Mac meets printer

Chapter 14. Printing, Faxing, Fonts, and Graphics The Macintosh may be only the eight-percent solution in the mainstream business world, but in the graphics and printing industries, its the 800-pound gorilla
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Mac meets printerChapter 14. Printing, Faxing, Fonts, and GraphicsThe Macintosh may be only the eight-percent solution in the mainstream business world,but in the graphics and printing industries, its the 800-pound gorilla. Youd better believethat when Apple designed Mac OS X, it worked very hard to keep its graphics andprinting fans happy.This chapter tackles printing, faxing, fonts, graphics, ColorSync, and PDF (Acrobat)files, which Mac OS X uses as an everyday exchange format—one of the biggest perks inMac OS X.14.1. Mac Meets PrinterOne of the biggest complaints about the original Mac OS X was that at the outset, notmany printer companies had rewritten their printer drivers—the software that controlsvarious printer models—for Mac OS X. Fortunately, the situation has improved: TodaysMac OS X comes with hundreds of printer drivers from Epson, HP, Lexmark, Canon, andothers.14.1.1. Setting Up a PrinterOne beauty of Mac OS X is that setting up a printer for the first time is incredibly easy.The first time you want to print something, follow this guide: 1. Connect the printer to the Mac, and then turn the printer on. Inkjet printers usually connect to your USB jack. Laser printers generally hook up to your Ethernet connector. (If youre on an office network, the laser printer may already be connected somewhere else on the network, saving you this step. If youre hooking the printer straight into your Macs Ethernet jack, you may need an Ethernet crossover cable to connect it, rather than a standard Ethernet cable.) 2. Open the document you want to print. Choose File Print. In the Print dialog box, choose your printers name from the Printer pop-up menu (or one of its submenus, if any). Cool! Wasnt that easy? Very nice how the Mac autodiscovers, autoconfigures, and auto lists almost any USB, FireWire, Bluetooth, or Bonjour (Rendezvous) printer. Have a nice afternoon. The End. Oh—unless your printer isnt listed in the Printer pop-up menu. In that case, read on.3. From the Printer pop-up menu, choose Add Printer (Figure 14-1, top). Figure 14-1. Top: To introduce your Mac to a new printer, try to print something—and then choose Add Printer from this pop-up menu. Bottom: Your Mac should automatically see any printers that are hooked up and turned on. Click the one you want, and then click Add. A special setup window opens (Figure 14-1, bottom), which is even better at autodetecting printers available to your Mac. If you see the printers name now, in the Printer Browser window, click it, and then click Add (Figure 14-1, bottom). Youve just designated that printer as the default printer, the one that youll print on most of the time. Youre all set. Have a good time. Unless, of course, your printer still isnt showing up. Proceed to step 4.4. Click the icon for the kind of printer you have: Windows, Bluetooth, AppleTalk, 1/3/2008 IP (that is, an Internet printer), or whatever. Choose AppleTalk if youre connected to a laser printer via an Ethernet network cable or AirPort wireless network. Choose Windows if theres a Windows-only printer out there on your office network. And so on. After a moment, the names of any printers that are turned on and connected appear in the printer list. For most people, that means only one printer—but ones enough.5. Click the name of the printer you want to use. As an optional step, you can open the Print Using pop-up menu at the bottom of the dialog box. Choose Select a driver to use, and then, in the list that appears, choose your particular printers model name, if you can find it. Thats how your Mac knows what printing features to offer you when the time comes: double- sided, legal size, second paper tray, and so on.6. Click Add. After a moment, you return to the main Printer Browser window (Figure 14-1, top), where your printer now appears. Youre ready to print.Note: If you still dont see your printers name show up, ask yourself: Is my Mac on acorporate network? Does the network have an LPR (Line Printer) printer? If you and yourcompanys network nerd determine that the printer you want to use is, in fact, an LPRprinter, click IP Printing at the top of the Printer Browser dialog box. Fill in theappropriate IP address and other settings, as directed by your cheerful networkadministrator.14.1.2. The Printer ListIf youre lucky enough to own several printers, repeat the steps above for each one.Eventually, youll have introduced the Mac to all the printers available to it, so all theirnames show up in the printer list.To see the printer list so far, open System Preferences Print & Fax. (The old PrinterSetup Utility has gone to the great Best Buy in the sky.) You can have all kinds ...