Compatiblity

[jdgti]

If a printer or fax machine, or any external hardware, does not work with my powerbook, is it the company who produced the hardware's fault or is it Apple's fault? With the new videos on apple.com about how everything just works with mac, how can something just not work? Right now I am having problems with Lexmark products but that is just right now.

Thanks.

 

[D3v1L80Y]

Okay...I'll bite....
Apple cannot be expected to stay on top of the millions of new peripherals that are released on a daily basis and have all of them "just work" when connected.
All of my devices DO work with one exception, my scanner. That was listed as being designed for Windows XP, though. It made no mention on the packaging that it would work on Mac. I have tried some drivers and still cannot get it to work. I never got rid of the PC, so I still use it.

On the other hand... the digital camera, printer, joysticks, mice, flash drives, keyboards, microphones, video cameras, digital audio recorder, PC cards and samplers I have ALL work with no additional software or drivers needed.

Yes, it is true that almost everything will just work if you plug it in your Mac. However, some hardware manufacturers simply don't design their products to work on Mac. Usually, it is the lower end models, but sometimes it is the others. Just make sure the packaging lists Mac as a supported OS. You may have to visit the manufacturer's website for a driver, but it will work if the box says it should. If it makes no mention of Mac OS, then you will have the chance it won't work.

:black:

 

[novicew]

When a company introduces a product to the market, it is their responsibility to release the support (Drivers, Software, etc,) for Macs. If a particular driver is not included in default Apple installation DVD (Apple decides on this depending on the demand for the product or some other criteria), at least they should be available with the product or available to download. If they don't provide this support, I would assume that they don't care about a certain segment of customers, Apple users in this case.

 

[rman]

The printer in question does not have Mac OS drivers on the Lexmark site. Some time some of the generic drivers that Apple supplies does work. Have you try to configure the printer? Printer are not just plug and play, in most cases, you have to set them up first before you can use them.