IrishGuy
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: Can apple provide drivers for older printers?

Can apple provide drivers for older printers?

MacBook & PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Nov 14, 2014 1:25 PM

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IrishGuy

Q: Can apple provide drivers for older printers?

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  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Nov 14, 2014 1:27 PM in response to IrishGuy
    Level 9 (55,083 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 14, 2014 1:27 PM in response to IrishGuy

    That would be the responsibility of the printer manufacturer(s), not Apple.

  • by IrishGuy,

    IrishGuy IrishGuy Nov 14, 2014 8:08 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 14, 2014 8:08 PM in response to KiltedTim

    That is/was my thinking. When I spoke to a Canon printer tech rep before submitting the question to the Apple Support Community he indicated that Canon no longer provided drivers for one of the older Canon printers I own but noted that some computer companies provide "mini drivers" for some of their printers. He may have been blowing smoke. But not all was lost. Additional research introduced me to a software company that provides printer drivers to the Apple/Mac community. The company is PrintFab. I signed up for the 30 day trial and will be paying for the permanent software version before the trial is up. My 15 year old Canon BJC-85 couldn't be happier and I do not need to get a new portable printer. And no, I do not have any relationship with PrintFab. I hope my reply is helpful to others.

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Nov 14, 2014 8:43 PM in response to IrishGuy
    Level 8 (38,471 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 14, 2014 8:43 PM in response to IrishGuy

    You may be able to get old printers to work with OS X using the "Gutenprint" resource

     

    http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php

     

    I have a REALLY ancient Epson printer that has no driver in the standard OS X installation.  But by installing Gutenprint, an appropriate driver comes up for it when I try to add the printer in System Preferences.