Epson DX3800 - Why No Option for Ink Levels?

[The Samurai]

Can't seem to work out how I can see how much ink I have left in my printer. I've been through the printer settings but when I go to 'supply levels' it won't display anything.

Any ideas what I should do?

 

[sickmacdoc]

When you installed the Epson software off the disk that came with the printer, it probably installed a copy of something named something like "Epson Printer Utillty" (at least that is what the utility from the RX680 is called) in your Applications folder. Just double click that to run the Epson utilities which include ink level checks, print head cleaning routines and such.

Also, at the same place you saw "Supply Levels" you should see right to the left of it another choice called "Utility" if the Epson software installed correctly. Clicking on that will fire up the Epson Printer Utility too- it is just quicker to find it in the Applications folder.

Hope that helps- but if neither of those things is there you will probably want to check the Epson website to see if you are running the latest version of the driver software which should install them.

 

[The Samurai]

When you installed the Epson software off the disk that came with the printer, it probably installed a copy of something named something like "Epson Printer Utillty" (at least that is what the utility from the RX680 is called) in your Applications folder. Just double click that to run the Epson utilities which include ink level checks, print head cleaning routines and such.

Also, at the same place you saw "Supply Levels" you should see right to the left of it another choice called "Utility" if the Epson software installed correctly. Clicking on that will fire up the Epson Printer Utility too- it is just quicker to find it in the Applications folder.

Hope that helps- but if neither of those things is there you will probably want to check the Epson website to see if you are running the latest version of the driver software which should install them.

Erm, I come from a Windows background and I only recently switched over to Mac. I haven't installed any software for the drivers as the printer worked find when I connected it up with my Mac.

The Epson website hasn't got anything useful to say about it. When I go to System Preferences > printers & fax > options & supplies > driver - it has picked the driver up already this prints fine.

Another thing which is annoying is, I can't seem to find the bit where I only want to print black and white. Any ideas where I might find this.

Sorry for asking so many questions.

 

[sickmacdoc]

OK- sorry for the bad info I provided last night! I just assumed that it was one of the relatively current Epsons which all work out pretty much the same, but after having done some more research on it just now I see that it is not unfortunately.

I'll bet the driver that it selected on your system has CUPS or Gutenprint in the name (which would indicate a compatible generic driver provided by the OS) as apparently the DX3800 was never actually officially supported by Epson for Mac OSX- which explains why it is impossible to find Mac drivers for it at the Epson USA, Epson Europe or Epson UK sites!

Epson themselves confirmed this when a user on another forum (MacFixIt) emailed them for information. Here is the information from that post (and the driver link for the 4800 no longer works BTW):

Ok, so officially there are no drivers for this model on the Mac.

I got this email reply from my query...

Thank you for contacting EPSON e-mail support.

In reply to your email, the DX3800/DX3850 are not supported with Apple Mac
operating systems. For this reason there are no drivers available. You may want
to view the specifications for the DX4800/DX4850, which is compatible with Apple
Mac operating systems:

http://www.epson.co.uk/products/all_in_one_products/Stylus_DX4800.htm

Please be advised that the driver for the printer will need to be downloaded
from the link below:

http://www.epson.co.uk/support/download/


Unofficially, gutenprint works... but i dunno if there will be any faults, only time will tell for now...

So the reason I bring this up is that if the generic driver works fine for printing that is great- but it will not provide the utilities and scanning support that Epson normally would with their Mac compatible driver disk- hence no way to check ink levels until they are out and no ability to use the scanner. The following site does provide a method at the bottom of the page to make the scanner work however, so if that is important to you please check this out: MadeByAlex So it seems that while this is a fully supported printer in a Windows environment, us Mac users are out in the cold for the most part regarding it.

Wish I had better news- and again sorry for the bad info the first time around since I made assumptions.

 

[The Samurai]

Your a legend mate.

I appreciate your reply - really, thats fantastic. I never expected anyone to go out and really investigate. I appreciate that and the info (although daunting) is appreciated.

Again, many thanks

 

[sickmacdoc]

No problem in the least- you hit on one of my curious points so I had to look. Unfortunately I have far too many curiosities! Good luck with it!