Basic Fabric Printer Tutorial

This tutorial will talk you through using SmartPrint to send a print to the fabric printer and controlling the 'print queue' to the printer.

1. You will need to log into the computer with a special login:
1. Username: .\smartprint
1. Please put the .\ before the word 'smartprint'
2. Password: smartprint
2. Put your USB Pendrive into the machine
3. Your image is best off in the .TIFF format
1. To convert to this format (as opposed to JPEG) load Photoshop
2. Open your image
3. In the menu system, click on Image > Image Size
4. resize your image to the size you would like it printed to
1. Make sure the 'Resolution' is set to 200 Dots Per Inch (DPI) (as opposed to Dots per CM)
5. Click OK to resize it.
6. In the menu system click: File > Save As
7. Select TIFF from the list of formats
8. Click OK when asked more questions.
4. Load up "SmartPrint"
1. Icon is at the bottom
5. It will present you with a set width canvas which is dark gray
1. each fabric is a different width. Measure your fabric
2. To resize the width of the canvas click: File > Layout
3. Edit the 'width' to the size in mm
6. Open up an explorer window and browse to your image. (the TIFF file you made earlier)
7. Drag this image onto the canvas of Smartprint
8. It should size your image how you had sized it in Photoshop
9. You may drag more images onto the canvas to maximise use of space. Although it will only let you drag one image at a time.
10. When you are happy, switch the printer on
11. Load the roll you wish to print on
12. Click the 'right' arrow to say you have loaded a roll
1. it will measure the width of the roll
13. Click the 'Remote' button when the printer is ready to print
14. On the computer go to: File > Print
15. Click OK for 1 copy
16. The Print Queue Manager will load up
1. Do not click on the Print Queue Manager as it will crash!
17. If the Print Queue Manager 'crashes' you will need to close it and open it again
1. Click on the SmartPrint software
2. In the file menu system go to: File > Close Queue Manager
3. In the file menu system go to: File > Open Queue Manager
4. In the Queue Manager go to: File > Start Print Queue

 Done

Mavericks "The software for the printer was installed incorrectly" error

After reimaging a computer suite with Mavericks and installing a networked printer via "Profile Manager" mobileconfig files, the printer had an exclamation mark next to it in the print dialogue box. When a print was sent to the queue, the print queue would load up and prompt the error:

"The software for the printer was installed incorrectly.
Would you like it to be repaired?"

After clicking "Repair" you are prompted with an Administrator Username and Password dialogue box.

I needed to find a way of "repairing" all these machines via ARD or Profile Manager. Looking in console, I found that the error was due to:
"/Library/Printers/hp/filter/hpPostProcessing.bundle/Contents/MacOS/hpPostProcessing" has insecure permissions (0100775/uid=0/gid=80)"

I found this forum which mentions the fix which is to change owner and permissions.

I ran a few commands to first change the owner, which needs to be Wheel, and the permissions with need to be 755. After doing so, I needed to reboot to see if it had fixed it, only to come up with more errors due to insecure permissions of the containing folders. After continuously doing this it finally fixed it.

I ended up running a command which changed the permissions for the whole /Library/Printers folder recursively:

chmod -R g-w /Library/Printers/
chown -R root:wheel /Library/Printers/

This needs to be run as root, which is an option in ARD, or you can put "sudo" before each line.

installing MFD canon IR 5840 and 4080 printers using only one queue

So we have a print management system, and Canon Multi Function devices installed everywhere. When we send a print, it goes to only one queue, and will print on whatever MFD you log on to. TRouble is there are multiple models, i.e.

Canon IR C4080
Canon iR C4580
Canon 5840

When we send a print to the 4080 using the 4080 PCL drivers from a Mac, it prints fine. If we send them to the 5840 it prints gobble-de-goop.

So now I'm testing the 5840 drivers on both to see what happens. I'm not sure which to try, the PS drivers or the UFR II (whatever that means) drivers.

Trying the Mac CUPS UFRII/UFRII LT Printer Driver (v10.2.1)  driver:
4080 - blank A3 page

Canon PS Printer Driver for MacOSX v4.00 (v4.00)  driver:
4080 - blank A3 page

Installing Dell Color Laser 3110cn on Mac OS X 10.7 and later

We have a growing number of Apple Macs which are now on OS X 10.7 and up. Dell have only released PowerPC installer for their drivers which doesn't run on OS X 10.7 or later. Thankfully I found a nice forum where someone (Chezloi) has found the relavent files and put them in the new relavent folders.

