For more further information on printing, see Useful Printing Information below.
For internet links to manufacturers printer driver web pages, see Printer Driver Web Pages below.
Picture 8.1 is of a typical printer driver Page Setup window and Print screen. While picture 8.2 is of the Chooser and printer driver selection.
Why are my Desktop Printer icons all crossed out on the desktop?
You are using an older version of the Postscript printer driver, than the one used to create the Desktop Printers. Restart or reinstall the version of printer driver you used to make the Desktop Printers. Also note that the Desktop Printers will be crossed out if you booted up with all system Extensions disabled, or when the Desktop Printer Extension is disabled.
How come all of a sudden, an error message has come up telling me there's a Library not found and it cannot use the Desktop Printer?
The MacOS has got confused along the way (who knows why!) and has forgotten that you already have these libraries installed (these are stored in the System file). Just reboot your Mac and it will print again.
How do I use the Desktop Printing feature?
This feature came with System 7.5 upwards, and requires two system Extensions: Desktop Printer Spooler and Desktop PrintMonitor. Both can be installed individually by the System installer.
To create any Desktop Printer icon, go to the Chooser and select the printer driver, and the connection type (network or printer/modem port), then close the Chooser. Immediately after you've done that, an icon will appear on the desktop.
To view the contents of the Desktop Printer spooler, just double click on the Desktop Printer icon and it will display a list of current (if any) spooled documents. Also note that when you highlight the Desktop Printer icon or the you have Desktop Printer window is displayed, an extra menu is visible. This is called 'Printer', and is located between the 'View' and 'Special' menus. This menu controls the spooler.
Why won't my printer print anything?
It is a known fact that printing in ShapeShifter is at best a lost art, it is very picky about how you've setup your System - Classic Networking will have better success than Open Transport will. If you have OT installed but not Classic, then I'd recommend you to reinstall your System Folder again, this time without OT (it stores OT code in the System file, which may interfere with the connection process to the printer, and a modem).
I've tried OT and printing, and it doesn't work with my Epson Stylus 500, at all! As for Fusion, well, this is much less hassle to setup and get working.
1) You might need a bi-directional parallel cable (PCs use them).
2) Check that the printer is switched on, cabled up properly, and the parallel port is selected in ShapeShifter's/Fusion's setup window, before you select the driver icon in the Chooser.
3) If it is a dot matrix printer, then you can try Chucks Printer Driver, it can be downloaded from any internet site. It is basically a generic printer driver - it does work.
4) Did you get a Macintosh printer driver disk supplied with the printer? If you did, then all you need to do is to install/copy it into the System's Extensions folder. You should see it in the Chooser after you have restarted the Mac. It is imperative that you use a driver for your model of printer, otherwise it will not work properly.
Many manufacturers supply their printer drivers on their web sites, so you may need to download the latest version. See their documentation for the web address, or go to Peter's Printer Homepage, which contains a wide selection of printer driver links/URLs to either the manufacturer's web site or to 3rd party web pages.
5) Try an older version of the driver. The one you're using could be incompatible with Mac emulation, or your particular version of MacOS.
6) Is the correct printer driver and the Printer Port, selected in the Chooser? If you don't select these in the Chooser, the data cannot be directed through the parallel port.
Or you could try Power Print v4.0, from Infowave, it allows you to use parallel printers - it's a lot like the Amiga's TurboPrint package.
7) Make sure AppleTalk is Inactive. If it is On, switch it off via the Chooser, and restart the Mac.
8) Are you using the correct version of Laserwriter, version 7.x is Postscript Level 1 compatible, while Laserwriter 8.x is Postscript Level 2 compatible.
9) You can only use Ethernet or parallel port compatible printers.
I'm trying to print a document, but it keeps giving me error messages, or crashing?
It is highly likely that there is something wrong with the file that you're trying to print;
1) The doc is using a corrupt font - see General File Problems, for; Some fonts don't appear to work.. for info on how to find a damaged font suitcase.
2) Check the Page Setup, has the correct printer settings. If you're using a PS printer, make sure the correct PPD (or whatever description file you're using) is selected.
3) If you are using Background Printing, the spooled print job file may be damaged - delete it and try it again. If this still doesn't work, run a disk repair program on the System hard disk.
4) You may be trying to use PostScript fonts on a non PostScript printer, only Truetype fonts work with bitmap and PostScript printers.
5) There may be a corrupt element in the document you're trying to print. Resave the doc with a different filename, or copy all elements out and into a brand new document, now try and print it.
6) There maybe a picture in the document that the printer is having trouble rendering. Try simplifying the image, ie. reduce the resolution/file size of the pic, and/or reduce the number of colours it is using, say, to 256 colours.
7) Have you setup the Print options correctly... such as the proper paper size eg. A4 (sometimes called Letter), and the correct printer dpi.
Can you print using an Ethernet card and compatible printer, in SS/Fusion?
Yes, provided you have set up all the networking equipment correctly (the Amiga Ethernet card, the Amiga driver software, plus cables), for ShapeShifter and Fusion.
You should be able to set up Ethernet software from 7.1 with the Tune-up updater, up to 7.55 with classic networking (no Open Transport).
Open Transport requires System 7.5 and above, this is probably much easier to setup, than classic network software.
By John Blyth (Australia)
As for Ethernet compatible printers, most of them are Postscript (PS) laser printers, although they are quite hard to find they are gradually growing in number. I'll list a few:
* Apple Laserwriter IIG
* Epson Stylus Colour1520 (1440dpi A2 PS colour inkjet),.£451 ex VAT
* GCC Elite 12/600.(600dpi B&W A4 PS laser printer),.£849 ex VAT.
