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This page is designed to help users install and
troubleshoot general printing and PPD (Postscript Printer Description) files on MacOS -
particularly OSX 10.2 to 10.5. For more machine/manufacturer specific
issues/limitations - please refer to the machine driver download page for
information.
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These How-To's and Procedures have been compiled by our in-house team of
technicians who have many years experience supporting clients
throughout London with print-related issues and MacOS. Click the above
links for the full articles.
Printing Booklets from QuarkXpress v6.5 or v7 on MacOS X
Due to the nature of native PostScript
Printer Drivers supplied by manufacturers for MacOS X - feature support
is often limited. Printer/Copiers fitted with Booklet Finishers (duplex,
fold and saddle-stitch/centre-staple capable output) usually do not
support this finishing option via the print driver, or results may have
pages in the incorrect order.
Together with our clients in London,
technicians from Morgan Brookes have tested and evaluated many solutions
- and by far the best to date is the Bookletizer Xtension for
QuarkXpress from Visions Edge. You can download a 30 day evaluation from
the author's web site:
http://www.visionsedge.com/XTensions/index.asp?id=bookletizer
Note that we have only tested this solution
on Ricoh MFD's. Sharp Mac Drivers do not support saddle stitch
finishing. Please contact us for more information.
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Fiery Print Controllers can be administered and monitored using EFI's
latest Command Workstation LE utility:
Command
Workstation LE Ver.1.3 - released 15/03/2007 (25.5MB)
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Where to
Install a PPD file on Mac OS X 10.3 Panther (also applies to 10.4
Tiger)
On the
startup disk (aka Macintosh HD
by default), the PPD files for all
printers should be installed in the Library folder, in the
appropriate localized folders for language (english) notice the folder
named "en.lproj", there are many languages supported by Mac OS X 10.3
Panther, all have their own PPD Folder.
The PPD files should have the
privileges set to Read Only for Owner, Group, and Everyone.
All localized third-party PPD files, no matter which printer
manufacturer, should be installed in this same folder.
A PPD file must be installed the en.lproj folder.
Mac OS X is going to search for a PostScript printer’s PPD file
whenever you print a Quark XPress doc, or create a print queue. Mac OS X
automatically searches for PPD files in the appropriate localized
folder. First, it looks in the en.lproj folder in following locations,
in this order:
(In Your Start Up Disk)
/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/
If Mac OS X doesn’t find a PPD file for a PostScript printer in either
location, it looks in the Classic System Folder, provided the Classic
environment has been run once or the Classic System Folder has been
selected at least once in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
In other words, Mac OS X must know of the existence of the Classic
System Folder. However, in my testing, this doesn't always work right,
for instance, when printing from QuarkXPress 6.
Note - In Mac OS X, do not
install any PPD files in the
/System path. This path is reserved for PPD files for Apple brand
printers only:
/System/Libraries/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/
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How
to remove PPD's
This is far more tricky than it seems - many Installer Packages for
MacOS do not support Uninstall - and most do not report errors if
existing files cannot be replaced. Do bear in mind that MacOS X is UNIX
based - therefore think along those lines for permissions/folder
permissions and hierarchy and you are half way there.
Ensure you are logged in with Administrator privileges!
Step 1 - Firstly try and drag the PPD from the en.lproj folder to
the trash - if this works then you are done!
Step 2 - More often than not Step 1 will not work - so you have
to check and correct the Permissions on the PPD's - Do not try and do
this on the individual PPD files as they inherit their security from the
parent folder - ie en.lproj - so Get the Info on the en.lproj folder and
ensure that you have read & write permissions. Try step 1 again.
It is important to note that if you are installing updated PPD's that
the previous versions have been removed - and manually perform this -
then try installing the new PPD's using the installer or copying the
PPD's from another Mac. Check the permissions if you manually place the
files.
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Appletalk or IP Printing?
Because MacOSX is based on UNIX - the native protocol is
TCP/IP and not Appletalk/Ethertalk or other Classic Macintosh protocols.
Always set up any network print devices using TCP/IP address and the correct
LPD/LPR port name. Examples - Konica and Canon use
'print' and Sharp use 'lp'
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Abnormal Behaviour After Updating to Panther or After Installing New
Software
For some reason the installer program for OS X, and the installer programs
for many software programs, incorrectly set permissions for the files that
they install. This situation can negatively impact the performance of your
computer and/or cause aberrant behaviour. You can fix this by running Repair
Disk Permissions, which is a feature of the Apple utility program Disk
Utility, which comes with OS X. Disk Utility is on your Mac OS X Installer
CD-ROM, but the preferred way to run Repair Disk Permissions is from your
hard drive.
Just go to your Utilities folder, open Disk Utility and on the left side of
the resulting window, select the hard drive that you want to repair. Click
on the First Aid tab. Then click on the Repair Disk Permissions button
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AppleTalk Devices Don't Show Up in OSX 10.4 (Tiger)
OSX 10.4 (Tiger) does not install the AppleTalk protocol from a default installation. So, to get
Tiger to recognize AppleTalk printers on your network, and all other AppleTalk
peripheral devices, you need to turn AppleTalk on.
Checking the 'Enable AppleTalk' box in your Network preference pane won't
turn AppleTalk on (apparently this is a useless option now). What you need
to do to turn on AppleTalk is to open the utility Directory Access, which is
in your /Applications/Utilities folder. Click the lock, enter your password,
then check the empty box next to AppleTalk. Note - this is the same for
Panther which sometimes did not install/setup AppleTalk.
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AppleTalk Devices Don't Show Up in OSX 10.3 (Panther)
Panther sometimes turns off AppleTalk during installation. So, to get
Panther to recognize AppleTalk computers on your network, and AppleTalk
peripheral devices, you need to turn AppleTalk back on.
Checking the 'Enable AppleTalk' box in your Network preference pane won't
turn AppleTalk on (apparently this is a useless option now). What you need
to do to turn on AppleTalk is to open the utility Directory Access, which is
in your /Applications/Utilities folder. Click the lock, enter your password,
then check the empty box next to AppleTalk.
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Diagnostic Test For
Corrupted Preferences
Corrupted user preferences is one of the most common problems experienced in
OS X.
A quick way to tell if that is what is causing your problems is to create a
new user.
Here's How:
1. In the Apple Menu select System Preferences.
2. Click on the Show All icon to ensure all preferences are visible.
3. Single-click on the Accounts icon.
4. Click on the New User button.
5. Enter the new User's name, short name, password and password hint
(optional).
6. Check "Allow user to administer this machine".
7. Click on the Ok button.
8. Quit the System Preferences application by selecting Quit System Prefs in
the System Prefs menu .
Note that you need administrative privileges to create a new user. If you
are logged in with a non-administrative account, first click the lock icon
at the bottom of the window and enter an administrator name and password to
make changes.
After you create a new user, log out (under the Apple menu), and then back
in as the new user. If the problems you were experiencing are now gone, it
is a safe bet that something in your User folder is causing the problem.
Most likely it is the preferences file for the application that is having
the problems. Preferences files have the suffix ".plist". Try re-starting
with OS 9 set as your startup disk, and drag the preference file for the
problematic application to the desktop and then restart again with OS X set
as the startup disk. A new, fresh copy of the preference file will be
automatically created, and the problem should be gone.
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