarily given up on the issue, but Oki has also provided a different solution as well. They have since upgraded the model to a new version, called the OKI C5600 range. Downloaded the driver for that printer and it works! Just have to be careful not to use the "ProQ 2400 option in the "Print Quality" list as the C5200 range doesn't have that option. Use it and you have to turn off and restart the printer for the driver to work. Otherwise all other options are active and can be printed via a network.

Haven't had a chance to try some of the other options that have been suggested, but since my iBook is an older not Intel machine, am content with this development.

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