Improve print quality when using a Hawking Print Server

Feb 21, '05 08:31:00AM

Contributed by: slantyyz

As a Windows user who just acquired a Mac Mini, I had a bit of a headache getting decent looking output from my printers being shared on a Hawking HPS12U print server. I guess the "out of the box" experience for the Mac is not so nice for people with slightly more advanced setup requirements.

Problem 1: I couldn't seem to use the Samsung and Canon OS X drivers to print to the print server using SMB or IP printing.

Problem 2: The "equivalent" printer drivers using CUPS were generating less-than-optimal looking output with the Hawking print server.

Fortunately my notebook, which is running Xandros (Linux), was printing properly using CUPS combined with Foomatic and Ghostscript. This gave me the necessary clues to getting them to work. An important thing to note is that the Samsung 1250 is not compatible with the 1210 drivers, which use GDI. The trick is to install GhostScript and the Foomatic RIP.

The next thing you need are the PPDs for each printer. Note that these happen to be the same PPDs I use in Xandros Linux, and they work fine, but your mileage may vary. For the Samsung ML1250, I use pxlmono, and for the Canon i550, I use bj8pa06n.

Connecting to the server:

In the printer setup, simply use the following settings under IP Printing:

  1. Printer Type: Internet Printing Protocol
  2. Printer Address: [IP number of the Hawking Print Server]
  3. Queue Name: [LPT port name of the printer, i.e. lpt1]
  4. Printer Model: Other
  5. Browse to the PPDs above for printer descriptions, and save.
Badabing, badaboom, your printers should be working.

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