bobgoldstein
Level 1 (16 points)
Desktops

Q: what current printers are supported on an Emac?

My sister has our old Emac, but her old printer died. Can someone suggest a current printer that ban be cbought new, which will work with the Emac?

Posted on May 22, 2013 7:04 PM

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bobgoldstein

Q: what current printers are supported on an Emac?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Allan Jones,Helpful

    Allan Jones Allan Jones May 23, 2013 7:18 AM in response to bobgoldstein
    Level 8 (35,321 points)
    iPad
    May 23, 2013 7:18 AM in response to bobgoldstein

    Avoid a multifunction machine as their functions other than "print" commonly are no longer supported on PowerPC Macs like the eMac.

     

    I helped a friend with three 15-year old G3 Powerbooks running OS10.3.9 buy an new printer last year. We found a Canon for which 10.3.9 drivers were still availale on the Canon website. Brother is also good about legacy Mac support.

  • by bobgoldstein,

    bobgoldstein bobgoldstein May 23, 2013 7:56 AM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    May 23, 2013 7:56 AM in response to Allan Jones

    Thanks very much.  I'll look for those brands.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones May 23, 2013 8:20 AM in response to bobgoldstein
    Level 8 (35,321 points)
    iPad
    May 23, 2013 8:20 AM in response to bobgoldstein

    A suggestion: research the printer companies' web sites, NOT the sellers'. While shopping for the one we bought for the ancient PowerBooks, I noticed that tech and sysreq info on Staple's, Amazon's, and other retailer sites were not accurate. Our purchase of the Canon was based on info I found on Canon's site.

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM May 23, 2013 1:22 PM in response to bobgoldstein
    Level 6 (14,279 points)
    iPad
    May 23, 2013 1:22 PM in response to bobgoldstein

    Can you tell us more about your eMac?

    Year CPU speed, what version of OS X and the amount of RAM?

     

    Allan,

    I am not sure about now, but two years ago, I bought a new multifunction HP printer for my Mom's eMac and it had drivers for OS X 10.4.11. All of the printer and scanner functions work great on her eMac. It's running OS X 10.5.8, now.

     

    To bobgoldstein,

    You need to look at the websites of all of the printer manufacturer's

    Check Canon, Brother, Lexmark, HP, Epson, all of them and check their driver support sections to see what minimum OS X versions they still support on the printers you are considering.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones May 23, 2013 1:59 PM in response to MichelPM
    Level 8 (35,321 points)
    iPad
    May 23, 2013 1:59 PM in response to MichelPM

    Again, print-only support is not hard to find but I've helped a number of people with PPC Macs and newer HP MF units and scan/copy/FAX support starts with Snow Leopard for many of their models.

  • by bobgoldstein,

    bobgoldstein bobgoldstein May 24, 2013 8:26 AM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    May 24, 2013 8:26 AM in response to Allan Jones

    Thanks to all for their help.  My sister's Emac is running on OS 10.4 (my best recollection) and I think I can now help her find a new printer with driver support for that OS. I don't recollect the CPU speed for the Emac, except that it must be pretty low by today's standards!

  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody May 27, 2013 11:30 AM in response to bobgoldstein
    Level 9 (66,899 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    May 27, 2013 11:30 AM in response to bobgoldstein

    Pretty much any printer with 10.4 compatible printer drivers will work with PowerPC Macs running Mac OS X. Canon's Pixma MX 700 works with PowerMacs.    Finding the older drivers is a matter of searching on the websites.  PPC=PowerMac.  My FAQ should help*:

     

    http://www.macmaps.com/printersx.html