I decided I should print some Christmas cards. But when I print the picture I want, it's way too dark. Argh!
This is an ongoing problem. The last batch of printing I did I settled on managing color on the printer (so I could make the following adjustments), setting the gamma to 1.5 (instead of 1.8 or 2.2), and cranking the brightness to the max of +25.
But even with those extreme adjustments, my current print was way too dark. (And it goes against most recommendations to manage color in the computer.)
Lots of other people have this problem (try Google). Leopard seems to have made the problem worse. Epson doesn't seem to want or be able to fix it. Nor are Apple or Adobe any help. On the other hand, it seems to work ok for some (many? most?) people. For some people the problem occurs in Lightroom but not Photoshop, but I get the same results from both.
A lot of the responses to this problem tell people it's because their monitor isn't calibrated. Maybe that's the case some of the time, but if my histogram is correct then the monitor has nothing to do with it. And I have the brightness on my 24" iMac turned down to the minimum. And the images look fine on other monitors as well.
Suggested "fixes" range from using the Gutenprint drivers (which don't support all the printer features) to reinstalling OS X (yikes!). Some people seem to have had success using the older version 3 driver.
I tried some of the common suggestions - deleting my Library/Printers/Epson folder, resetting the print subsystem, emptying the trash (?), restarting (just like Windows!), reinstaling the driver ... I did find there was an update to the 6.12 driver so I installed that as well.
I'm not sure how much difference it made. I now seem to be getting better results managing color on the computer (as most people recommend) rather than the printer. But I still had to adjust the image to the point of looking ugly on the screen (overexposing by .3) in order to get a decent print, which is something I really wanted to avoid. Maybe I can make a preset to make it easier to adjust for printing.
Judging from Google, there seem to be fewer problems with the newer R1900 but I really hate to replace a printer that has nothing physically wrong with it (AFAIK) , just to get around a software problem! And the R1800 isn't that old a model.
It's a frustrating problem because there are so many variables and it's very hard to objectively evaluate the results. I just changed the exposure from +.3 to +.5 making it lighter and I swear the print got slightly darker!
Showing posts with label printers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label printers. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Another Mac Printer Annoyance
Just when I thought I had my printer problems figured out, I have a new one.
If I boot up with the printer turned off i.e. turn it on after OS X has booted, then it won't work. Not only won't work, but hangs OS X for several minutes. The first few times I thought OS X had crashed but if I'm patient enough it will come back. It's especially frustrating when I inadvertently leave Lightroom in the Print module because then it hangs when I run it. Or if I forget and switch to the Print module.
It might not be so bad if I could put the printer on the power bar with the Mac so it would get turned on at the same time. But you're not supposed to shut off the power to the printer without turning it off and I'm sure I'd forget.
It's strange (as usual) because the printer is connected to the Mac with USB - which should (and did before) handle turning on later. Maybe it's related to the work around I had to do to access the printer from Parallels since that is network related. (I'm thinking network because that's the only thing I can think of that would hang for several minutes.) I guess I could try disabling or removing the extra printer I have set up for that but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for it. And I'd probably just break something else.
It seems like a lot of stuff these days assumes you're going to leave it turned on all the time. But that's not great for energy efficiency.
If I boot up with the printer turned off i.e. turn it on after OS X has booted, then it won't work. Not only won't work, but hangs OS X for several minutes. The first few times I thought OS X had crashed but if I'm patient enough it will come back. It's especially frustrating when I inadvertently leave Lightroom in the Print module because then it hangs when I run it. Or if I forget and switch to the Print module.
It might not be so bad if I could put the printer on the power bar with the Mac so it would get turned on at the same time. But you're not supposed to shut off the power to the printer without turning it off and I'm sure I'd forget.
It's strange (as usual) because the printer is connected to the Mac with USB - which should (and did before) handle turning on later. Maybe it's related to the work around I had to do to access the printer from Parallels since that is network related. (I'm thinking network because that's the only thing I can think of that would hang for several minutes.) I guess I could try disabling or removing the extra printer I have set up for that but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for it. And I'd probably just break something else.
