Filed under: Software, Open Source
Better printing with Gutenprint
Gutenprint (formerly called Gimp-Print) is an open-source package of improved printer drivers and utilities that can be installed on Mac OS X to enhance printing functionality and add additional support for older printers. It has driver support for over 1300 printer models, and adds a GIMP plugin for better print customization and color adjustments.Since I do a lot of Mac system imaging and deployment, I don't like to install a bunch of separate print drivers on a seed image. I initially just used Leopard's built-in generic Postscript or PCL driver, but I had many issues with printing speed (the speed of spooling and job submission, not the speed of the physical printing process) and print quality. So I installed the Gutenprint package, switched all printers to the Generic Gutenprint PCL driver, and the printing issues subsided.
To use Gutenprint, simply download the .dmg (5.2.3 is the latest version) and install the package. All of the necessary PPD's and drivers will be copied to your computer, and you will be able to select Gutenprint drivers when adding printers. If you have an Epson Stylus Inkjet printer, you will then also be able to use "escputil" from Terminal to do printer maintenance like head aligning and cleaning.
Update: Thanks to Charley and Olligarski for commenting that Gutenprint drivers are now included in Leopard. I have used Gutenprint for a while but failed to check if it was installed before I started using the package. It's still worth the install if you're a Tiger user, but the latest version requires at least 10.3 Panther.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Charley said 11:46PM on 2-15-2009
Leopard (10.5) ships with Gutenprint out of the box.
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Ed said 3:04AM on 2-16-2009
... and in my experience using Gutenprint can really confuse things...
Todd Ritter said 7:12AM on 2-16-2009
Do you have a citation for this? I can't find documentation saying Leopard ships with Gutenprint, although perhaps I just installed the package a while back without checking if it was already installed.
Thanks
Olligarski said 9:36AM on 2-16-2009
Printer drivers included with Mac OS X:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2606
Todd Ritter said 10:33AM on 2-16-2009
Thanks!
darren said 4:11AM on 2-16-2009
I agree with Ed, I find Gutenprint to be fine for low end desktop printers, but when you start getting into the higher end of things, Gutenprint can bring along a fair few headaches.. I keep them to hand for troubleshooting print issues, but beyond this I'll stick to the manufacturer PPD's
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Joseph said 11:52AM on 2-17-2009
i disagree. it is awesome for old out-dated printers. i had an hp designjet 120N and an old hp laser 5 workhorse and the drivers worked great.
Tom said 6:41AM on 2-16-2009
I was really impressed when I first found out about gutenprint on Leopard, allowing my office mac to connect to a definitely-not-mac-supported dell printer.
However a few test prints later, I realised it's pretty difficult to manage colours across all applications.. Still, better than nothing, just slightly annoying.
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profcrayzee said 8:39AM on 2-16-2009
my leopard came with it.
I found this weekend that it alleviated the dreaded HP error 79 that happens when printing some PS files to these printers.
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66MBA said 10:04AM on 2-16-2009
Gutenprint is fine for routine printing of B&W documents, but completely ruins the output of color and B&W photo prints from higher end pro-summer and professional printers.
I spent hours this weekend trying to install drivers for my Epson R2400 this weekend so that my prints weren't all washed out. Really very annoying.
Also the Gutenprint package was within a Leopard update, as I never installed this packet and I have all of these drivers in my library.
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alansky said 12:41PM on 2-16-2009
Gutenprint is a lifesaver when you can't find a compatible driver for an old printer. It is also useful to those who must routinely connect to many different printers. Otherwise, installing the latest driver offered by the manufacturer is a much better bet in my experience.
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Jeff said 9:57PM on 2-16-2009
This Gutenprint stuff won't drive my Epson MX80 or my daisywheel printer. I'll stick with my Apple IIe, thanks.
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Andrew said 2:12AM on 2-17-2009
To echo what people have written - gutenprint has completely messed up printing from lightroom to my epson r2400. It is impossible to get correct colour using profiles for my paper and has given me so many headaches over the past few months I have moved all my printing to my pc until someone figures out an easy way to fix the complete farce that printing in leopard is.
Even when i have got the epson driver working the print driver setup is useless in leopard.
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Joseph said 11:53AM on 2-17-2009
just delete all of the drivers out of your /library/ folder and start over.
Could you be more specific on how it has "messed up" the printing and profiles?
Andrew said 2:17AM on 2-18-2009
Sure - did that. Reinstalled epson print driver. Gutenprint still there taking over.
Finally rid my mac of gutenprint but I am now left with a print driver dialog that is a mess, harder thanever to set up and even though all my profiles were set up correctly i end up with what seems to be double proofed prints over and over again.
I am (sadly) back using xp to print and it is a much nicer experience. It seems to be the one thing that osx.x seems to not have quite right.
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