# Need Printer connection advice



## llilja (Apr 3, 2005)

I purchased an Epson Sylus Color 850 on ebay. It has a serial and a parallel connector on the back. How can I connect it to my Mac 4, OS 10.2? :4-dontkno 
Lorraine


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Welcome to TSF!

I personally never done this type of conversion - but it should work.

(I have an usb to scsi converter - and it works very well.)

You need two things - 
1) adapter to covert USB to parallel or serial.
2) Mac driver for the printer

Here are two links that should get you started:
(you may want search on Google for other converters - this is just a start. There may be other vendors with less expensive devices - or even on eBay!)
*Converter:*
http://sewelldirect.com/UsbToParallel.asp?kid=1985297796&match_type=search

*Driver:*
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/2694


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

problem here. this printer is not suported by epson to run under 10.2 (there are no epson os x drivers for this printer). only usb printers, and then, not all of them. 

but....
give my some time, and i'll do some research and see if i can find instrutions on getting it to work for you, that is if you are comfortable tweeking things inside the terminal and unix guts of os x. if you are, let me know. the only real problem i can see is if it will work with a usb to serial adaptor.


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

sinclair_tm said:


> problem here. this printer is not suported by epson to run under 10.2 (there are no epson os x drivers for this printer). only usb printers, and then, not all of them.
> 
> but....
> give my some time, and i'll do some research and see if i can find instrutions on getting it to work for you, that is if you are comfortable tweeking things inside the terminal and unix guts of os x. if you are, let me know. the only real problem i can see is if it will work with a usb to serial adaptor.


And using an usb-serial or usb-parallel converter will not help?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

the converter will only help if we can get a driver for an unsupported printer to look for a serial printer on a usb connection. yes, this is unix at the core, but this is a lot for a software patch or hack to be doing. and one that may be hard to find, unless you know someone that can write one. unfortually, my circle of friends are only windows users, and can't write software, and i havn't learned too yet either, but wish i could. like i said, i will be doing some web crawling to see if i can dig up something.


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## tetano (Apr 5, 2005)

and why not trying gimp-print?


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Thanks for the correction, sinclair_tm.

The adapter would work only if Epson (or somebody else) wrote a *printer usb-parallel port* driver for Mac.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

gimp-print is where i'm headed, but i need to know what os llilja is running, so that i can find the right version. plus there is still the usb-serial conversion that i have to figure out. and it also requires that the latest cups be installed, and that requires fink and useing the terminal. this is not a simple fix, but still may be doable with alittle work.


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## llilja (Apr 3, 2005)

*I'm boggled.*

First, let me thank you both for responding. I have a Power PC G4, 500 MHz, 256 MB memory, OS 10.2 I'm afraid I have very little technical knowledge, evidenced by my purchasing a printer that's not compatible. I was mainly concerned with getting a printer that would print postscript, and Epson 850 was on a list of printers that would handle that.

When making suggestions, take my ignorance into consideration, and explain it as you would to a child: "See Spot Run"! I can handle buying a converter, if that will do it.

Thanks again for taking the time to help an idiot.

Lorraine


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

No problem - it took Sinclair_tm to point out the error in my ways!

What it comes down to is this:
1) you will need a converter (to go from usb to serial or parallel port)
2) you will need a usb printer driver (this is the program that standard print commands and data and converts it to information that a particular printer will understand)
3) you will need a driver that handles converting information in usb format to serial or parallel port

#1 is not too hard.

#2 & #3 is a bit harder - mainly because older printers do not have usb drivers and we have to find that usb/port routine.


Now - the real question is - why do you think you need a postscript printer?

There are scripts that can convert postscript files to pdf files - and we can help you with that.

It may be a bit easier to get a USB printer at Wal-Mart and resale the printer you just got?


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

*Can you hold out?*

Help is on the way. i spent my whole lunch hour today trying to find every thing we need to get you hooked up. and keeping in mind that we'll need to hold your hand (so to speak), i will be writing step by step instructions for you, but i will not be able to post them till next week ( this is because i'll be out of town for the weekend, first vacation in who knows how long, of course it turned out i'll be helping my brother move :sad: some vacation, guess there is just no rest for the tired. -sigh- ) in the mean time, be looking for and pricing a usb to parallel converter. belkin F5U002 seems to be the cable that most people i have found are using with 10.2 and no problems (but not in 10.3 for some reason, so if you are staying in 10.2 for awhile get this cable --edit-- well, don't get the cable till after you read my instrutions and think you can do them --end edit-- ) and next week i will post the instrutions, and if they look to hard for you, do what yeefam said, and buy a new printer that states it'll work for os x.
see ya'll later.


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Thank you sinclair_tm!

And stay with 10.2 - upgrading to 10.3 is not considered a free upgrade.


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Hi,

Check this out - 
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...VCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=14527&foid=36604

Kit does exist - quick look seems to be more of trying to get the kit - several sites indicates that they are out of stock!