It seems like a lot of stuff these days assumes you're going to leave it turned on all the time. But that's not great for energy efficiency.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
More Mac & Parallels Printing Problems
This is a continuation of the saga I've posted about before.
Recap: I had moved my Epson R1800 printer to Firewire to free up the USB port. But then I found out Parallels doesn't virtualize Firewire.
So I moved the printer back to USB. Things seem ok. Some time later I go to print from Lightroom and I find that I'm back to the CUPS+Gutenprint printer driver which doesn't support all the printer features. I'm not sure how that happened since before the USB->Firewire switch it was using the Epson driver.
More time passes and I go to print from Windows under Parallels. The print job goes into the queue and gets stuck. I can't even delete the print job or the printer. I try disconnecting and reconnecting the USB port to the Parallels VM. I try rebooting Windows. I try rebooting the Mac. At some point during this thrashing my print job comes out and the printer deletes. I recreate the printer, thinking that it's now going to work, but my test gets stuck in the queue as before. I thrash some more, but can't seem to hit on whatever combination it was that released that first print job.
I search on the web and find various discussions of various problems more or less related to mine. One person says it takes 5 minutes for his print jobs to emerge. Maybe this was what happened with me - not anything I did while thrashing, just the amount of time I thrashed. It seems bizarre that it would take 5 minutes. What is it doing all that time? And why does it work after whatever it is doing?
I had gotten an error message about the Epson Status Monitor 3 (why 3?) and some of the discussions mentioned this. I tried disabling it and killing it etc. but it didn't seem to make much difference.
The strange thing is that I could swear I had the printer working from Windows via USB before I switched to Firewire. So why doesn't it work now? Changes to Parallels? Who knows.
Eventually I found Finally got Epson Photo R800 printer working in XP VM on the Parallels forums. (an R800 is the narrow carriage version of my R1800) It gave instructions on how to share the printer from OS X and then access it using Bonjour on Windows. I had run across references to this before but they all talked about using a generic postscript driver on Windows which is not what I wanted. I needed to use the Epson driver to access the printers features. But these instructions used the Epson driver.
The instructions were for the printer connected by USB but they mentioned they would likely work with Firewire. Since that's what I really wanted I thought I'd try it. Nope, couldn't get it to work. (no URI for Firewire device?) Back to USB. This time it worked.
The only place where I had problems with the instructions was with choosing the printer type. Bonjour only showed the generic postscript option. I had to choose Have Disk and then find and select my Epson driver.
Several hours later, I think I have the correct, functioning printer setup in both OS X and Windows. And even better, I think I should now be able to use the same method to access the printer from other networked Windows machines.
A few days ago someone suggested buying a MacBook for someone else. I said it probably wasn't a good idea because they'd want to run Windows programs. They said "I thought you could do that now?". Yeah, well, you can, but ... it can get ugly.
Recap: I had moved my Epson R1800 printer to Firewire to free up the USB port. But then I found out Parallels doesn't virtualize Firewire.
So I moved the printer back to USB. Things seem ok. Some time later I go to print from Lightroom and I find that I'm back to the CUPS+Gutenprint printer driver which doesn't support all the printer features. I'm not sure how that happened since before the USB->Firewire switch it was using the Epson driver.
More time passes and I go to print from Windows under Parallels. The print job goes into the queue and gets stuck. I can't even delete the print job or the printer. I try disconnecting and reconnecting the USB port to the Parallels VM. I try rebooting Windows. I try rebooting the Mac. At some point during this thrashing my print job comes out and the printer deletes. I recreate the printer, thinking that it's now going to work, but my test gets stuck in the queue as before. I thrash some more, but can't seem to hit on whatever combination it was that released that first print job.
I search on the web and find various discussions of various problems more or less related to mine. One person says it takes 5 minutes for his print jobs to emerge. Maybe this was what happened with me - not anything I did while thrashing, just the amount of time I thrashed. It seems bizarre that it would take 5 minutes. What is it doing all that time? And why does it work after whatever it is doing?
I had gotten an error message about the Epson Status Monitor 3 (why 3?) and some of the discussions mentioned this. I tried disabling it and killing it etc. but it didn't seem to make much difference.
