Recent EPSON Printer still supports PowerPC!

[vlark]

My trusty 1999-era Epson 740i gave up the ghost this week with a major parts malfunction. In searching for a replacement printer that still supports PowerPCs I came across this Epson All-in-One:

Epson Expression Home XP-410 Small-in-One All-in-One Wireless Inkjet Printer

I checked the EPSON website and they had recent driver updates in January of this year that support 10.5.8 on PowerPC!

I ordered the printer. It arrived this week. The included driver CD was worthless--no mac software was included, just a link to EPSON's driver support website.

Still, set-up was snap: I downloaded ALL the drivers for 10.5.8 on Epson's site and installed them in the order they were released. I connected the printer via a USB cable, the printer was automatically recognized by the Printer & Fax pref pane, and all was right in the world. The software installs an Epson-specific sofware update app, so I ran it and discovered four more updates, which included a firmware update. I installed those (and watched the console so I could get to the temp files and save the disk images so I wouldn't have to download them again), and everything now works peachy-keen.

Image Capture recognizes the built-in scanner just fine, and is better and easer to use than the included EPSON scan software.

The printer supports WiFi printing, but I haven't tried it out yet; I can report that using wireless printer sharing, my PowerMac G4 GE running 10.4.11 can print to the printer just fine. I suspect that the Epson PowerPC software might be installable on Tiger, but I haven't tried it yet.

Ink for the printer is $25 for a pack of four on Amazon, too--although it might be cheaper from a third-party refill vendor.

So, i can heartily plug this printer. I'm in no way connected with EPSON and just wanted to share my experience.

 

[harrymatic]

It's strange, hardware drivers are one of the few things that regularly still support PPC OS X.

The EPSON SX435W printer/scanner which I bought last year also has PPC drivers, although I still use my 2002 HP Deskjet 940c for day to day printing with my Power Mac G4. This is without a doubt the best printer I have ever owned, it's outlived about half a dozen other printers. It's not particularly fast but it's nearly silent and prints with very nice quality. Ink is really cheap as well

Come to think of it, the graphics tablet I bought new a couple of years ago even had OS 9 drivers on the CD!

 

[eyoungren]

This is good, but there are also other ways if it ever turns out that a printer is not supported.

Gutenprint develops and maintains printer drivers through the UNIX CUPS system for lots of old printers as well as new ones. Sometimes Gutenprint is the ONLY place you can get a driver or PPD for PC only printers.

 

[vlark]

True, erik. But it's also nice when the manufacturer provides native support out of the box! Especially for a platform that was declared dead by Apple several OS updates ago.

 

[eyoungren]

True, erik. But it's also nice when the manufacturer provides native support out of the box! Especially for a platform that was declared dead by Apple several OS updates ago.

Oh, I totally agree! It's great. I was just trying to mention that there are options though if support should ever end.

We used to have a pair of Epson three in one's that were PC only. Gutenprint enabled us to print to them.

 

[rjcalifornia]

A kyocera multi function printer here at work (one year old) supports PowerPC Mac (Tiger & Leopard). Pretty!

 

[plawler78]

My trusty 1999-era Epson 740i gave up the ghost this week with a major parts malfunction. In searching for a replacement printer that still supports PowerPCs I came across this Epson All-in-One:

Epson Expression Home XP-410 Small-in-One All-in-One Wireless Inkjet Printer

I checked the EPSON website and they had recent driver updates in January of this year that support 10.5.8 on PowerPC!

I ordered the printer. It arrived this week. The included driver CD was worthless--no mac software was included, just a link to EPSON's driver support website.

Still, set-up was snap: I downloaded ALL the drivers for 10.5.8 on Epson's site and installed them in the order they were released. I connected the printer via a USB cable, the printer was automatically recognized by the Printer & Fax pref pane, and all was right in the world. The software installs an Epson-specific sofware update app, so I ran it and discovered four more updates, which included a firmware update. I installed those (and watched the console so I could get to the temp files and save the disk images so I wouldn't have to download them again), and everything now works peachy-keen.

Image Capture recognizes the built-in scanner just fine, and is better and easer to use than the included EPSON scan software.

So, i can heartily plug this printer. I'm in no way connected with EPSON and just wanted to share my experience.

I too just recently had the SAME issue with my very SAME printer. Got a brother for Christmas but said I needed 10.6 or later so that one had to go back. Exchanged for a Canon which said 10.5.8 on the box but didn't specify intel vs PPC. So now that I've found your VERY adequate information in this forum I will stick with Epson and find another, newer, possible color laser. You have NO idea how excited I was to find this information and I also called Epson direct just to make sure so I am even more extra happy about the compatibility. HAPPY GIRL!!!

 

[iModFrenzy]

My Epson Workforce 845 supports Leopard and Tiger I believe I love the native support