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June 2002
Gosh, it's that time again, and this month we are going to continue on the theme of printer drivers for OS/2. No, not Epson this time. In fact the only reason I'm continuing the thread is that the absolute number one question that I always get has to do with which printers have drivers for OS/2. And of the driver questions, most have to do with newer printers and where do I find driver support. So, this time we're going to take a look at the latest greatest IBM Omni printer drivers -- with a big big thanks to Klaus Staedtler and Mark Dodel who originally posted most of this stuff on the 'net. First, the IBM Omni driver, now at version 30.759, has added support for:
The same driver has updated support for 720 dpi resolution with the:
The Canon printer support is important, since I've received a fair amount of email liking the Canon printers in particular. And one of our readers, Jorg Falkenstein from Germany, has had very good results with the Canon SS520 and S750 using the Omni drivers. (If we ask real nice, maybe Jorg will do a review for us). Way to go, IBM! As most readers know, I'm a great fan of PostScript, and the new IBM driver is now at Level 30.765. In addition to the usual Lexmark stuff that I rave about, new printers that are supported are:
There are also updated PPD drivers for the:
And finally, for the Laserjet crowd, the updated Laserjet driver is now at 30.765, newly supporting:
Just as a note, this is the dirver that you might try for those who got the cheap Lexmark E210 printer I talked about a couple of issues ago. Although I don't have the bucks to test this one out, there is also an updated plotter driver from IBM. Just to make it easier to get all these printer drivers, for SCOUG members I have downloaded all of the drivers as well as the Epson ones that I have been talking about, and they should all be available on the June SCOUG CD. For the rest of our readers, do a Google search or go to the IBM site and do a search. Just to get you started, here's the link for the Laserjet drivers: http://www7.software.ibm.com/2bcprod.nsf/WebCat?OpenView&Start=1&Count=300&Expand=36#36 One last tip and I'm out of here 'til next month -- If you're running ColorWorks and using a version of GRADD video drivers, the colors aren't so hot (understatement). Thanks to Michal Necasek, there is a patch to make everything OK. The url for his article and download is: http://pages.prodigy.net/michaln/os2/cw2gradd.html. As a last note -- if you go out printer shopping, I suggest that you print out a copy of this article and the one before on Epson printers, and take them with you to the store, computer show, or swap meet. I get way too much mail from unhappy campers who've made an impulse buy only to discover that there are no OS/2 printer drivers for their model. It's a shame, since you can see that there are plenty of printers that are supported under our favorite operating system. Well, out of time again. Keep those emails, comments, and questions coming, and we'll share whats happening with the rest of our OS/2 community. You can reach me at Tony@SCOUG.com.
By day, Tony Butka is a bureaucrat for Los Angeles County. In his other life he lives in a loft surrounded by computers, printers, and a host of vinyl records.
P.O. Box 26904 Santa Ana, CA 92799-6904, USA Copyright 2002 the Southern California OS/2 User Group. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. |
