Can a printer be conpatible with X but not classic?

[ho'ard]

Trying to help a confused and helpless friend who can't get a Canon 4200 she bought to print from classic apps.
====

--- Canon Support - Color BubbleJet
wrote:

> Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 09:55:36 -0400
> To: K----
> Subject: Re: Response from Canon - Color Bubble Jet Printer
> (KMM6020622V48486L0KM)
> From: Canon Support - Color BubbleJet
>
>
> Dear Ms. ---:
>
> Thank you for contacting Canon product support. We value you
> as a Canon
> customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you. I am
> sorry to
> hear about the printing difficulties you are experiencing
> with your
> iP4200.
>
> I believe you are referring to OS 9 or Classic applications.
> The iP4200
> is compatible with Mac OS 10.2.1 or later. Application
> designed for
> earlier Mac OSs or Classic will not be able to print. We
> apologize for
> any inconvenience this may cause.
>
> Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance
> with your
> iP4200.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Raymond
> Technical Support Representative
>
> Special Note: Certain issues are very difficult to resolve
> via email.
> If your question remains unanswered after you have received
> this email,
> you may call our special toll-free number for email customers
> with
> unresolved issues and speak to a technician by dialing
> 1-866-261-9362.
> Please note that this number is accessible for thirty days
> from the date
> of your e-mail. After thirty days, any calls to customer
> support should
> be made to the phone number in your user manual.
>
> If you prefer to continue to communicate via email, reply to
> this
> message and we will respond as quickly as possible.
>
> Original Message Follows:
> -------------------------
>
> Email Support Form Message
> Product Type: PIXMA iP4200
> Product Model:
> IslandData Session:
]identifying info removed]
> q02: Mac_OS_X
> q04:
> INQUIRY: I have OSX 10.2.8 but I'm using QuarkXpress 3.31 and
> Simpletext
> and neither of these software programs are recognizing the
> new printer
> 4200. They aren't there in the chooser window, so I can't
> choose them.
> Only the i850 appears. Is it possible that this new printer
> will never
> print from these programs?
> The i850 needed a printer head and it was almost as expensive
> as the new
> printer and not readily available over the holiday weekend,
> so I
> purchased the printer. I've spent about 4 hours trying to
> make it work
> and I'm very frustrated. It will print PDF and web
> materials, but not
> QuarkXpress or Simpletext or Photoshop 5.0. So - just
> because I had to
> buy a new printer, do I have to buy all new software.
> I hope not.
>

[MacMagus]

If there's no driver for OS 9 then you can't print from OS 9. Even if OS 9 is running under OS X in Classic mode.

There are workarounds. Postscript laser printers usually work with generic drivers, Brother printers work with HP drivers, Dell printers use Lexmark drivers...

...a person could print/save to an Adobe PDF or an RTF (formatted text) under Classic and then print from that document using a compatible application in OS X.

Canon's support page does not list an OS 9 driver for the Pixma iP4200. But you could try installing the OS 9 driver for a similar printer such as the iP4000. Sometimes that'll work if the models are similar.
http://software.canon-europe.com/Printer...010095.asp

[ho'ard]

No workarounds . . . she's not up to anything like that on her own.
I thought classic basically just told OSX to do the printing, in the same way that windows emulators send such jobs out to the "real" OS?
That's a pretty major flaw of classic if it's true.

[JoeH]

Problem is a change in the printing models between OS X and earlier OS's. Before OS X, printing was based around Quickdraw, and drivers for a printer needed to be written for that model. With OS X printing is based on Display PDF, which requires totally different drivers. Classic is just providing an emulated communications link from the application running in an emulated hardware environment with OS 9 as the OS. That is actually all that VPC or other Windows emulators provide, you still need a Windows generic or model specific driver for the printer. Since it has been 5 years since OS 9 was current, most newer printers are not going to have OS 9 drivers. Much less of a problem for Postscript printers because that can just go through using some generic Postscript driver within Classic. but a real problem for inkjets and other non-Postscript printers.

[ho'ard]

Hmmm . . . I don't recall ever setting up a printer in classic, yet I can print from classic apps from my mac running 10.3.9.

[JoeH]

In one of the revisions or newer versions of OS X they semi-automated the setup of a printer for Classic. But that depends on the specific printer and its driver. Some driver installers also will take care of the Classic support if available and Classic is present. It all depends on which printers you are dealing with.

[ho'ard]

Hmmm . . .
I appreciate all the advice . . . just still refuse to believe that you need OS9 drivers for your printer to work in classic.


Petro . . .?

[JoeH]

There is an Apple support document that outlines how to get an inkjet with an OS X driver to print in Classic. It applies to OS X 10.3 and later though, so might not be of any help to your friend running 10.2.8.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300849

[ho'ard]

Thanks, Joe. Getting her upgraded to 10.3.9 is on the to do list anyways, but:


Does this mean she still couldn't use the normal "print" command from the top menu to print? Workaround's not gonna fly . . .

[buggerd]

I think YOU'RE this "helpless and confused" simpleton that you're always foisting off as the anonymous ignoramous to this forum.

Time to learn to use the old noodle to solve your endless problems....