HP DeskJet Wide-Body 1220C... wasting my time?

[drgrafix]

I bought this printer new and it has served me well over the years in a Windows NT/XP/Vista environment. The (available) HP drivers for Windows are oustanding, allowing me to select from dozens of paper finishes, sizes, thicknesses, and just too much to describe here.

I have tried to utilize what I consider to be an excellent printer on my new iMac and I have yet to find a driver that gives me 10% of the features I had when I wanted to print some sample artwork, a photograph, a letter with a logo, or anything. There is nothing wrong with this printer, but the drivers available are next to worthless.

Do I have to scrap a perfectly good printer and buy something newer to be able to use my Mac like I hoped I would? I have it connected via USB and while it is ID'd the print options are prehistoric at best.

I will humbly apologize if someone can steer me to a driver that gives me all that this printer is capable of.

Doc

 

[Cameront9]

I bought this printer new and it has served me well over the years in a Windows NT/XP/Vista environment. The (available) HP drivers for Windows are oustanding, allowing me to select from dozens of paper finishes, sizes, thicknesses, and just too much to describe here.

I have tried to utilize what I consider to be an excellent printer on my new iMac and I have yet to find a driver that gives me 10% of the features I had when I wanted to print some sample artwork, a photograph, a letter with a logo, or anything. There is nothing wrong with this printer, but the drivers available are next to worthless.

Do I have to scrap a perfectly good printer and buy something newer to be able to use my Mac like I hoped I would? I have it connected via USB and while it is ID'd the print options are prehistoric at best.

I will humbly apologize if someone can steer me to a driver that gives me all that this printer is capable of.

Doc

Have you downloaded a new driver from HP? I checked their website and it looks like they do have one available specifically for 10.5...perhaps that will have what you are looking for?

 

[drgrafix]

OK, I'm new to the Mac way of things so maybe I'm missing something. I went to HP's site and mac owners cannot download the driver as there is no option to "obtain" the software because they claim this exact driver is embedded in the OS X 10.5 (which is what I'm running). I pulled out my install disks and explored until I found the printers folder, and then the HP DeskJet folder, and subsequently... found seven (7) files which "installed" on my HDD.

hpdj1PDE.plugin
hpdj1PM.plugin
hpdj1PDE.plugin
hpdjPM.plugin
libdj1HPUtils.11.2.dylib
libdjHPUtils.6.1.dylib
libdjHPUtils.10.1.dylib

Since I'm 3 weeks into the mac culture, I'll ask the question... is one or all of these files the driver(s) I need to install, and just how do I uninstall the awful driver I'm currently using and then how do I install the correct drivers?

As an aside, I bought a USB to Parallel cable and tried connecting my non-USB HP LaserJet 5P but the mac never acknowledged that this particular printer was connected. Will the printer(s) not be acknowledged until the drivers are in the right place?

 

[Snerp]

Did you find a fix to your problem yet? I too have the exact same problem and really don't want to spend more money on another printer.

 

[Locoweed]

I am looking at the same issue also. Initially I was P.O.'d at the whole scene, but I realized that if I had upgraded to Vista I probably would have had the same issue.

A further irritant is that almost all of the new printers on the market will not do some of the things my current one will. All in one seems to be the current fad and it doesn't make any difference if you want the extra stuff or not. Kind of like trying to get a new car with a blue or green interior.

Steps down off the soap box.