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HP: 1,000+ Printer Drivers in Leopard, Updates Directly in Mac OS X

by , 1:10 PM EST, November 13th, 2007

Hewlett Packard said on Tuesday that it has worked closely with Apple to make a smooth transition to Leopard by including over 1,000 printer drivers in Leopard, out of the box. In addition, printer driver updates will now appear in Mac OS X's Software Update. The notes were in HP's quarterly newsletter.

"...it will not be necessary to download or reinstall any additional driver software for print functionality [in Leopard.] Additionally, for the first time, Apple will enable users to update and download HP drivers through Apple’s software update process," HP said.

Regarding HP scanning or peripherals with HP Photosmart software, HP added, "For HP peripherals with scanning features and/or HP Photosmart Studio software (including HP’s All-in-Ones, Photosmarts, Scanjets, Multifunction Printers and Cameras), HP plans to release software updates within 30-60 days that will be Mac OS X v10.3, v10.4 and v10.5 compatible. HP has already released Leopard updates for these five HP Photosmart All-in-One models: C3180, C4180, C4280, C5180 and C5280."

The addition of HP printer drivers to the Mac OS X Software Update will be a welcome addition to the ease of use of Leopard. More information for Mac customers is at HP's Mac Website.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:gopher Posts: 273 Joined: 28 Mar 2002
Subject: Not closely enough

They had 6 months extra to develop scanner drivers for Leopard than initially planned. As it is strategies like opening installer packages to extract individual installers were necessary for some scanners, while others didn't work at all. I'm glad the kludge worked for my HP 3970, but it really could have been more smooth.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Canon Photo printers don't work
Close Name:EmmEff Posts: 11 Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Subject:

It is completely obvious that HP is not terribly concerned about Leopard (or Mac) users.

Printing in OS X is an absolute disaster in general and HP doesn't do anything to help it. I do not believe I should be forced to install a third-party PPC binary (epgs) + some filter (gimp-print + footmatic or whatever it's called this week) mechanism in order to print to my HP printer installed on a Windows host.

Close Name:EmmEff Posts: 11 Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Subject:

But this article was about HP, not Canon...

View Name:Guest
Subject: Where's the list?
Close Name:Sir Harry Flashman Posts: 721 Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Subject: Re: Where's the list?

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
The reference page says "Click here (c01231085) (in English) to view the list of HP print only drivers built into Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard)" but following the link brings no such list.

Anyone got it, or found it?


I didn't bother to count them, but there are quite a few in the Library/Printers/hp

Close Name:rabber Posts: 3 Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Subject: HP Print Drivers

Surprisingly enough, I have not had any issues printing with my three printers - an old LaserJet 8000DN, an AIO 7310 and an AIO 7410. I was able to quickly connect through Bonjour to the office printers and home printer. I can even scan on the AIO printers without any issues. While the scanning S/W is not the best in teh world, it does its job and I have few complaints. Frankly speaking, I was surprised at how easy this was.

View Name:Guest
Subject: HP Promised Scanner Software Updates By End Of 2007
View Name:Guest
Subject: Problem with HP J5780
View Name:Guest
Subject: Both HP Scanjet 3800 and HP Laserjet 1020 do NOT work
Close Name:MACGUYINSUIT Posts: 1 Joined: 27 Nov 2007
Subject: HP is trash - MAC drivers Leopard scan capability lost

I received multiple mailings from HP stating they are ready for Leopard. Of course I had thought that sort of arrogance would be backed by some sort of technical acumen or preparedness. It is that stupidity that made me purchase HP (thousand dollar printers) in the first place.

So I upgraded my entire group to Leopard hoping to achieve some sort or process speed increase as we beat the 1's and 0's out of our machines. Guess what,?!?! No more scanning capability.

So I go to the HP website and guess what? Nothing in the technical support listings. Hmmmm maybe I am the first person to realize this in the entire world. Ahhhmmmm So I try and reach HP support via there online chat support. Surprise, surprise... doesn't work with leopard or safari I should say.

I know I'll send an email through their preferred customer support line. Here was my response automagically generated!

HP Color LaserJet 2840 All-In-One E-Mail Support



Dear Customer,

Thank you for emailing HP.

