Printing over the network without a driver (for that printer)

I'm in a bit of a situation where I have an older printer that's quite good (it was very high end originally) and I also have a stockpile of toner for it. Obviously I'd like to keep using this. In the situation I'm in, some of the people on the network are using Macs with the latest version of OS X. The printer drivers don't work on the newest version of OS X, but the Windows drivers still work on Windows 8.

What I've got at the moment is the printer plugged into a Windows 8 computer with the ability to print things. What I'm looking for is any solution that allows a Mac to "print" to a program on the Windows 8 computer with a bunch of settings, and then that program re-prints it to the intended printer, copying the settings over. Almost like how we can print to PDF, however I want it to seem like any other printer on the network (copying PDFs over the network isn't practical in this situation.)

I'm wondering if there's anyway of easily doing this. At the moment I have a thing that monitors a directory for PDFs and prints them, but there's no easy way to send settings (e.g. number of copies) to the printer. I'm happy to pay for a commercial solution, especially if it makes it easier to set up.

Thanks.

joshhendo

Posted 2013-09-04T00:33:12.990

Reputation: 153

What printer? Mfg and model would be helpful. There are frequently other drivers from "lesser" or older models that will work with a high end printer. – Chris_K – 2013-09-04T01:14:37.663

Have you looked into any "Universal" print drivers? HP makes them along with Xerox and a bunch of other brands. – Josh – 2013-09-04T03:38:34.103

I don't have access to it at the moment but I know it's an older Lexmark. I'll post more details when I can check the model number. – joshhendo – 2013-09-04T10:10:34.397

I've found this: http://universalprinterdriver.com/ and http://www.amtsoft.com/print-it-universal-printer-driver/index.htm which look like they could be what I'm after!

– joshhendo – 2013-09-04T10:13:40.033

Answers

You can always setup some kind of script on which you send the file to the computer, it receives it and prints it. It's easy enough if you have them on network or atleast at the same network and you setup your Windows to share a common public directory.

Alejandro Maldonado

Posted 2013-09-04T00:33:12.990

Reputation: 1

"Older Lexmark" printers almost certainly support PostScript. Hence, OSX's native PostScript driver should work with it. Try installing the printer as a "Generic PostScript" printer.

If that prints, then we know it is a PS printer, and all you need to install the proper driver in OSX is the printer's PPD file. This is a text file that lists all the printer's features (trays, paper size, colour, etc), and the PS commands used to access them. As it is a text file you can use a Windows or Linux version. On the Mac, the default location for PPDs is /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj, but you can really put it anywhere. Then, when installing the printer, browse to that location if necessary.

In Windows, you can find the PPD somewhere under C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SPOOL\DRIVERS.

hdhondt

Posted 2013-09-04T00:33:12.990

Reputation: 3 244