C-USB-PK3 - partial support
C-USB-PK4 - full support

If you do a google search on those kit numbers - you will get dealers who sell them.

Additional information:
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supAdvice.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&noteoid=17610


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## llilja (Apr 3, 2005)

*I can do that.*

Thanks for the persistence. I will search for the USB to Parallel adapter kit, and let you know when I am successful. I work tomorrow, but I'm off Friday.

You're both great!

Lorraine


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## llilja (Apr 3, 2005)

*Need help on selection of part*

When checking out the adapter kit at Epson, (C-USB-PK3) it looks to me as though PK3 will not support G4, only Imac and G3. PK4 looks as though it supports G4:
<www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=14527&foid=36604> And I think it's in stock.
I found an USB/Parallel adapter cable at Sewell for much less that they claim would work on Epson Stylus Color 850....for much less. ?????


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

if i read it right, pk3 will support g4, but not the monitoring software, where the pk4 will. i think the ment the yes/no's like this
(imac/g3/g4) (win98) (status stylus rip support) (monitoring support)
so we got on pk3 (yes) (yes) (not supported) (not supported)
and on pk4 (yes) (yes) (yes) (yes(s rip 4.10 only))
which looks like they got the rip and monitoring backwards. anyway the pk4 looks like the best from epson if you don't go with the belkin cable.

and for something like this, its up to you if you don't want the namebrand cable. personally, i have had good luck with generic stuff.


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

Yes - you can purchase the generic brand cable (Epson probably does not maket the cable - it may be Belkin) - but you will need to get the drivers they are selling with the kit.

It should be available on the Epson site somewhere...

sinclair_tm may confirm this - on Windows machines, you want to load up the drivers, reboot, and then hook up your usb device. So getting the instructions will be important also.


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

YeeFam said:


> Yes - you can purchase the generic brand cable (Epson probably does not maket the cable - it may be Belkin) - but you will need to get the drivers they are selling with the kit.
> 
> It should be available on the Epson site somewhere...
> 
> sinclair_tm may confirm this - on Windows machines, you want to load up the drivers, reboot, and then hook up your usb device. So getting the instructions will be important also.


OOPS - I meant *Windows and Mac *machines -


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## llilja (Apr 3, 2005)

Hi, I ordered the Belkin, and will be back when it arrives. Now I'll need the driver, and it should work, right?

Thanks again, Lorraine


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## YeeFam (Nov 19, 2004)

We wil do our best!


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

*Here they are!!!*

Well, i'm back. and here are the instructions on how to use that printer on your mac. 
first launch safari
goto the menu 'Safarireferences...'
click the button 'General' at the top of the diag box that just opened.
goto 'Save downloaded files to:' and make sure you know where that folder is. i believe that the default is the desktop, which is fine, just as long as you know how to get to the folder that is listed here. now close this diag box.
next the downloads, go here 
on the right side there is a grey box with the title 'downloads',
click gimp-print-4.2.7-0.ppc.dmg . it takes you to a site to choose where to download from. click on the file icon in the right most column from a server that is close to you. give it a minute and it should start downloading.
now go back here again
scroll down the page to 'espgs-7.07.1-0.ppc.dmg' which is in that same grey box and click on it. as before, select a server that is close to you and click on the file icon in the right column. now you get to wait until they are done downloading, and when they are, quit safari.
after they were downloaded, disk copy should of opened them, which would of put 2 white disk icons on you desktop. if not, find the files that you downloaded and double click them, now disk copy will open them. open 'Install Gimp-Print' and douple click the installer 'Gimp-Print.pkg' . it looks like a open box. and let it do its stuff, following the on screen instructions.
next open the disk icon 'Install ESP Ghostscript' and double click 'ESP Ghostscript.mpkg'. again let it install.
now turn off the mac. plug the printer into the cable, plug the cable into the mac, and turn on the printer. after the printer is on and ready, when there is no more noise or flashing lights, turn on the mac. 
once the mac is fully loaded, goto 'Applications:Utilities' and launch 'Print Center', its the icon that looks like a grey/silver printer. while holding down the 'Option' key on the keyboard, click on the 'Add Printer' icon. in the sheet that shows up, click the popup menu and select 'Advanced'. now goto 'Device' and select your printer, it should be at the bottom of the list. on 'Device Name' type in what you want your printer to be called. now at the bottom is 'Printer Model' select 'Epson' here. the sheet gets bigger and a list box is there. scroll down until you see 'EPSON Stylus Color 850 - CUPS+Gimp-Print v4.2.7' highlight it and click the 'Add' button.
that is it, your printer is now installed and ready to print. open textedit and print a test page.

i hope that this worked for you. let us know what happens, and if it didn't work, let me know where you got stuck at, and i'll figure it out. take care and good luck, my fingers are crossed. :3-thumbup


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

*Well!?!*

I see that a Whole Lot of people have read this thread. well, has it helped anyone? please let me know.


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