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hawiken · Mar 9, 2005, 09:00 PM

... does anyone know of any drivers that will let it cooperate with OS 10.3.7?
There aren't any Mac drivers on the Dell web site.

Thanks,
Ken

Mithras · Mar 9, 2005, 10:02 PM

Have you tried a generic Postscript PPD? If it's an ethernet printer, that should be enough for basic use.

Or -- seeing that this is a PCL printer -- you could try Gimp-print with a "Generic PCL5" profile and seeing if that works.

mbryda · Mar 9, 2005, 10:22 PM

Good Luck. Probably won't ever work with a Mac since it's a Dell. Not to mention you'll never get any kind of support from Dell if you have issues or need any support at all.

Return it and get a real laser printer. Not a Lexmark knock off from Dell. There are plenty of good laser printers in that price range from companies that will support you on a Mac (Samsung, HP, Brother, Okidata, etc.)

Nothing Dell sells is good quality, including their computers.

robby818 · Mar 9, 2005, 11:45 PM

The Dell 3000cn is not Mac compatible. The Dell 3100cn however is Mac compatible. I bought a 3100cn for ~$330 a couple of days ago. it is a color laser printer, network ready, 4000 page toner cartridges, xerox guts. dell does not have osx drivers available for download. the drivers are only on the cd. fatwallet is discussing this deal...

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/mess...654&lastpage=1

OldManMac · Mar 10, 2005, 02:11 AM

Dell and Apple, what a lovely combination. If their lasers are like their inkjets, you can only buy the cartridges from Dell, because they've been modified, so you can't use a Lexmark cartridge. No offense, but why would anyone buy a Dell printer for a Mac?

hawiken · Mar 10, 2005, 02:47 PM

The company bought it- I'm the only Mac on a PC network.
Maybe one of the generic drivers will work. If not, I'll buy my own printer.
Thanks,
Ken

mbryda · Mar 10, 2005, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by hawiken:
The company bought it- I'm the only Mac on a PC network.
Maybe one of the generic drivers will work. If not, I'll buy my own printer.

You may want to explain to them that buying a Dell printer is a poor idea. They have their own toner/ink cartridges and the only place to get them is Dell (they are chipped so regular Lexmarks won't work). So if Dell decides to get out of the printer business you're screwed. And you can't price shop for them or run to Staples/Office Max/etc in a pinch and get a cartridge. I can't understand why anyone would buy a Dell printer when the others are the same price, if not cheaper, and consumables are more readily available.

Not to mention their OBNOXIOUS printer drivers on Windows that really need a redesign.

But, hey, if they want to stick with a substandard printer for even the Windows users, not your fault. We have a couple where I work and they (like Dell's computers) are utter garbage.

hawiken · Mar 11, 2005, 04:47 PM

All of the PC's are Dell's, too.
Whaddya gonna do?
Ken

mbryda · Mar 12, 2005, 06:51 PM

Originally posted by hawiken:
All of the PC's are Dell's, too.
Whaddya gonna do?
Ken

My condolences. Dells are the worst of the bunch. And I have been fixing PC's for over 10 years....

ExSlyder · Dec 9, 2005, 12:31 AM

I had been figting with this for a while, I'm not very mac/linux savvy, so maybe after hearing what I have to say, someone will be able to put the pieces together and make something that will work.

First off, the 3000cn doesn't support postscript, plain and simple. So we need something to emulate it (AKA Ghostscript)

The PPD for the 3100cn appears to work for direct communication to the printer. (I was able to view memory configuration, view toner levels, etc.

But, since Ghostscript has to know how to write to the printer, is where the PPD comes into play, I know (or believe, I'm a bit confused about the whole process) of using GIMP-PRINT -> CUPS -> Foomatic -> Ghostscript or soemthing along those lines.

But the solution for many of us isn't that far away, I'm going to assume that most people who have a mac, also have at least 1 Windows PC in their possesion, and that is the solution. I had come across a web page, which installs a Ghostview redirector, which outputs to the actual printer.

While using that method, you're unable to pull performance/status data from the printer, but you are able to print in B&W at full black and white speed, and color at full speed.

The directions are messy at best, and outright confusing in others, but within 25 minutes of finding that page, I had my Photoshop CS printing photos on my 3000cn.

Here is the link to the directions, they are not mine, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll help the best I can.

Joe

http://iharder.sourceforge.net/macosx/winmacprinter/

Cadaver · Dec 10, 2005, 12:58 AM

Not that it'll help you, but I bought a Brother HL-2070N last weekend. Small SOHO-style B&W laser printer.

Works great. Ethernet networkable out of the box, big old Mac logo on the box & includes the necessary PPD on a CD. Also comes with a Mac JAVA-based client for configuring the internal print server (which is also accessible via a web browser). Fast, too - definitely hits its advertised 20 ppm speed. And cheap! OfficeMax had them for something like $150 last weekend. The included toner will run about 1,500 pages. Standard $59 toner carts go about 2,500 pages (per Brother's documentation). $119 replacement drums every 25K pages (which will take me like 3 years to do, minimum). Better yet, the online Apple Store carries toner & drum replacements specifically for this printer, too, so I consider that a sort-of Apple endorsement. And its small, compact, and it comes in black.

Easily integrated into my little home network; all 7 machines here in the house (G5 tower, iMac G5, Windows/AMD machine, 12" PBG4, HP laptop, Gigabit G4 tower, iBook G3) print to it just fine.

The only small downside is that its a bit loud when its printing, but really its not that bad at all. Makes no noise at all in stand-by, and goes in to energy-save mode after a 10 minute delay. It also powers on automatically when it receives data.