1. unzip and put the Dell/ folder in 'Mac HD/Library/Printers/'
2. unzip and put DellJobAccount.plugin in 'Mac HD/Library/Printers/Dell/PDEs/'
3. unzip and put DellSecurePrint.plugin in 'Mac HD/Library/Printers/Dell/PDEs/'
4. unzip and put the en.lproj/ folder in 'Mac HD/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/'

Hopefully this helps some more people. Think I'll write an installer for it.

Password for printing on OS X 10.6 and changing every day

Here's some info:

The need a password tickbox in mcxprinting has limiting effects. It appears in Photoshop that it only prompts for a password if you change the print settings for the printer! Seems to only stop you if you're using the OS X printer interface. Any other interface might get around the password facility.

I suppose one option is to see if the CUPS printing facility has an admin password thingy.

Alternatively, you could just have one user which can log into the machine.

One thing we need to do is to get something automatic in place which automatically changes the password depending on the day.

Found this which describes the use of passwd command line utility to change a users password. We could set up something automatic which would change the administrators password every day and loop.

Another thought I had was to share the printer with the server, but call the instance on the machine something miscellaneous like -error-, and have another printer set up which connects to the server. That way we can use it like any other! I think this is the best solution yet.

So, I tried to setup a network printer:

1. I set up the printer on the machine and called it "-error1-" so no-one would use it
2. ticked the "printer sharing" box in system preferences
1. also ticked the windows sharing box
3. I read somewhere it was best to turn the firewall on, so I did. I checked to see the exceptions and printing and smb were listed
4. Next I went to the windows 2000 server added a 'local port' printer
1. using port "\\123.45.67.89\-error1-" and used the right windows driver for it so papercut would be able to work out paper size etc.
2. I shared this printer with the name "n239-Ep7600"
5. I did a test print from the windows server and it came out fine, although it wanted the roll paper instead of sheet paper feed.
6. On the Mac I set up the networked printer, using LPR, the ip address of the server and the queue name "N239-Ep7600"
1. gave it the correct print driver
7. I performed a test print from the OS X machine and it came up with some sort of "rasterize" error.

/Library/Printers/EPSON/InkjetPrinter2/Filter/rastertoescpII.app/Contents/MacOS/rastertoescpII failed

I can only assume that the print driver cannot cope with being sent through a network, and has to "rasterize" it on the fly?

Another option is to have the print queue paused for every printjob which requires an administrator to unpause it. Found this post which is for os x 10.5 and involves CUPs config file.

Adobe InDesign - The Adobe Print Engine has failed - AuthDialog.nib

Having a slight problem with InDesign. Just tried printing a file from InDesign to an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 and came up with this error:

Printing Error. The Adobe Print Enine has failed to output your data due to an unknown problem

Looking in the log files I found this entry:

19/03/2012 12:32:57 Adobe InDesign CS5[421] -[AuthWindowController loadWindow]: failed to load window nib file '/Library/Application Support/Adobe/APE/3.1/adbeapecore.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AdobeSWFL.bundle/Contents/Resources/AuthDialog.nib'.

 Couldn't find anything on it on the internet.

I did a bit of testing. Tried:

• printing a new document - printed
• printed a new document with the same images in - printed
• printed a new document with the same text (was foreign text) - error

Thus I have concluded that it is to do with the unusual text in the document. It was a piece of text translated using Google Translate and pasted, using the Arial font.

The funny thing was that I was unable to export it as a pdf file from that machine, but was able to export it using another machine? As it's just a one off print I thought I'd leave it there.

Anyway, printed it from the pdf file, created on another machine, through Preview. Worked!

Printing cost for the Epson Stylus Pro 7600 on A1+ Roll of Luster paper

We're going to start charging per page for the use of the Epson Stylus Pro 7600. I've been asked to work out the cost. So I've found this webpage which describes the costs in $'s per ft squared inc media! So a little conversion is necessary:

Premium Luster - $1.22 per ft squared

1ft squared = 30.49cm squared

A1+ = 91.4cm x 61.55cm = 5625.67cm squared

A2 on A1+ = 61.55cm x 42cm = 

2 x A3 on A1+ = 61.55cm x 42cm

2 x A4 on A1+ = 61.55cm x 21cm




Scrap that.


Just found that Derby University have a Printing Bureau, and have prices showing how much they charge on a pdf document.


They charge £15 for an A1 print. As a rough estimate they must double the cost for overheads and a small profit.


