Getting an epson printer to work on Mac OSX

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Josiah

Man, I spent about three hours trying to print to from my mac to a windows 7 shared printer. The first thing I learned is that Mac OSX does not like SMB shares or hostnames, so the Windows printer tab on the add printer dialog is pretty much useless. It never did find my shared printer, and I couldn’t even ping the hostname of my other computer. Then, after a good deal of frustration, I found out that the EPSON-provided Mac OSX drivers (on the CD and from the website) do not work. Some places on the Internet said it has something to do with a conflict with a previous installation, or the Apple-provided drivers, but I’m more inclined to think that the EPSON-provided drivers are just buggy. So, I decided to just go with some open-source drivers, and I was happy to see things working in no time! Here are the steps:

On your Windows computer, make sure you have enabled printer sharing, and have selected a share name that does not have spaces or weird characters
On your Mac, download Gutenprint for Mac OSX (http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php)
Run the uninstall
Run the install
I restarted my computer, but you probably don’t have to
Go to Settings
Click Print & Fax
Click the [+] under the printers and scanners list
Click the Advanced tab
From the Type dropdown, select LPD/LPR Host or Printer
In the URL box, type “lpd://192.168.1.x/sharename” (of course, replacing 192.168.1.x with your windows computer’s local IP, and sharename with the shared name of the printer). Make sure you use an IP address, not a hostname like “labPC1″.
From the Print Using dropdown, select “Select Printer Software…”
Choose the Gutenprint version of the driver for your printer model (it should look something like Epson ActionLaser 1100 – CUPS+Gutenprint v5.2.7)

Latest Wallpaper

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Josiah

Since I spend so much time on the computer, I like to spend a little extra time picking out a moderately agreeable background wallpaper. Most of the time, I download an pretty nature picture someone else has taken from interfacelift. But when I have a couple of extra minutes, I occasionally make my own backgrounds. Here is one my recent ones that I find enjoyable:

Top Five Character Crushes

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Josiah

As much as I hate to admit it, a good portion of my life is spent in the fake world of movies. Here are the top five (that I can think of at the moment) characters I’ve fallen for at various times in my life:

5. Rachel Weisz as Izzie Creo in The Fountain

There’s something so incredibly peaceful and other-worldly about this girl with the incurable disease. It just tears my heart out to see her husband vainly trying to extend her life instead of spending what is left of it with her.

4. Jennifer Lien as Kes in Star Trek Voyager

Sweet, guileless, humble, understanding — yet powerful and dangerous beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Kes’s charm is almost like a force of nature — elemental in its wisdom, innocence, and strength.

3. Ally Sheedy as Allison Reynolds in Breakfast Club

Labeled in the opening sequence as “the basket case,” this artsy and interesting character is really the only one who didn’t deserve to get sent to detention. She might be a compulsive liar who doesn’t have the best table manners, but she’s so adorably herself that I can’t help but be disappointed when she lets Claire “fix” her hair and makeup.

2. Bruce Willis as John McCain in Die Hard

I’ll bet my boots that just about every guy who admires manliness has some level of a man-crush on this manliest of all manly men. After all, who can help going a little googly-eyed at his cool “Just a fly in the ointment, Hans” just before he unleashes all manner of havoc on the terrorist’s plan.

1. Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation

This lady is so passionate about and skilled at her work, so loyal to her friends, so hard-headedly optimistic, and so bewitchingly genuine that I honestly do not care if she’s twice my age. She is one sexy lady.