Printing from Sheepsaver to an actual printer

[Farabundo]

Hello,

Firstly, thanks to the people who dedicate their time to Sheepsaver, it's really brilliant.

I've just got Sheepsaver running OS 9 as I'm hoping to use it with a printer that is only compatible with OS 9. My hope is to connect the printer to the computer and be able to send jobs from Sheepsaver OS 9 to the printer. I have the OS 9 drivers installed with the VM but after reading the guide to printing from Sheepsaver am wondering if this is going to be possible. It seemed like all the outcomes from that guide resulted in a PDF or some output in OS X.

I unfortunately don't have access to the printer in this moment, more so I just wanted to consult to see if this was possible, connecting a printer to my OS X computer and having it recognized/detected within Sheepsaver OS 9, then being able to produce print jobs within OS 9 that get sent to said printer. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

The only "old" printers that can be used, are PostScript printers in your network. If the PostScript printer is connected to your IP-network, see setup 7. If that printer can only be used in an AppleTalk network, you also need the setup that is described here: http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/app ... heepshaver

Is there a reason why you want to print to that specific printer and not to the printer used in OSX? Setups 4 and 6 in the printing guide are setups that will print to the printer used in OSX.

Personally I prefer setup 3. When you print in OS9, a preview will automatically be opened in OSX and you can directly print that preview without the need to save the preview to a file.

[Farabundo]

The only "old" printers that can be used, are PostScript printers in your network. If the PostScript printer is connected to your IP-network, see setup 7. If that printer can only be used in an AppleTalk network, you also need the setup that is described here: http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/app ... heepshaver

Is there a reason why you want to print to that specific printer and not to the printer used in OSX? Setups 4 and 6 in the printing guide are setups that will print to the printer used in OSX.

Personally I prefer setup 3. When you print in OS9, a preview will automatically be opened in OSX and you can directly print that preview without the need to save the preview to a file.

Thanks for your reply Ronald. I should explain a little more, and maybe then you could confirm wether or not this is possible (I get the impression it isn't from what you've said).

The printer I'm trying to print to is a RISO RP 3700, seen here. Basically the issue is this printer is not "used in OS X" because it requires a computer running Mac OS 8 or 9 to be able to be used, unless somehow OS X will still detect it, but I guess this begins to border a question more about the printer and less about SheepSaver.

So instead of using OS 9 as a source for PDFs to then print normally in OS X, I'm hoping to little run OS 9 as if it was an actual computer, connect the printer to it (I believe Parallel to USB) and using the drivers, print.

[mabam]

At the bottom of page 2 of the PDF you linked to, the system controller specifications mention optional PostScript 3. Does your printer have that? 'Cause if it does, it should be possible to extract the PPD file from the OS 9 driver and use it on OS X. You might miss a few features though, but the printer should work.

According to the PDF the printer can be connected via Ethernet and can communicate via several protocols. So connection itself should not be a problem.

[Farabundo]

At the bottom of page 2 of the PDF you linked to, the system controller specifications mention optional PostScript 3. Does your printer have that? 'Cause if it does, it should be possible to extract the PPD file from the OS 9 driver and use it on OS X. You might miss a few features though, but the printer should work.

According to the PDF the printer can be connected via Ethernet and can communicate via several protocols. So connection itself should not be a problem.

Hm, I'm not sure what that means (PostScript 3). Is that something physically apart from the actual printer? I thought that was a software thing. I'll double check.

Although I assume the only way to use the printer is with a computer that has the printer drivers, and the drivers are only made for OS 9. Or are what you saying is I could use the drivers to output something (PPD?), then use that something in OS X? I think OS X will recognize the printer, just without drivers not do much. If you could elaborate, or if I need to provide more info, I will be happy to. Thank you very much for your time, any further responses are greatly appreciated.

[mabam]

AFAIK PostScript was developed by Adobe when the graphical industry began to use computers in order to meet the needs for high quality printing. It is a language used to describe graphical elements on a page combining bezier curves, fonts and pixel data.

Classic MacOS as well as OS X come with a PostScript printer driver. That is the basic piece of software required in order to print to a PostScript printer (next to the network protocol, but according to the PDF you linked to there is no need to worry about that).

Now every PostScript printer is a little different as far as paper sizes, printing resolution, PostScript level, colour/bw, (duplex printing?) etc. are concerned. The PostScript printer driver can deal with all these variants, it simply needs to know which features a specific printer has.
In order to provide the printer driver with that information every printer model has a PPD (PostScript Printer Description). In OS X the PPD needs to be copied to "Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources" so you can choose it when installing the printer.

In order for this to work, your printer has to understand PostScript.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

If you want to print directly from MacOS9 in SheepShaver to a network connected PostScript printer, see setup 7 in the printing setup manual. A MacOS9 compatible PPD file should be installed in:

System Folder:Extensions:Printer Descriptions

Also here: This will only work if the printer can be connected with ethernet to your network and if the printer understands PostScript.

[Farabundo]

AFAIK PostScript was developed by Adobe when the graphical industry began to use computers in order to meet the needs for high quality printing. It is a language used to describe graphical elements on a page combining bezier curves, fonts and pixel data.

Classic MacOS as well as OS X come with a PostScript printer driver. That is the basic piece of software required in order to print to a PostScript printer (next to the network protocol, but according to the PDF you linked to there is no need to worry about that).

