Printing from Classic on G4 Powerbook onto HP 1220c

I bought a G4 Powerbook recently to run Bentley Microstation software that only exists for Mac in Classic.

The guy I bought it from was too young to have heard of Classic and at first would only install Tiger instead of 10.5.4, but after gentle persuasion added Classic from Dropbox.com ( Mac OS 9 System Support Files.mpkg ).

Works fine until I have to print, which needs Microstation to find a system printer to work with. I have bought an HP 1220C which has an OS9 driver which I downloaded and installed onto internal HD; this turns up on LH of Chooser as hp deskjet 5.4 , however it needed a new install of the driver with printer running and attached to generate 1220c in the right hand Chooser panel.

Worked fine once, but then crashed whole of Classic and won't re-appear in the right hand Chooser panel

Should I have installed the HP driver into (OS9) System Folder…and if so how?

Alternately, I see Macintosh Garden publish <os9general.dmg> . Would this be a sounder Classic implementation and if so, how would I install that over previous one?

One alternative would be to use a PDF printer then transfer the file to a more modern machine for printing

This would appear as a PDF printer in the chooser and act just like a printer, just outputting a pdf instead

James Walker's Mac Stuff

louishen said:

One alternative would be to use a PDF printer then transfer the file to a more modern machine for printing

This would appear as a PDF printer in the chooser and act just like a printer, just outputting a pdf instead

James Walker's Mac Stuff

Click to expand...

I tried that at your or another member's suggestion before getting a real printer. Basically it didn't work; it did appear in the chooser OK, but the particular programme needs an intercourse with a real printer to fine tune the printed area to keep to an exact architectural scale and also to translate colours into line thicknesses etc (works to a printer exactly the same as to a plotter)

I also thought I may as well have the HP1220c as it prints A3, whereas my modern Epson P50 only takes A4

crisscross said:

Works fine until I have to print, which needs Microstation to find a system printer to work with. I have bought an HP 1220C which has an OS9 driver which I downloaded and installed onto internal HD; this turns up on LH of Chooser as hp deskjet 5.4

Click to expand...

Question of the day is - do you have the correct driver installed and working within OS X 10.4 or 10.5? (The OS 9 driver isn't needed, then)

Printing from Classic (OS 9 emulated while booted in OS X) can use all the installed OS X printers. I just tried it to re-confirm.
In the Classic program, Go to Chooser and select Apple LaserWriter driver.
Again within the Classic program, go to File>Print. In the print dialogue, play with the "Printer:" pull-down menu - you may need to go "up" to find and select the OS X version of the printer.
Then try it.

When you installed Tiger OS X.4 and/or Leopard OS X.5, can you recall if you ticked the box to install OS 9 drivers at the time of format? No tick no installing Classic drivers./

Maybe I'm missing something if OS X 10.5.x is installed, and as everymac.com says - "Classic" is not supported starting with Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard"
PowerBook G4 1.67 15" (Al) Specs (15-Inch 1.67/1.5, M9677LL/A, PowerBook5,6, A1106, 2029) @ EveryMac.com

At least for the model stated.

Which actual G4 PB model do you have?

EDIT:
To add further:
"PowerPC versions of OS X prior to 10.5 include a compatibility layer (a shell) called Classic, enabling users to run applications and hardware requiring Mac OS 9 from within OS X. This is achieved through running Mac OS 9 without access to Finder inside OS X. This requires Mac OS 9 to be installed on the computer, even if computers that can run the Classic environment are not necessarily able to boot into Mac OS 9. Some Mac OS 9 applications do not run well in Classic, they demonstrate screen redraw problems and lagging performance. In addition, some drivers and other software which directly interacts with the hardware do not work and there is also no access to the Mac OS 9 Finder. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_9#Mac_OS_9_and_the_Classic_environment

Bold mine.

I thought that there were some limitations when using "Classic" mode. Sorry.

gsahli said:

Question of the day is - do you have the correct driver installed and working within OS X 10.4 or 10.5? (The OS 9 driver isn't needed, then)

Printing from Classic (OS 9 emulated while booted in OS X) can use all the installed OS X printers. I just tried it to re-confirm.
In the Classic program, Go to Chooser and select Apple LaserWriter driver.
Again within the Classic program, go to File>Print. In the print dialogue, play with the "Printer:" pull-down menu - you may need to go "up" to find and select the OS X version of the printer.
Then try it.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately not

I had better start from scratch

Machine: Powerbook G4 17" - Powerbook 5.7 1.67GH 2GB RAM

When offered for sale it had been upgraded to OS10.5; I had offered on condition that it was returned to 10.4 and with Classic installed. The seller evidently didn't have the original disks, but managed to install a 10.4.11 and subsequently add Classic from the dropbox.com installer.

So it is running OS10.4.11 with Classic 9.2.2 - works fine

The supplier ( a printer maintenance firm) of the HP deskjet thought he would be kind and sent me a 1280 instead of the 1220c I ordered. That did show in OSX, but not in Classic Finder.

He then sent me the HP1220c, which sort of shows in OS10.4.11, but won't print from OSX progs. It SOMETIMES shows in the Classic Finder.

When it last did it printed 1 correct page, but by the time I had admired that, I found the whole Classic environment crashed and, after re-install etc, the 1220c wouldn't show in Classic Finder, whatever I did. That also included trying to use the HP6.7 driver as well as the 5.4 driver.

OK, re-starting this morning, it shows again, but attempt at printing same page as worked before returns dialogue "…..failed to print printer "Deskjet 1220C". Do you want to try again?"

I am suspecting a problem with the printer as I did have difficulty installing black cartridge.

Although occasionally crashing the whole classic environment, I have got it working pretty well. I included a good clean up of the PCB contacts on both cartridges and their carrier & double check that the printer is in chooser and preview looks good.

The HP manual does say it is not a good idea to have both printing dialogues and equivalent dialogues within software try to perform the same operation….slightly easier said than done after nearly 10 years since I touched the software/Classic

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions

Have a look at this Chris. It may pay to go to the URL when operating OS 9.2.2 and download and see if Chooser will work with it.


hp Mac deskjet driver for OS 9.1 - 9.2.2 / Classic | HP® Support

It's been a long time since I've used the Mac OS "Classic" mode that I usually found to be quirky, especially with stuff like the Chooser, but I was just wondering if any of the old Gimp-Print or Gutenprint (formerly called Gimp-Print) , or even the old ESP Ghostscript (ESPGS) software would be of any help for a solution here.

At least the HP1220c is listed as a supported printer.

Gutenprint Printer Drivers

Thanks Harry - there seem to be several versions of HP 1220c drivers for Classic. I have already got v5.4, which is what is working OK and v6.7, which I recall caused more trouble, as OS10.4.11 grabs it, and it is better to have the earlier version that is OSX proof. I have a modern printer for printing from OSX.

pm-r - yes, there appears to be a Gutenberg driver, but I found it produced nothing accessible to Chooser

The printer specialist who sold me the machine will be back from hol tomorrow; I need to check with him that there isn't a small bit missing from the cartridge carrier, then just dequirk the softwarel!