Since most of our printers are on our network, rather than being connected locally, handing off print jobs from Classic to OS X allows us to:
- Eliminate all Classic printer drivers except for LaserWriter 8
- Print from Classic via TCP/IP easily
- Make clear to our users which printer they're printing to
To set it up, do the following:
- Copy and paste this AppleScript into Script Editor. Compile the script, and save it into the /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts folder. Give it a sensible name when you save; I call my installation "Print - choosing printer.scpt."
- Create a folder called "Classic Print Jobs" in ~/Library/.
- Control-click on the newly-created folder, and attach the newly-created script as a Folder Action.
- If Classic is running, quit it.
- Delete your "Printing Prefs" folder. This is either in /System Folder/Preferences/, or ~/Library/Classic/Preferences, depending on whether or not you've checked "Use Mac OS 9 preferences from your home" in the Classic Prefs pane.
- Launch Desktop Printer Utility -- a Classic app, probably in your /Applications (Mac OS 9)/Utilities/ folder. Choose "LaserWriter 8" from the pull-down menu, select "Translator (PostScript)" in the menu, and click "OK." In the next window, change the Default Destination Folder to the "Classic Print Jobs" folder created in step two. Then click the "Create..." button, and give the printer a sensible name (I use "OS X Printer").
When you select a printer and click "OK," it sends that file to the chosen printer's proxy app. From there, printing proceeds as if it were an OS X print job. This has worked with every document type that we've tried -- text, color graphics, inkjets, laser printers, local printers, and networked printers all work equally well. If you find that it works well for you, then you can also delete all your other Classic printer drivers and the Chooser, as we have.

