Canon's LBP2900 is a small, yet fast and efficient printer. And it is for Windows only, due to usage of so-called CAPT technology. The Japanese drivers for CAPT printing can be obtained from the Canon site and they work fine, but the LBP2900 is not detected by them and can't be used. As this printer is made with almost the same hardware as the LBP3000 (which is supported by the driver), it turned out to be quite an easy task to support it. So here's how -- note that these instructions are for OS X 10.4.8 and later, but
not for 10.5.
-
Obtain latest Universal Canon Driver from the Canon Japan site and install it -- this will require a reboot.
- Download (4KB) additional printer definitions from my site.
- Ungzip this file (it should be done automatically by Safari) and place it into the /Library » Printers » Canon » CAPT » Profile » Device directory.
- Connect and power-on your printer
- Launch Printer Setup Utility in the Applications » Utilities folder. Click on Add, and the LBP2900 should be visible. Click on it and see whether OS X picks up CAPT Printer as its driver. If it does, you're done.
If you don't see
CAPT Printer for the driver (and this may happen due to caches), you will need to do a complete reset of your printing system.
WARNING! This will essentially uninstall all your printers! From the Printer Setup Utility menu, select Reset Printing System, confirm everything (enter credentials if needed), then again press the Add button. Check whether OS X picked up
CAPT Printer as the driver. If it is still a no-go, click on the More Printers button. This time you should see a warning about the new driver's addition, and the necessity to restart the printer browsers. Press OK and close the utility completely. Repeat the previous step -- this time you should definitely get
CAPT Printer as the selected driver.
From my observations, everything works correctly including finishing effects, toner economy mode, etc. Hope you will enjoy this small piece of hardware as much as I do, now in OS X.