The strange thing is that I could swear I had the printer working from Windows via USB before I switched to Firewire. So why doesn't it work now? Changes to Parallels? Who knows.
Eventually I found Finally got Epson Photo R800 printer working in XP VM on the Parallels forums. (an R800 is the narrow carriage version of my R1800) It gave instructions on how to share the printer from OS X and then access it using Bonjour on Windows. I had run across references to this before but they all talked about using a generic postscript driver on Windows which is not what I wanted. I needed to use the Epson driver to access the printers features. But these instructions used the Epson driver.
The instructions were for the printer connected by USB but they mentioned they would likely work with Firewire. Since that's what I really wanted I thought I'd try it. Nope, couldn't get it to work. (no URI for Firewire device?) Back to USB. This time it worked.
The only place where I had problems with the instructions was with choosing the printer type. Bonjour only showed the generic postscript option. I had to choose Have Disk and then find and select my Epson driver.
Several hours later, I think I have the correct, functioning printer setup in both OS X and Windows. And even better, I think I should now be able to use the same method to access the printer from other networked Windows machines.
A few days ago someone suggested buying a MacBook for someone else. I said it probably wasn't a good idea because they'd want to run Windows programs. They said "I thought you could do that now?". Yeah, well, you can, but ... it can get ugly.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Parallels Annoyance
I went to print from Windows running under Parallels on my Mac and it didn't work, although it had in the past. I tried the usual highly intelligent :-) problem solving technique of rebooting (in this case both Windows and the Mac) but it didn't help.
Eventually I remembered that I had switched the printer from USB to Firewire, since the printer (Epson R1800) had come with a Firewire cable and it freed up a USB port.
But ... Parallels doesn't virtualize Firewire, only USB. There are several workarounds but none of them are great since they don't let me use the specific features of the printer.
Now something else made sense. I had wondered why I had an HP postscript printer set up in Windows. I hadn't set it up myself so I assumed some application I had installed had done it, although that didn't make much sense. Now I realize Parallels must have created it as a way to print to Mac printers.
Another workaround is to print to PDF on Windows and then print the PDF from OS X - a bit tedious, but it works.
I may end up moving the printer back to USB, but that'll mean messing with the setup on OS X which I'd rather not have to do.
The reason I wanted to print from Windows was because I was using Canvas, a program that combines many of the capabilities of Photoshop and Illustrator (i.e. both vector and bitmap at the same time). I really like Canvas but it's been somewhat abandoned. The product was bought by ACD who haven't done much with it. There was/is a Mac version but not for Intel, so I'm still using the Windows version. There are rumors of a new Windows version but not Mac. Too bad.
Eventually I remembered that I had switched the printer from USB to Firewire, since the printer (Epson R1800) had come with a Firewire cable and it freed up a USB port.
But ... Parallels doesn't virtualize Firewire, only USB. There are several workarounds but none of them are great since they don't let me use the specific features of the printer.
Now something else made sense. I had wondered why I had an HP postscript printer set up in Windows. I hadn't set it up myself so I assumed some application I had installed had done it, although that didn't make much sense. Now I realize Parallels must have created it as a way to print to Mac printers.
Another workaround is to print to PDF on Windows and then print the PDF from OS X - a bit tedious, but it works.
I may end up moving the printer back to USB, but that'll mean messing with the setup on OS X which I'd rather not have to do.
The reason I wanted to print from Windows was because I was using Canvas, a program that combines many of the capabilities of Photoshop and Illustrator (i.e. both vector and bitmap at the same time). I really like Canvas but it's been somewhat abandoned. The product was bought by ACD who haven't done much with it. There was/is a Mac version but not for Intel, so I'm still using the Windows version. There are rumors of a new Windows version but not Mac. Too bad.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Mac + printers
Ever since I got my Mac Mini I've been struggling with the printer issue. I have an Epson 2200 hooked up to a Windows machine. It took a fair bit of research to figure out how to connect to it from OS X, but I finally managed it. It is supposed to be easy, but it looks like a lot of people have problems. But I could only use the Gutenprint (formerly Gimp-Print) drivers which don't support all the features of the printer.