So:
A1 = £7


What I was thinking was charging for the whole length:

Basically just estimated the rest.


If the student brings in their own paper, we will simply cut the price in half. So:


A1 = £3.50
A2 = £1.75
A3 = £0.80
A4 = £0.40

OS X 10.6.6 Printer Queues won't open

After trialing the UniFlow MacClient popup (not currently working though) I noticed that when a print job was sent to a queue the little printer icon would not appear on the dock. I did notice it on local logins but my login is from Active Directory.

After a little investigation it was noticed that the printers in my ~/Library/Printers I was getting a large list of duplicate printer names:

This was a permissions issue. I made a symlink to a local folder:
ln -s /Users/Shared/localPrinterFolder ~/Library/

I logged out and back in and printers were opening like a dream.

Changing the printing defaults to print in Black and White - CUPS vs plist mcx

I need to change the defaults for all printers to print to black and white unless the user wants to change it. I found this post which describes editing presets and using the last preset.


It also describes using CUPS  which does have a command line utility. I do love the http://localhost:631/ interface though! To change the defaults of the printer using this, simply:

1. Go to http://localhost:631/ in a web browser
2. Click "Printers" tab at the top left
3. Click the printer you want to change the preferences for
4. Change:

1.  "Administration" to "Set Default Options"
5. For the Dell Colour Laserjet 3110:

1. Click "Print Quality Colour"
2. Under "Output Colour" change "Colour" to "Black"

To change the Default to Black for the Dell Colour Laser 3110 you could alternatively:

1. Go to folder /etc/cups/ppd/
2. edit the nameofprinter.ppd
3. edit the line:
1. *DefaultDLColorMode: Color
4. change to
1. *DefaultDLColorMode: Black

Done. You just have to find the right line and syntax for all the other types of printers you manage

For not using CUPS, and changing things through plist files and Workgroup Manager, you have to :

1. Set a preset up in the GUI. I called mine "Black and White"
2. Load up Workgroup manager and import the file com.apple.print.cusompresets
3. I deleted all the other presets I had in this file
4. I changed the com.apple.print.lastPresetPref section to "Black and White"
5. Also to change the com.apple.print.lastPresetPrefType section and change a number so it uses the new preset you've just made. (note - I couldn't find this in the plist file!)

Printing on the Epson Stylus Pro 7600

It is best to work from a ready-made local login on this machine:

Username: Print
Password: print

Load your picture up into Photoshop. You need to make sure it is the right size so in the menu's, slelect Image > Image Size. You can change the height or width to what you want.

Photoshop's "Image Size" dialogue box

Now you can go to - File > Print

1. Select the printer named: N239 - Epson Stylus Pro 7600
2. Click on the Page setup and select the right page size (for roll select Super A1) or create a Custom Paper Size (see next image)
3. Click on the orientation of the page
4. Change the size of the picture by dragging the corners or using the numbers
5. Click on Print to get to the next dialogue box

Photoshop's "Print" dialogue box

1. Select the printer named: N239 - Epson Stylus Pro 7600
2. Select the right Paper Size. If it is not in the list create a custom paper size (see next image)
3. Change the "Copies and Pages" option to "Print Settings"
4. Change the "Media Type" to the appropriate setting
5. Change Print Quality to "Superfine - 1440"
6. Click "Save" to print, BUT check the printer is OK first (next image)

Epson Stylus Pro 7600 print dialogue box

1. To make a new custom paper size click the "+"
2. If you're printing on the A1+ roll paper make sure the width is 61.55 cm
3. Name it something appropriate
4. Click OK once the Paper Size is right 

OS X "Custom Paper Sizes" dialogue box

1. Switch it on
2. Check it is on either "Roll with Autocut" or "Sheet" depending upon what you are printing on
3. Release the handle and fee paper in
4. Make sure it is straight and then close the handle
5. Press the Pause button if asked

It should now feed the paper through and check out if its straight. If you get an error message, feed the sheet in again , double checking if it's straight.

Epson Stylus Pro 7600 panel instructions

Now, if it starts printing something and you haven't sent anything to print it is probably someone else's print, in which case hold the Pause button for 3 seconds that should cancel the job. Also check the print queue by clicking on the print shortcut at the bottom of the screen.

When you're sure everything is good, on the computer - press PRINT

Installing Canon Multi Function Devices iR C4080/C4580 on OS X 10.6.6

We've got a print server set up which controls the print queues for the new(ish) Canon MFD devices around college with the potential for charging. I think it uses some Canon type software to keep a track of it all. So, on speaking to the guy managing all this he has tried and tested it. Pretty simple really, not sure why I'm writing this down. I guess just in case I have acute amnesia.