Now every PostScript printer is a little different as far as paper sizes, printing resolution, PostScript level, colour/bw, (duplex printing?) etc. are concerned. The PostScript printer driver can deal with all these variants, it simply needs to know which features a specific printer has.
In order to provide the printer driver with that information every printer model has a PPD (PostScript Printer Description). In OS X the PPD needs to be copied to "Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources" so you can choose it when installing the printer.

In order for this to work, your printer has to understand PostScript.

Thanks very much for that, makes sense. As far as I can tell, the printer understands PostScript, I think the issue is that it won't "understand" Mac OS X, it will only "understand" OS 9, as OS 9 has the printer's drivers.

I gather that having the physical printer connected to my computer will not translate it to being connected to my "OS 9 computer" within SheepSaver, so the only possibility is having the computer connected via the network to OS X, which then OS 9 will be able to communicate with, as Ronald explained.

If you want to print directly from MacOS9 in SheepShaver to a network connected PostScript printer, see setup 7 in the printing setup manual. A MacOS9 compatible PPD file should be installed in:

System Folder:Extensions:Printer Descriptions

Also here: This will only work if the printer can be connected with ethernet to your network and if the printer understands PostScript.

Thanks for explaining Ronald. In this destination, "System Folder:Extensions:Printer Descriptions," I don't have a folder called Printer Descriptions, should I simply make one? Also, the printer driver instructions had asked me to put a file in the Extensions folder, so maybe this is the same thing?

Speaking of the file, where do I get the PPD file? Within the printer drivers is just a file that describes itself as a 'Chooser extension,' maybe that is it? I've attached a screenshot to explain. Thanks again so much for your help.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

What kind of OS9 installation do you have? Maybe you do not have a full OS9 installation? In a default OS9 installation there is a folder Printer Descriptions in the Extensions folder in System Folder with a collection of LaserWriter PPD files already installed. A default installation has the Apple LaserWriter Software with the Desktop Printer Utility installed, which is needed to set up your printer.
If you do not have a specific PPD file for your printer, you can use the Generic PPD file that should be available if the Apple LaserWriter Software is installed.

Edit: If you printer is a PostScript printer, one would expect a PPD file for that printer to be among the software that is provided with the printer.

The Chooser extensions will not help you. They were used to choose a printer that is connected to the (serial) printer port or USB port on a real Mac. The SheepShaver emulated Mac does not have such ports.

BTW: Chooser extensions usually do not show generic document icons. Could the files be damaged, lost their Mac-specific properties?

Edit: Why do you not start to try and set up the printer with the Generic PPD file, following the setup 7 instructions? Then it will soon be clear if it works or not. If your OS9 installation is not complete, the instructions also contain instructions for downloading and installing the Apple LaserWriter Software.

[mabam]

In the Riso Download Center, next to the drivers for your printer there is a manual for a RISO PostScript printer controller. That suggests your printer is only PostScript compatible if it has been extended with that controller.

If it has been, you might want to inquire with Riso whether they can provide the software required for your controller.

EDIT:

The printer I'm trying to print to is a RISO RP 3700, seen here.

According to the link you provided in above quote, the RP 3700 has optional PostScript 3.

But this screenshot suggests you actually have the RP 3790. Is that correct?
The specifications for the RP 3790 do not mention the PostScript 3 option.

[Farabundo]

The printer is in fact the RP 3700, I took that screenshot by mistake. The printer doesn't have what looks like the "PostScript 3" add-on, so I don't think this will work (in addition to what seems to be lacking/incomplete drivers). Regardless, I will attempt anyways, and thanks very much to you both for your input.

[adespoton]

Back in the day, I had an extension that created an extra virtual serial port, for redirecting data to virtual devices/files. That might work here, but you'd need extra work to translate the output to Postscript. Could probably be done with a perl script, considering the vendor had a Postscript add-on.

[Farabundo]

Back in the day, I had an extension that created an extra virtual serial port, for redirecting data to virtual devices/files. That might work here, but you'd need extra work to translate the output to Postscript. Could probably be done with a perl script, considering the vendor had a Postscript add-on.

Sounds promising, although I have no knowledge of how this would work. Also, I think the printer will be connected to the computer via USB (and parallel port on the other end).

[adespoton]

You're not going to get the printer to communicate with the guest OS via USB though; so you'll need to print to a file, and then send that file out the USB interface from the host OS. If the printer just blindly prints, this shouldn't be an issue, but if there's any sort of negotiation that goes on from the print driver, you may end up at the point where you're writing a custom driver for OS X, at which point you don't really need OS 9 anyway.

[edit] if you find that you DO have Postscript support, Adobe has your PPD file:
https://www.adobe.com/support/downloads ... ?ftpID=114

If you don't have PS support, it appears to use the following profile: RISORINC3 - enhanced GDI

Back in the day, there was a GIMPPrint add-on for OS X 10.3 that handled all the legacy printers that used GDI.

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?s ... 1291941475 appears to indicate that some had issues with it, however.

https://www.openprinting.org/printer/Ge ... DI_Printer is more recent, and one of those drivers might work.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

Again, why are you trying to use that printer? A lot of effort and at the end it will probably not work.

Don't you have a printer that works with OSX? You can set up to print from within SheepShaver to a printer that is used with the host OSX machine. You need to set it up only once and after that it will simply work. With setup 4 in the printing guide the only difference wil be that in the print dialog you will click "Save" instead of "Print" and the printer wil automatically start printing. (Setup 6 will work even better if it works, but it does not work on all host systems.)