Please note: At this moment we have an issue with this Mail System, your mail cannot reach the Support teams . Should you need technical support for an HP product, we recommend using one of the following alternatives:

Visit the HP Business Support Centre to find manuals, technical documentation, software and driver downloads: http://www.hp.com/emea/bizsupport
Use HP Instant Support to chat with a support agent: http://h50203.www5.hp.com/hpisweb/customer/HPInstantsupport.aspx
Contact HP by phone http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/wwcontact_us.html
This is an automatically generated message. Please do not reply to this e-mail.

Yours Sincerely,
HP Global Delivery, Technology Services

HP - If you do not want Apple clients quit yanking our chain. We don't want you either, we just have lapses in decision making sometimes. This is such a farce it should be addressed by some attorney general or something. You waste my time, my money, and lie in public. Get a clue, get a development team, get a CIO, get a leader that can make good on commitments, and buy a clue (with my money obviously)

Close Name:yoyo52 Posts: 1171 Joined: 02 Feb 2002
Subject: Re: HP is trash - MAC drivers Leopard scan capability lost

Quote
MACGUYINSUIT wrote:
So I go to the HP website and guess what? Nothing in the technical support listings. Hmmmm maybe I am the first person to realize this in the entire world. Ahhhmmmm So I try and reach HP support via there online chat support. Surprise, surprise... doesn't work with leopard or safari I should say.

I know I'll send an email through their preferred customer support line. Here was my response automagically generated!

HP Color LaserJet 2840 All-In-One E-Mail Support



Dear Customer,

Thank you for emailing HP.

Please note: At this moment we have an issue with this Mail System, your mail cannot reach the Support teams . Should you need technical support for an HP product, we recommend using one of the following alternatives:

Visit the HP Business Support Centre to find manuals, technical documentation, software and driver downloads: http://www.hp.com/emea/bizsupport
Use HP Instant Support to chat with a support agent: http://h50203.www5.hp.com/hpisweb/customer/HPInstantsupport.aspx
Contact HP by phone http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/wwcontact_us.html
This is an automatically generated message. Please do not reply to this e-mail.

Yours Sincerely,
HP Global Delivery, Technology Services

HP - If you do not want Apple clients quit yanking our chain. We don't want you either, we just have lapses in decision making sometimes. This is such a farce it should be addressed by some attorney general or something. You waste my time, my money, and lie in public. Get a clue, get a development team, get a CIO, get a leader that can make good on commitments, and buy a clue (with my money obviously)


I got exactly the same message when I went to HP to ask about support for my scanner, a Scanjet 4850 model. And you're right about the HP installer . . . it craps out half way through the installation, which makes it impossible to use the VueScan drivers for that scanner because VueScan requires that the HP scanner libraries be installed. SOL time

View Name:Guest
Subject: C7280 still no 10.5 support
Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2063 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Subject: Re: C7280 still no 10.5 support

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
Still no support for the C7280 and also says so in HP site! Before Leopard you could press "Start Copy" and could scan from HP PhotoSmart or Photoshop...no more. Get this error in the "Scan to computer" option under the "Scan menu button" Refor to device documentation to troubleshoot" well this is bogus since there is no device documentation. Go to Apple site and selling this but why doesn't Apple say, "not full compatible with 10.5"?


Yet another reason why I have not bought, nor even considered, an HP printer or scanner in the last 10+ years. I currently have two all-in ones (both Canons), three inkjet printers (Canon, Epson and Lexmark), and a Brother laser printer (plus a dead LaserWriter that did great service for many years).

View Name:Guest
Subject: ???
Close Name:yoyo52 Posts: 1171 Joined: 02 Feb 2002
Subject:

There's no help possible. Like the rest of us, you'll have to wait till the drivers are posted on line.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Still Waiting
Close Name:Hubbs1984 Posts: 1 Joined: 18 Jan 2008
Subject: OS X 10.5 Included Printer Driver Listing.

If you have not yet found the list of drivers included with Leopard, please check the link below to a document on Apple's web site. Apple designed the OS and is going to know best, which drivers were/were not included. Also, this page includes a listing of drivers, not only for HP, but for the following manufacturers:
Apple - Brother - Canon - Epson - HP - Lexmark - Ricoh - Samsung - Xerox - Fuji Xerox.

The link is: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306684

These listings include which Gimp print drivers are included, and denotes whether the driver is modern or not.

Any questions, just ask.

View Name:Guest
Subject: HP/MAC Drivers fix??
View Name:Guest
Subject: HP laserJet5 does not work with OSX 10.5.2 - help
Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 3013 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Subject:

You are trying to send postscript to a PCL printer?

View Name:Guest
Subject: HP double side printing not working
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