So:

1. Install the PPD's from the downloaded PKG file (not sure where it's from but I did find something similar here on the Canon Website under PPD drivers. Same name and size.) called - CanonPPD300.pkg.
2. Load up System Preferences and go to Print & Fax
3. Add printer (the little plus sign in the bottom left)
4. Setup an IP printer
1. Line Printer Daemon - LPD
2. put the DNS address of the server (no "LPD://" at the beginning)
3. put in the queue name - CanonCOLOUR - for our printer
4. whatever name you want
5. whereever
6. Click "select printer software"
1. do a quick search for "4080" and click on "Canon iR C4080/C4580"

Done. Tested and works a treat. 

To print black and white, in the File > Print dialogue box:

Click:

1. Printer Features option in the main drop-down just below "Orientation options"
2. Change Feature Sets to "Color 1"
3. Change Color Mode to "Black and White"

Done.

printing on the HP Designjet 500

Printing on the designjet 500 has proved a little problematic as we are constantly coming up with "printer out of memory" errors. It has been mentioned that the "maximum detail" tick box fixes the issue but doesn't seem to fix ours. The print driver we're using is the "HP DesignJet 500PS42+HPGL2 Card"

After a few trials and errors I found there to be a limit on the physical size of the document you want to print. I have a 42" roll installed, for which there are no preset sizes so "Custom" size has to be made. When trying to print 42" by 58" it comes up with the error. But when printing the exact same document at 42" by 31" it works fine. I think the biggest successful print so far is 42" by 45". Here's a screenshot of the settings.

I've first tried changing the "print quality" settings but none seemed to fix the error. I did notice a slight difference in file size sent to the printer though.

After a few days, I set up the printer on another computer, still going through the print server, but this printer preferences looked different. It had an "avoid out of Memory" tick box, which upon clicking notified that processing would be done on the computer and may take a little longer. But, it worked! Here's a screenshot:

The only drawback was that when we tried sending a queue, they seem to all disappear! This could have been down to the Print Management system - PaperCut as I set up a release station for this printer (so no-one can print on our nice paper)

-Note 05/11/2012

Just a quick note. I noticed if I set it to Maximum Detail and unticked "autorotate" it seemed to print without problems.

Copying printers from one computer to another - windows

I've currently got a PC running windows server 2000 acting as a print server. It's essentially just sharing it's printers, but all computers in the department use the shared printers on this computer. It runs very well even though the computer is about 8 years old. We've also got PaperCut NG install with unlimited user license which gives each user £2 credit each week and deletes any jobs costing more then what the user has in credit. It's saved a lot of money down to wasted prints!

Just one problem we have now is that if this old computer fails, no one can print in the department. My plan is to copy the printers from this computer to another and if the server fails, simply rename the new computer to the old computers name and everything should go quite smoothly. The only thing which won't work is the print quotas, but this wouldn't take too long to fix.

So, after reading up on how other people do it (and also trying your simple copy and paste and other menu's on the computer) I found this where they talk about Print Migration Utility. Works like a dream. Load it up on the original computer, backup the printers to a cab file. Load the program on the new computer and restore it from the cab file. Takes a while as it installs all the correct printer drivers, but what amazed me was that it was from windows server 2000 to windows xp. Perfect.

OS X change printer settings

So a printer IP address changed, and I print directly to it, so how do you change the IP address of a printer already in your printer list in OS X 10.5?

Well, I found this post which basically says you can change the /etc/cups/printers.conf file. This isn't too easy as first you need to change file permissions. I opened in textedit and changed the IP address only to find this did not change the settings, presumably some service needs rebooting. Looks like it works off the "printers.conf.0" file. So I eventually gave up and just re-added the printer!

Epson Stylus Pro 4000 changing ink to dye

Well, I think the document which told you how to change the inks to dyes must have been lost by now, over 5 years old. So I reconed the basics were to drain the system of inks and then load in the dyes. Found a "Field Repair Guide" for the Epson Stylus Pro 4000. On page 208 it tells how to drain ink (no draining cartridge required - unlike the stylus pro 7600). It also tells of how to get to the service mode (hold down < > and down and switch machine on.

Works like a dream!

