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MIKX

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 16, 2004
1,815
691
Japan
Just printed the doc on top of this 2002Canon A3 laser printer from within Mojave 10.14.5

LBP-1610 A3 Laser 2001.JPG


I posted a similar report re: this ( Japan only ) Canon A3 LBP-1610 laser printer ( 64 mb RAM ) working in the Sierra forum. Anyway, tonight I got it working in Mojave 10.14.5 ! :D
I bought it here in Japan in 2002 ( I think) for around US$930 ( I think ) so it is now 17 years old.

The Mac driver that came with the printer was for OS 9 ( pre-OS X ).

It is still a sound, reliable workhorse for my English school. Only a couple of the external paper guides have deteriorated but duct tape is your friend !
All of the internals work without fail.
The original toner cartridges cast ¥40,000 = US$370 but I got ( so far ) only two recycled cartridges off the Net for around US$50 including shipping & replacement toner ( only twice ) for about US$ 35 shipped.

=====================================

How I got this working in Sierra, Hi Sierra & Mojave.

I have EVERY OS X driver that Canon released for this printer .. quite a few. Official support finished with Mavericks.

.. . but . . . obviously one of their software team forgot about " planned obsolescence " - out of my many drivers there was just ONE that would install in any version of OS X ! It was coded for Snow Leopard only.

I still needed to do a bit of Terminal work to get it working every time with every new OS X release.

Here's how. ( probably only applies to Canon lasers )

1. Download ALL available Canon OS X drivers for your Canon - work backwards - try installing the last available OS X driver - this is the key - if mac OS won't allow installation of ANY of the available drivers - stop there - my hack can't be done.

2. if one ( or more ) drivers can be installed eg: into High Sierra or Mojave = Great !

Do not try to ADD the printer to your installed printers list yet.

3. Start terminal

Enter : sudo sh -c 'echo "Sandboxing Relaxed" >> /etc/cups/cups-files.conf'
Enter your password.

Enter : sudo launchctl stop org.cups.cupsd

4. Connect & turn on the printer.

5. In Printer Prefs you will have to do the " Select software" drop down menu.

6. ADD the printer.

===========================

Shut down - turn the printer ON - and start up again.


7. Look at "Library/Printer/InstalledPrinters.plist"
if your printer is not in the list find this LINE from another OLDER OS X installation and
copy it into this plist.

You can see the BOLD type where I added the LINE from a successful prior installation.

Library-Installed Printers Plist.jpg


NOTE : Occasionally I have had to repeat the Terminal commands after adding the printer.
NOTE 2 : Look in Users/ You/ Printers. Find your Print Monitor and put it on your Dock because if you cannot print a document the printer will be set to "PAUSE" - the monitor allows you to delete this.

===============
Warm reboot if necessary.

Print

Good luck

IMPORTANT !
Bear in mind that all of the above relies on being able to actually have High Sierra or Mojave allowing the driver to be installed.

Disclaimer : I have no idea if this will work for any other laser printer besides the Canon LBP-1610

( If it ain't broke don't fix it .. .or .. throw it away ! )​
 
Last edited:
Congratulations. :D
And thank you for saving the planet. ;) We should all throw away less stuff just because it's getting old.
 
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alias6023

Thank you, much appreciated.

I'm old too but still useful most days. :D
 
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