Category Archives: printing and scanning

fixed : delete SPanel from Mountain Lion

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Question :

When I installed OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, the SPanel application for my Samsung printer was disabled. But it wasn’t deleted…

Now the SPanel application turns out to be incompatible with OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, because nothing happens when trying to run it, but the SPanel icon now sits pointlessly in the upper menu bar of my Mac…

…is there any way of deleting it ?

Answer :

Yes – there is.

To delete the SPanel app (a.k.a. “Smart Panel”) and the menu bar item :

– open the Samsung folder inside your Applications folder

– drag the SPanel app to the Desktop

– open the Printers folder that’s in your main Library folder, so :

~/[your hard disk]/Library/Printers

Note : the SPanel folder may be inside the Samsung folder you’ll find there , but usually isn’t

– drag the SPanel folder to your Desktop

– restart your Mac

– then drag both the SPanel app and the SPanel folder from the Desktop to the Trash

– then empty your Trash

…done !

fixed : premature timeout of TimeCapsule-connected USB-printers

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Solving the premature timeout-problem of TimeCapsule-connected printers

Some printers work fine when connected directly on the USB-port of your Mac, but when you connect them to a Time Capsule they choke on large files. They will print part of your document, and then suddenly end by printing a nearly blank page with an error message “SPL-C ERROR – Including Corrupted Data”. This is caused by a pre-mature timeout of connection between the printer and the Time Capsule.

Two simple solutions, and a 3rd ‘DareDevil-solution’ that’s more complex :

  1. your USB-cable is too long ; replace the USB-cable with a shorter one (standard length is 1.8 meters, shorter ones are hard to find)
  2. your USB-cable is too thin ; replace the USB-cable with a thicker, more rigid one
  3. If the above options are not possible to implement in your case, try this (if you dare) :

Edit the .gz-file

  • find the .gz-file for your printer in Library / Printers / PPDs / Contents / Resources / [printer diver name].gz
  • for failure-protection, duplicate it and rename it from [printer driver name].gz to [printer driver name](orig).gz
  • double click the initial .gz-file to unpack it
  • then, in the same folder, find the file with the same name, without the .gz-extention
  • open this file in the application TextEdit
  • find this line :

*Throughput: “[number]”

  • change the “[number]” to “60” (or something at least twice as big as the initial number)
  • save the file ; make sure the name is the same as when you opened it (omit the .txt-extention ; if you fail to do that while saving, rename the file in the Finder, but omit the .txt-extention)
  • download a GZIP-encoder ; for instance The Zipper :

http://lipidity.com/software/zippit/

  • use the GZIP-encoder to turn the [printer driver name] file into a [printer driver name].gz file
  • make sure this new [printer driver name].gz file is located in Library / Printers / PPDs / Contents / Resources /
  • you’re done… …on this computer at least…
  • now you have to got to each of the other Mac’s on your network and replace the old Library / Printers / PPDs / Contents / Resources / [printer diver name].gz by the new one…

…time-consuming isn’t it ?

…and your out of luck : you have to go though this each and every time the printer drivers for your printer are being updated… (until the official Printer-driver will include a longer timeout-delay…)

so… isn’t replacing the USB-cable an easier option ?

tip : looking for a good test page to test your pinter ?

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Here’s a good test page that I’ve found somewhere on the internet. You can use it to test the print quality of your pinter if  you think you have a problem.

CAUTION ! this test page will use quite a lot of ink, so using it often will drain your printer (if you have an inkjet-printer that is… for laser-printers this is less of a problem)

color printer test page

tip : changing the icon that is displayed for your printer

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If you do not like the way the printer icon for your printer looks in the “Print & Fax” System Preference or in the Dock on your Desktop, you can edit it yourself.

  1. First thing to do is upgrade the driver for your printer ; sometimes older drivers show a generic printer icon in OSX, and that might be updated in the new drivers also. Go to the support-part of your printer’s brand and download and install new printer drivers for your version of OSX
  2. If have an alias to your printer on your Desktop or in your Dock (a.k.a. a “Desktop Printer”), you can change the icon just like you can change any icon in OSX ; by selecting the icon in the Finder, right-clicking “Get Info”, selecting the icon in Get Info, and then pasting the desired picture onto it (you could use a proper icon, but any picture can be used)
  3. …or you can do the ‘DareDevil-method’ : [this example shows how to do it for the Samsung CLP-315 printer, but it is similar for any other printer]
  • start by delete the printer from the printer list in “Print & Fax” System Preference (a.k.a. “Print & Scan” – depending on which OSX-version you have)
  • then find this file :

/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/Samsung CLP-310 Series.gz

  • Note : this file is located in the “Library”-folder that is directly on your hard disk, it is NOT in the “Library”-folder that is in the “System”-folder within the “Users”-folder !
  • copy this file to the Desktop
  • and rename the original file to Samsung CLP-310 Series (orig).gz so you will have a backup just in case…
  • then go back to the Desktop and unzip the copied .gz-file by clicking on it
  • open the unzipped file in the TextEdit application
  • add this line into the code :

*APPrinterIconPath: “/Library/Printers/Samsung/Icons/CLP-310.icns”

  • this is at the beginning of the code, immediately after the block of code that starts with :

*APDialogExtension: “/Library/Printers/Samsung/CLP-310/PDEs/.…

  • and immediately preceding this line of code :

