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Printer Sharing Problems

skunk

skunk

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jun 29, 2002
11,759
6,109
Republic of Ukistan
I have a network consisting of an Intel iMac, an Intel Mac Mini, a G4 Cube, a MacBook and an Epson SC3000 printer all connected to a Netgear router, the MacBook wirelessly, and everything else through ethernet. I have an Epson R800 connected by USB to the iMac.

On the Cube, I am using the Epson PPC drivers, and on the Intel Macs I am using the Epson Intel driver for the R800 and GutenPrint 5 for the SC3000, since Epson don't do an Intel driver for it.

Printing from the Cube, I get good results from both printers, but every now and then the R800 driver seems to disappear. I will get a dialogue box saying that "Epson R800 cannot be found in your list of printers", which is patently untrue, as I can see it on the list. The only solution I have found is to reinstall the driver, whereupon I am informed that "A queue already exists for this printer". Printing from the Intel Macs, neither printer is useable for photos: they take forever to print an A4 sheet, and the colour fidelity is a sick joke.

Lastly, I am not entirely sure how Printer Sharing works: I assume that the driver which runs the printer is the one on the machine one is printing from, not the one on the machine the printer is attached to. Is this correct? If so, how does the PPC Cube driver work through the Intel iMac?
 
skunk said:
I have a network consisting of an Intel iMac, an Intel Mac Mini, a G4 Cube, a MacBook and an Epson SC3000 printer all connected to a Netgear router, the MacBook wirelessly, and everything else through ethernet. I have an Epson R800 connected by USB to the iMac.

On the Cube, I am using the Epson PPC drivers, and on the Intel Macs I am using the Epson Intel driver for the R800 and GutenPrint 5 for the SC3000, since Epson don't do an Intel driver for it.

Printing from the Cube, I get good results from both printers, but every now and then the R800 driver seems to disappear. I will get a dialogue box saying that "Epson R800 cannot be found in your list of printers", which is patently untrue, as I can see it on the list. The only solution I have found is to reinstall the driver, whereupon I am informed that "A queue already exists for this printer". Printing from the Intel Macs, neither printer is useable for photos: they take forever to print an A4 sheet, and the colour fidelity is a sick joke.

Lastly, I am not entirely sure how Printer Sharing works: I assume that the driver which runs the printer is the one on the machine one is printing from, not the one on the machine the printer is attached to. Is this correct? If so, how does the PPC Cube driver work through the Intel iMac?
Click to expand...
For your first issue, the first thing I'd try is removing the printer from Printer Setup Utility then adding it back again.

As for your printer sharing question, though I can't answer this definitively, I have a hunch that the driver question you mentioned is a non-issue because, I suspect, Macs implement printer sharing via a generic "network driver" that talks to the driver on the machine sharing the printer to print to it. Therefore, you don't need to worry about going cross-processor.

I'd test it just to make sure - I'd do this for you if I had a setup similar enough to yours to conduct such a test. Alas, my home network has no Intel Macs in it.
 
I've reinstalled everything. Now I can't get the PPC driver to even load on the Cube - PSU just doesn't see it - and printing using the Intel drivers is as bad as ever. If there is a "generic driver" it's total crap because you can't choose print quality or paper type and it won't print.
 
skunk said:
I've reinstalled everything. Now I can't get the PPC driver to even load on the Cube - PSU just doesn't see it - and printing using the Intel drivers is as bad as ever. If there is a "generic driver" it's total crap because you can't choose print quality or paper type and it won't print.
Click to expand...

Gutenprint 5.0.2 runs the Epson printer from 10.5, and you have wide control over print quality, etc.
 
Run the Epson under CUPS + Gutenprint 5.0.2

It's a better, more comprehensive driver than the Epson one anyway. My SC3000 is shared over ethernet with an Airport Extreme base station. Works a treat.
 
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