I downloaded the latest Mac OS X drivers from Epson, but I couldn't see how to use them. Finally I found out that you can't use USB drivers on a networked printer. This seems like a strange distinction - on Windows I can use the same drivers whether the printer is connected directly or networked. Maybe it works if the printer is shared from another Mac - I don't have two Mac's to try it.
I thought a network print server might do the trick but from what I could find out, I'd still have problems. It looks like Apple's new Extreme Air Port might handle it a bit better, but it still wouldn't let you run the Epson utilities (ink level, cleaning, etc.). And although they claim it's Windows compatible I wouldn't be surprised if there were issues.
In the end I physically moved the printer and connected it directly to the Mac. Rather than fight with sharing it from the Mac and somehow connecting from Windows I just went out and bought a new printer for the Windows machine. (I wanted the large format 2200 on the Mac since that's where I plan to print photo enlargements from.) I bought an Epson R260. (Epson's may or may not be the best, but I'm familiar with them.) It amazes me that a printer that has a resolution of several thousand dpi and produces 1.5 picoliter droplets costs only $120! I realize they make their money on the ink, but it's still amazing price/performance relative to a few years ago. Of course, I'd like the newer Epson R2400 to replace the 2200 but that'll have to wait.
It seems strange that Parallels and VMware can virtualize an entire computer, but for some reason OS X printer drivers are tied to hardware. I'm sure there are "good technical reasons" for this, but it seems pretty crappy to me. The Mac seems to lose to Windows on this front.
I downloaded the latest Mac OS X drivers from Epson, but I couldn't see how to use them. Finally I found out that you can't use USB drivers on a networked printer. This seems like a strange distinction - on Windows I can use the same drivers whether the printer is connected directly or networked. Maybe it works if the printer is shared from another Mac - I don't have two Mac's to try it.
I thought a network print server might do the trick but from what I could find out, I'd still have problems. It looks like Apple's new Extreme Air Port might handle it a bit better, but it still wouldn't let you run the Epson utilities (ink level, cleaning, etc.). And although they claim it's Windows compatible I wouldn't be surprised if there were issues.
In the end I physically moved the printer and connected it directly to the Mac. Rather than fight with sharing it from the Mac and somehow connecting from Windows I just went out and bought a new printer for the Windows machine. (I wanted the large format 2200 on the Mac since that's where I plan to print photo enlargements from.) I bought an Epson R260. (Epson's may or may not be the best, but I'm familiar with them.) It amazes me that a printer that has a resolution of several thousand dpi and produces 1.5 picoliter droplets costs only $120! I realize they make their money on the ink, but it's still amazing price/performance relative to a few years ago. Of course, I'd like the newer Epson R2400 to replace the 2200 but that'll have to wait.
It seems strange that Parallels and VMware can virtualize an entire computer, but for some reason OS X printer drivers are tied to hardware. I'm sure there are "good technical reasons" for this, but it seems pretty crappy to me. The Mac seems to lose to Windows on this front.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Mac OS X with Windows Printer
I struggled on this one for a while. My printer (Epson 2200) is hooked up to my main Windows box and shared so my wife and I can print to it from our Windows laptops via wireless.
I could find and add the printer in the Mac printer setup but it wouldn't work. I was getting NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED.
Searching the web found many people with the same problem. I eventually got it working by using the Advanced printer setup (a little tricky to find) and using a URI of:
smb://andrew:@mckinlayhome/epson2200
Judging by what I found on the web this has been an ongoing problem with OS X. I wonder why it hasn't been fixed?
Funnily, my copy of Windows running under Parallels on the Mac had no problem connecting to the printer.
I could find and add the printer in the Mac printer setup but it wouldn't work. I was getting NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED.
Searching the web found many people with the same problem. I eventually got it working by using the Advanced printer setup (a little tricky to find) and using a URI of:
smb://andrew:@mckinlayhome/epson2200
Judging by what I found on the web this has been an ongoing problem with OS X. I wonder why it hasn't been fixed?
Funnily, my copy of Windows running under Parallels on the Mac had no problem connecting to the printer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)