HP Designjet 130 losing colour halfway

Well, strange problem with the designjet 130, when doing large colour prints, the blue seems to run out halfway, leaving the rest of the image without blue. It's taken a long time, replaced cartridges and it's been so long I don't even know if we've replaced print heads. So, the first thing you think of is to clean the print heads, but no facility comes with the drivers. Finally downloaded the facility (web-based) and was going to try it but thought I'd look into the problem before wasting so much ink.

I don't know why I didn't look before, but I finally did a search and found this article. Found this and the 'experts' recon it might be air in the tubes. So take the back off and find the tubes and have a good look (you'll need a torx screw driver!).

I will update this and tell you what happens!

For test prints it's best to use the gradient facility in Photoshop. I made two prints, one of the spectrum of light (all colours) which came out fine. The other was a gradient from 100% Cyan faded to 0% Cyan (remember to make it CMYK mode!) The first time I printed the Cyan one, it seemed fine up until the very end when it only printed the left side (100% Cyan) and did not print the Light Cyan (presumed to be 50% Cyan). So, ran the "Clean printheads" and ran off a test print. This time the whole sheet printed just the right hand side, leaving little or no light cyan!

It looks like a problem with transporting the ink to the printhead (I think I remember now that we did change the printhead). Found a couple more pages. One saying what to do if there is possibly a bubble:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1273579439158+28353475&threadId=1173674

They suggest examining the printhead, changing it if possible. If not, then a RIDS assembly kit should be replaced. - £45.

An interesting page I found was in analysing the test page - http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00044783

Turns out to be the printhead. Instead of printing a photoshop document just do the test page. To do this I used the HP designjet system maintanance program and clicked on "Image Quality".

Looked like lines across the cyan blocks only, and everything else was OK. Upon changing the printhead the lines had disappeared. It's interesting that this has happened twice in 2 years. Not had a problem with any other printhead. I think the printer does need cleaning out though.

HP Colour Laserjet 5550 service error 49.4C06

Got a service error 49.4C06 error yesterday in N212. Wasn't able to clear it by switching it off and back on. I deleted the top job in the queue just incase this was blocking it (it was an ai file). Went to the printer and the error was still there (deleted the job from my room). I opened the printer and cleaned out the thing at the top (with the little cleaner thingy) and closed it up. Still error. Switched it off and back on. Error cleared.

I had a look on the internet and found this to occurance:
http://www.fixya.com/support/t1606568-error_message_49_4c06

and this error code explanation page:
http://www.printertechs.com/tech/error-codes/error-codes-20-49.php

It appears that the error is linked to the computer program sending the print job. Possibly illustrator in this case. It might be worth noting that on these computers it is set up with the HP Colour Laserjet 5500 driver and sends the job to the server with HP Colour Laserjet 5500 driver installed. Also, I've only noticed the error since we have installed PaperCut NG on the system. So there are a few variables which need testing.

Maybe the first thing to do would be to update the firmware on the printer though.

Colour Profiling and Printing with Epson Stylus 7600/4000

Well, I had a guy, named John, come in and show us some paper samples and how to print on them with the colour profiles which came with them (specifically for the 7600 and 4000 printers).

So, he added the profiles to the /Library/ColorSync/Profiles folder on the Root of the Hard Drive.

Next he opened photoshop and loaded his image. Next was a little hazy, but I think he went to Edit > Assign Profile and click "Do not manage colour profile". This makes sure there is no other colour profiling going on.

For the Epson Printers, it is important to go into paper setup to setup whether you want roll or sheet before going to print. Select the printer type first, and then the paper size. For these printers it gives you several options per paper size, i.e. sheet or roll.

Next he went to Print. Under Color Management, he has "Document". And under Color Handling: he has "Photoshop Manages Colors". For the Printer Profile select the paper/printer profile you are using. In this case it is the "HARMANCrystaljetGlossRCEpson7600_1109.icm". For Rendering Intent he suggests Perceptual as it is most commonly used. And tick the "Black Point Compensation". Now you can click Print...

Under the final Print dialogue box there are several  things to note:
Print Settings:
Media Type: Premium Glossy Photo Paper (250) - Although change this to whichever suites (if it's sheet feed for the Epson 4000 then make sure it is 170 not  250, as this is too thick)
Mode: Advanced Settings - SuperFine 1440dpi - MicroWeave - Super - Hich Speed (ticked. There's hardly any difference at all between 1440 and 2880, not worth doing)

Color Management:
No Color Adjustment (so Photoshop can is not over-ridden, although it would actually be added to)

And that should be it.