* GCC Elite 1212.(1200dpi B&W A4 PS laser printer),.£999 ex VAT.
* GCC ELite XL616.(600dpi B&W A3 PS laser printer),.£1299 ex VAT.
* Lexmark SC1275.(600dpi Colour A4? PS laser printer),.£2419 ex VAT.
NOTE: It is impossible to print via LocalTalk, on a standard Amiga (LocalTalk is actually a port).
Do I need any special software for Ethernet printing to work?
Yes, just the printer driver software for your make of printer.
Postscript printing via an Ethernet card to either a directly connected printer, or even a networked printer, all work as per standard Mac OS printing procedures; everything is handled by the driver. It will also work with Desktop Printer icons.
By John Blyth (Australia)
Do I require a PPD file for my printer?
No. Only Postscript Level 2 printers use PPDs, all other types of printer just require it's printer driver. The printer driver always affects how the Print window will look, it is different for all makes of driver, in layout and what options are available to you.
Laserwriter 8.x doesn't work with System 7.6x, how come?
All 68k Macs cannot use Laserwriter v8.43 in System 7.6 without the CFM-68k Runtime Enabler v4 Extension installed in the System Folder. This applies to all versions of Laserwriter v8.4 and upwards. This Extension may also be worth while installing for older versions of Laserwriter v8.x, it'll reduce crashing to an absolute minimum. Look in Apple's web site to download some later versions of Laserwriter 7 and 8.
Note: System 8.x does not require this extra Extension, as it is now built into the System file.
Nothing will output from my laser printer, or the Mac crashes regularly when printing, why?
Some programs may not like your current version of Laserwriter 8 or PSPrinter, in which case use an older version. The oldest (but non buggy) versions I'd recommend using, are; Laserwriter v8.43 and/or PSPrinter v8.31. As for Laserwriter 7, use v7.2 or later.
The Chooser
Allows you access to devices connected to a normal Mac's Modem or Printer ports (parallel or serial ports to you and me). It is also the only way to choose a printer as the current output device - you have to select a printer driver in the Chooser, before you can print anything.
This is also where Background Printing and AppleTalk can be turned off or on. Amigas cannot support AppleTalk, because it is a hardware feature of real Macs.
The left hand side of the Chooser window lists all available Printer Drivers, Network Drivers, and all other driver icons that'll use the Printer and/or Modem Ports, except for modems, which only requires the PPP and TCP/IP Control Panels. Just click on any driver icon to activate it - now go to the right hand side of the window. This panel should list either the Modem or Printer port icons, if your printer is connected directly to your mac, or any networked printers, it should appear as a list. All you have to do is to highlight the printer name or the port it is currently connected to.
If your network has Zones (individual network groups that are connected together), then these will appear underneath the printer and network driver panel. To select a Zone, simply highlight the Zone name, and then go the right hand side again to make your printer or server selections again.
Printer Drivers
All Mac compatible printers come with a floppy disk, with the printer driver on it (usually with an installer present). The Printer Driver always goes in the System Folder/Extensions, and is accessed via the Chooser (via the Apple icon menu). For every model of printer, there is usually a different printer driver for it, don't assume one will work with another similar make, because it won't.
At the moment there are two Postscript (PS) Level 2 printer drivers that work with every PS printer, and they are Apple's Laserwriter 8 and Adobe's PSPrinter. Laserwriter v7.x will only work with Postscript Level 1 printers. Also note, that some programs prefer PSPrinter rather than Laserwriter, such as Pagemaker (also from Adobe).
The best versions of these two postscript printer drivers, are: Laserwriter v7.2 upwards, Laserwriter v8.34 upwards and PSPrinter v8.31 and above (Laserwriter 8.4+ requires the Finder Scripting Extension, in order to work properly) - these have must of the bugs ironed out of them. To get the latest version, visit Apple's web site.
Printing Software
PowerPrint v4.0 ($99) is a software package that is similar to the Amiga's TurboPrint package, basically what it allows the Mac to print to serial or parallel port compatible printers. See Infowave's web site.
Note that the latest version (4.5) requires that you use the Mac to PC cable converter, this will not work on the Amiga, instead try and get v4.0.
Another useful utility from Infowave is StyleScript (£70). This program allows you to use Postscript with Postscript incompatible inkjet printers - it basically converts the PS language into a bitmap image before it goes to the printer.
Background Printing
This spools the print job to the hard disk and then proceeds to send the data to the printer as a background task, allowing you to do other things. The program that usually handles this is Print Monitor (an Apple program), which is located in the Extensions folder.
To enable background printing, either call up the Chooser in the Apple menu, and click the On button under the title Background Printing. Or, when using Laserwriter 8.x, go to the Print window in any application, and select Background Printing, in the pop-up menu and activate it from there.
PPDs
These are Postscript Printer Description files, and are used in conjunction with Postscript Level 2 printers and the Laserwriter 8 printer driver. PPDs contain device specific information, so that you can setup certain options in any application, such as paper and resolution. Other types of printers do not require PPDs, just the printer driver in the Chooser window.
Desktop Printer Icons
These are introduced in System 7.6 upwards, they allow easier access to printer selection and printing of documents via drag and drop.
PostScript
Is an industry standard printer language. It describes an entire document (when sent to the printer) as a list of instructions, which explains how the page(s) should be printed. This means it is Resolution Independent, as in it can be scaled and output in any number of different ways and still retain it's exact layout without any loss what's so ever.
Printer Fonts
This term actually refers to the Postscript fonts (stored on your hard disk). These are downloaded to the printer, at the same time you send your document. You can always tell if a file is a Postscript font, by the icon, and by it's 'kind' in the Get Info window. See picture for further details.
This is a complete list of manufacturers, and where you can download their printer drivers.