*Manufacturer: “Samsung”

  • double-check to make sure that the desired icon is located at “/Library/Printers/Samsung/Icons/CLP-310.icns” in the Finder
  • save the file (just use “Save” in TextEdit)
  • convert the file back into a .gz-file with this name : Samsung CLP-310 Series.gz
  • Note : you will need to use a dedicated application like the free “The Zipper” for this (you can download “The Zipper” from MacUpdate.com)
  • assign a color to the file using your right mouse-click (CMD-click)
  • drag the file back to the place where the original used to be
  • go back to the “Print & Fax” System Preference, and add your printer to the list again
  • do NOT use the pre-selected driver, but choose “Other” and select the .gz-file you’ve just made :/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/Samsung CLP-310 Series.gz

AirPort-connected USB-printer sometimes prints, sometimes not

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— THIS IS A REPOST ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE APPLE SUPPORT COMMUNITIES IN 2010 —

Question : I have a Samsung CLP-315 connected via USB to an Airport Express. The problem is that the printer works for a page or two and then it stops working, usually with a larger document being printed. (Firmware on Airport Express is 6.3 and I am using OS X 10.5.5)

Answer : I had the exact same problem with my Samsung CLP 315 and my Time Capsule.

I seem to have fixed it this way :

  1. download & install the latest driver for the CLP 315
  2. download & install the latest AirPort Utility (Apple-software)
  3. after configuring AirPort Utility, close it & re-open
  4. in AirPort Utility choose Manual Setup
  5. in Summary click on the small arrow that appears on mouse-over left from / next to “USB Printers”
  6. on the page that appears, change the name of the printer to the exact name you want to use for it on your Mac (and leave the “Share printers over the Internet using Bonjour blank) and click “Update”
  7. go to System Preferences on your Mac, go to “Print & Fax” and “Add Printer” (the “+”)
  8. under the Default tab, select your Samsung CLP 315 (it will be listed exactly the way you’ve named it in your AirPort Utility, followed by the “Kind = Bonjour” info)
  9. now your printer’s Name, Location and Driver (“Print Using”) will all be listed automatically
  10. click “Add” and you can start using your Samsung-printer wirelessly through your Time Capsule

That seems to be all there is to it…

the original post(s) can be found here :

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1839505?threadID=1839505&tstart=295

Old School Mac [5] : can I share the printer of my pre-OSX Mac to my network ?

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— THIS IS A REPOST FROM LONG WAY BACK ; JUST FOR ENTERTAINMENT — ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MACOSX.NL (a.k.a. ONE MORE THING) IN 2004

Question : Can I share the Epson printer that is connected to my PowerPC running OS8.6 on my network so I can use it from my iMac ?
Answer : If your Epson-printer is a USB-printer, and your iMac is on OSX (preferably 10.3 Panther), then you would be better of to plug the printer into your iMac and share it to your network and your old PowerPC-Mac from there…
If you have a iMac with OSX 10.3, you will also have an installer-CD of OS9…  use that to upgrade your PowerMac from OS8.6 to OS9 ; that will make your network more compatible… Note : you can run OS9 on all PowerMacs, for more info on that :

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25114

Griffin Technologies has made some adapters that might be of use in your case :

CAUTION ! : do extensive research to make sure that these Giffin-adapters are compatible with your Mac !!

Again : if you are really sure you want to make this work, upgrade to OS9. There is no guarantee that things will work, but it’s a fact that OSX has better network-compatibility  with OS9 / OS9.1 / OS9.2 than with any prior version of MacOS…

Some other links that you might want to have a look at :

  • Three Macs and a Printer :
  • Low End Mac :
  • Great Ideas for Old Macs :

http://weitzman.net/classicmacs/

the original post(s) can be found here :

http://www.onemorething.nl/community/topic/printer-power-pc-via-netwerk-naar-i-mac-osx

Old School Mac [3] : will my printer work with OSX ?

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— THIS IS A REPOST FROM LONG WAY BACK ; JUST FOR ENTERTAINMENT — ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MACOSX.NL (a.k.a. ONE MORE THING) IN 2004

Question : Will I be able to use my WindowsPC’s printer on my new Mac ? Mine is a HP DeskJet 916.

Answer : Yes – the general rule is : any printer that you can connect to your OSX-Mac, will be useable (a least partially) from within OSX

About the meaning of “any printer that you can connect to your OSX-Mac” in the sentence above :

To connect a printer to a OSX-Mac, you need to connect it using a USB- or UTP/Ethernet-cable ; printers that can only be connected using a Parallel PC-printerport will therefore not do…

In this case it’s about a HP DeskJet 916 (HP calls it the “DJ916”) ; that one is included in the so-called DJ9xx-range… those ones are compatible with an OSX-Mac, but when using older versions of OSX you will probably need to use a ‘detour’ using the UNIX-base of OSX combined with the Linux-drivers by HP ; follow these links for more info :

http://www.allosx.com/1034107267/index_html http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/productssupported.php http://www.linuxprinting.org/tylerb/hpijs/

That last link is to the actual HPIJS for MacOSX, but be aware ! : do read the instructions and keep a copy of them for future reference before you do any install !

Note : using MacOSX 10.3 Panther your printer will be compatible if it is listed here :

http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/printers.html

the original post(s) can be found here :

http://www.onemorething.nl/community/topic/hp-printer-op-mac