10.5: Fix a CUPS printing problem in 10.5.5
There seems to be a bug in the OS X 10.5.5 update that make many printers behave oddly. I have found that printing to Adobe PDF Queues, Xerox, and Oki printers exhibit the same problem: the printout can be randomly zoomed, rotated, or offset each time you print! The fix I have found that works on all 50 of my office's Mac Pros is to replace the pstops file in /usr/libexec/cups/filter directory with the one from a 10.5.4 machine. Obviously this is an important system file, so make sure you backup first! [robg adds: I can't confirm either the problem or the fix; the two printers I have here seem to work fine in 10.5.5.]
published on Friday, the 26. September 2008, macosxhints
10.5: Enable certain Samsung and Xerox printers in 10.5
To make one of these printers -- Samsung CLP-500, CLP-510; Xerox Phaser 6100 -- work in 10.5, install the August 2007 printer driver [5MB download]. Unfortunately, one library from Tiger that this driver needs went away, so using your Tiger backup disk, do this: $ sudo cp -i /Volumes/tiger_disk_name/usr/X11R6/lib/libexpat.0.dylib /usr/X11R6/lib Now install the printer like you normally would (e.g., as a Bonjour Printer). Select the CLP-510 driver, and you're done.
published on Thursday, the 8. November 2007, macosxhints
Add high-end printers to other machines via the shell
This excellent tip explained how to manage LPR printers using the command line lpadmin printing tool, but there were no instructions on how use printer queues for high-end printers with a RIP -- like those from Xerox and Canon. Typically, these printer queues will contain options such as Print, Hold or Direct. Although it's easiest to use Open Directory to manage your printers and these special settings, if you use ARD or Filewave for Desktop management, you can issue a shell command or shell script to automatically add these special type of printers without end-user disruption. Simply add your printer's queue to the end of the IP address or URL like the example shell script below, and voila, your users will have all of their special printer configurations added automagically. ...
published on Wednesday, the 25. July 2007, macosxhints
How to set up the Xerox 4512N (network) printer
It's possible to get the Xerox 4512N (networked) printer working in OS X. Here's how I did it... Get the May 1997 PPD from the Xerox website by pretending you are a Windows user. The July 1997 version included in the Mac OS9/X package is buggy and won't work (and it isn't because of the Mac 9 line breaks; I tried fixing those). Just google for Xerox 4512N PPD to save yourself a lot of clicking around. Add a line to the PPD: *manufacturer "Xerox" Add this anywhere after the printer model, nickname, etc. Do a Get Info on the PPD, authenticate, and change owner to system and the group to admin. Gzip it if you like (like all the other PPDs). Do another Get Info, authenticate, and change owner to system, group to admin. Drop the .gz file or the PPD file into the top-level /Library » Printers » PPD » Content » Resources folder -- the English localisation folder whose path name I don't exactly remember, but is pretty obvious. Run Printer Setu...
published on Monday, the 7. May 2007, macosxhints
Apple sued over vague user interface patent
A lawsuit filed by IP Innovation against Apple, Inc. has awakened the ghost of Xerox past, as it charges that Tiger's GUI violates a patent formerly held by the photocopier company.Read More...
published on Tuesday, the 24. April 2007, ars-technica
Apple Sued For Using Tabs In OS X Tiger
rizzo320 writes "AppleInsider is reporting that an Illinois-based company and its Nevada partner have filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., alleging that Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' infringes an interface patent relating to the OS's nearly universal use of tabs. The suit was filed in the patent troll's and forum shopper's favorite venue: Marshall, TX. The patent in question is 5072412, which was originally issued to Xerox in 1987, but is now owned or licensed to IP Innovation LLC and its parent Technology Licensing Corporation. 'Category dividers triggered by Spotlight searches, as well as page tabs in the Safari web browser, bear the closest similarity to the now 20-year-old description' of the patent, according to the article. IP Innovation is requesting damages in excess of $20 million and an injunction against future sales and distribution of Mac OS X 10.4. Software patent reform can't come soon enough!"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
published on Tuesday, the 24. April 2007, apple-slashdot
Xerox Phaser 8560 and Quark 6.5 PDF incompatibility
I recently upgraded my Xerox Phaser 8400DP to a Phaser 8560DN printer. A few days later, when I attempted to output a PDF file using QuarkXPress 6.52, all I would get was an alert box stating that Quark was "Unable to create the xyz.pdf file." This was now happening consistently. Well, thanks to Quark's extremely detailed error reporting, I could tell immediately what the problem was ... NOT!After hours of troubleshooting dead-ends, I finally figured out that when the Phaser 8560 printer was selected as the default printer, Quark would error instead of outputting PDFs. If any other printer was selected as default, Quark would instantly resume its PDF outputting capability.I called Xerox, and after a nice session of less than 20 minutes, a support person actually took my word for it! While I waited, they installed their drivers for the new printer on a similar Powermac G4 to mine, opened a Quark 6.5 they already had installed, and tried the same (reproducible) techniq...
published on Wednesday, the 7. March 2007, macosxhints
Forgotten print job maxes CPU usage
I recently installed a small free utility called Cee Pee You on my MacBook Pro that posts your CPU usage in the menu bar. Much to my surprise, my CPU usage was very high, more often then not pegging at over 90%, regardless of what I was doing -- idle or not. Confused, intrigued and a bit nervous, I opened Terminal and opened a process list -- ps aux --- to see what the culrpit was. To my surprise, I had a printmanager job running and hogging the CPU, even though I was not currently printing anything. To delete the print job, I opened Printer Setup Utility, looked at my list of printers, and found that a print job that I had accidently sent to my Canon i960 while at work instead of to the Xerox printer was the culprit. I deleted the print job, and the CPU monitor immediately dropped to low numbers, under 20%, almost all of the time. The lessons I learned from this that might be helpful are: ...
published on Wednesday, the 30. August 2006, macosxhints
10.4: Create a copier with Automator and a scanner
My old (and very slow) Xerox copier ran out of toner before putting it away for storage several years back. I recently had the need for a limited number of copies, so I went to my local Staples, only to find that the cartridg...
published on Monday, the 6. March 2006, macosxhints