Martin S Taylor <hogwash@mraermtoivnestaylor.tchoims> wrote:

I just picked up an HP Color Laserwriter which was destined for the tip
(my brother’s company are throwing dozens of them out) and tried to find a printer driver for it.

On visiting their site, I find that Gutenprint are no longer supporting MacOS, and their previous Macintosh drivers are now deprecated (surely that’s the wrong word?).

Deprecated is the right word:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation

Did Gutenprint even work on Apple Silicon? It looks like the last release
was 2019. I'm not sure if it needs some kind of access that's not available through Rosetta. Seems the last supported OS was Catalina.

It's an encomplification, but one option is to set up a Raspberry Pi as a
CUPS print server to translate between the Mac and the printer: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-print-server/

Something similar can be done without needing extra hardware using either a
VM or Docker on the Mac. eg if you have installed Docker for Mac, then
start with the 'docker pull/run' commands from the 'OCI container image' section
here (either the Docker Hub or Github container registry methods, it doesn't matter):
https://github.com/OpenPrinting/gutenprint-printer-app

I got a colour wax sublimation printer which was free as it had no drivers
for Windows 7, and lived on a long time being driven from CUPS.

Theo

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I just picked up an HP Color Laserwriter which was destined for the tip (my brother’s company are throwing dozens of them out) and tried to find a printer driver for it.

On visiting their site, I find that Gutenprint are no longer supporting MacOS, and their previous Macintosh drivers are now deprecated (surely that’s the wrong word?).

Very sad news.

Martin S Taylor

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On 29/06/2025 11:57, Theo wrote:

Martin S Taylor <hogwash@mraermtoivnestaylor.tchoims> wrote:

I just picked up an HP Color Laserwriter which was destined for the tip
(my brother’s company are throwing dozens of them out) and tried to find a >> printer driver for it.

On visiting their site, I find that Gutenprint are no longer supporting
MacOS, and their previous Macintosh drivers are now deprecated (surely
that’s the wrong word?).

Deprecated is the right word:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation

Did Gutenprint even work on Apple Silicon? It looks like the last release was 2019. I'm not sure if it needs some kind of access that's not available through Rosetta. Seems the last supported OS was Catalina.

Try using macOS's built-in Airprint driver. A lot of printers support
Airprint, because that's what iPhones use, though in some cases they may
need a firmware update.

If you get <https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/discovery-dns-sd-browser/id1381004916?mt=12>
you might be able to spot your printer under IPP or IPPS.

--
Chris

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On 2025-06-29, Chris Ridd <chrisridd@mac.com> wrote:

On 29/06/2025 11:57, Theo wrote:

Martin S Taylor <hogwash@mraermtoivnestaylor.tchoims> wrote:

I just picked up an HP Color Laserwriter which was destined for the tip
(my brother’s company are throwing dozens of them out) and tried to find a
printer driver for it.

On visiting their site, I find that Gutenprint are no longer supporting
MacOS, and their previous Macintosh drivers are now deprecated (surely
that’s the wrong word?).

Deprecated is the right word:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation

Did Gutenprint even work on Apple Silicon? It looks like the last release >> was 2019. I'm not sure if it needs some kind of access that's not available >> through Rosetta. Seems the last supported OS was Catalina.

Try using macOS's built-in Airprint driver. A lot of printers support Airprint, because that's what iPhones use, though in some cases they may
need a firmware update.

If you get
<https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/discovery-dns-sd-browser/id1381004916?mt=12>
you might be able to spot your printer under IPP or IPPS.

What an exceeding useful app - thanks :) For instance, far quicker than
logging into my router and more informative.

--
Cheers, Alan

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Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:

Try using macOS's built-in Airprint driver. A lot of printers support Airprint, because that's what iPhones use, though in some cases they may need a firmware update.

Another trick is to configure a near-enough model of printer that does have
a driver. If the printer supports PCL or Postscript then that opens up a
lot of possible printers to choose from, including generic drivers, but you might lose a little functionality (eg reading toner levels or selecting
paper trays).

But if the printer needs Gutenprint it suggests it's a GDI/Winprinter that needs a special backend, which makes things more complicated. AirPrint is a good idea, as printing from mobiles is a common thing the manufacturer wants
a tickbox for. Again you may lose some functionality but it should work.

If you get
<https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/discovery-dns-sd-browser/id1381004916?mt=12>
you might be able to spot your printer under IPP or IPPS.

What an exceeding useful app - thanks :) For instance, far quicker than logging into my router and more informative.

FWIW that only lists devices that advertise themselves via mDNS (Bonjour).
That covers printers and some computers (including Macs), but other devices
may not. So you may need to resort to the router for those.

Theo

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On 29 Jun 2025 at 11:40:04 BST, "Martin S Taylor" <hogwash@mRaErMtOiVnEstaylor.TcHoImS> wrote:

I just picked up an HP Color Laserwriter which was destined for the tip (my brother’s company are throwing dozens of them out) and tried to find a printer driver for it.

On visiting their site, I find that Gutenprint are no longer supporting MacOS, and their previous Macintosh drivers are now deprecated (surely that’s the wrong word?).

Very sad news.

Martin S Taylor

Nevertheless, I'm printing from my M1 MBP13" running Tahoe beta 2 to a
printer over gutenprint. So it can't be *that* unsupported.

HP LaserJet 5M - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.3.4

Cheers - Jaimie
--
Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of
producing random digits is, of course, in a state
of sin. -- John von Neumann

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On 2025-06-29, Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:

[snip]

If you get
<https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/discovery-dns-sd-browser/id1381004916?mt=12> >> > you might be able to spot your printer under IPP or IPPS.

What an exceeding useful app - thanks :) For instance, far quicker than
logging into my router and more informative.

FWIW that only lists devices that advertise themselves via mDNS (Bonjour). That covers printers and some computers (including Macs), but other devices may not. So you may need to resort to the router for those.

Yes I should have realised that but didn't! However at least my Roberts
Stream radio and Sky box seem to advertise themselves in addition to other
(but not all) of my devices :)

--
Cheers, Alan

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