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Author Topic: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro  (Read 849 times)

Garnick

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Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« on: December 16, 2018, 06:41:04 pm »

Hello all,

It's been quite some time since I have installed a new driver, since the one I've been using for the P7000 in High Sierra was initially the same one I used in Mavericks.  I recently downloaded the most recent driver and just installed it on one of my Boot-Clones to test it before installing on my main work drive.  The install moved along very well and to my surprise I didn't have to ADD the printer in Sys Prefs as usual.  I checked the version and it was indeed the new one.  I opened the driver and printed a test print as usual.  Everything was working as expected except for one rather important option.  I cannot seem to access my custom presets.  I opened the Library > Preferences > Printers and located the Custom Presets .plist file and it showed today's date, so obviously it was created when the Driver was installed.  It contains a lot of information as did the older one, but I cannot access it in the driver.  I cannot find any way to point the driver to that file either.  I don't recall having to create all new Custom Presets after installing a new driver version, but as I mentioned, it's been a long time.

Any ideas or possible solutions would be much appreciated.

Gary   
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2018, 07:53:57 pm »

I've had to trash the Epson folder and re-install the driver and the printer on one occasion not too long ago, and all the presets disappeared. I checked with two people in Epson; they confirmed this is normal and there is no way to isolate the folder with the presets and re-introduce it into a re-installed driver. I look upon this as a defect, but they don't - as far as they're concerned, clean means clean.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Garnick

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Re: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2018, 09:31:11 pm »

I've had to trash the Epson folder and re-install the driver and the printer on one occasion not too long ago, and all the presets disappeared. I checked with two people in Epson; they confirmed this is normal and there is no way to isolate the folder with the presets and re-introduce it into a re-installed driver. I look upon this as a defect, but they don't - as far as they're concerned, clean means clean.

Hi Mark,

After a few hours of deleting and reinstalling I have now finally solved the issue.  I eventually copied the Custom Presets Pref file created within the former driver version.  I then moved the Custom Presets Pref file from the drive I'm testing on to a folder on the desktop, in case I had to reinstall that file.  I then pasted the copy of the former "FULL" version of the Custom Presets Pref to the location from which I had just moved the one I referred to.  That file was "FULL", so I was hoping the new driver would be able to access it.  I then restarted the MacPro, opened Photoshop and the Print Dialog and then had access to all of my former Custom Presets.  Of course I might have been able to recreate all of the Presets within that amount of time, but this was a challenge and I wanted to figure how to overcome the issue. From Epson  "they confirmed this is normal and there is no way to isolate the folder with the presets and re-introduce it into a re-installed driver".  Well Mark, I guess I just proved them wrong.  I think they probably simply didn't want to invest the time necessary to find a way.

Gary
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2018, 09:45:58 pm »

Hi Mark,

After a few hours of deleting and reinstalling I have now finally solved the issue.  I eventually copied the Custom Presets Pref file created within the former driver version.  I then moved the Custom Presets Pref file from the drive I'm testing on to a folder on the desktop, in case I had to reinstall that file.  I then pasted the copy of the former "FULL" version of the Custom Presets Pref to the location from which I had just moved the one I referred to.  That file was "FULL", so I was hoping the new driver would be able to access it.  I then restarted the MacPro, opened Photoshop and the Print Dialog and then had access to all of my former Custom Presets.  Of course I might have been able to recreate all of the Presets within that amount of time, but this was a challenge and I wanted to figure how to overcome the issue. From Epson  "they confirmed this is normal and there is no way to isolate the folder with the presets and re-introduce it into a re-installed driver".  Well Mark, I guess I just proved them wrong.  I think they probably simply didn't want to invest the time necessary to find a way.

Gary

This is exactly what I had wanted to do. I don't think what they told me was an issue of not wanting to take the time. I think they simply didn't want us doing it, for whatever reason.   

Now, if I understand you correctly, you had the old driver version on one HD, and the new driver version on another. So you found the custom presets folder in the old driver, copied it, and pasted it into the same place in the new driver. Is that essentially the procedure? Most important, where in the driver package did you find the custom presets folder and how? Was this on Mac or Windows?
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Garnick

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Re: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2018, 09:09:31 am »

This is exactly what I had wanted to do. I don't think what they told me was an issue of not wanting to take the time. I think they simply didn't want us doing it, for whatever reason.   

Now, if I understand you correctly, you had the old driver version on one HD, and the new driver version on another. So you found the custom presets folder in the old driver, copied it, and pasted it into the same place in the new driver. Is that essentially the procedure? Most important, where in the driver package did you find the custom presets folder and how? Was this on Mac or Windows?

Hi Mark,

These are the paths to both of the Custom Preferences for the Mac Driver (Custom Paper Sizes and Custom Presets).  They are not in a Driver Package, they are Preference Files in the User Library. I recalled doing this back in 2010 when I was setting up the SP9900.  I had to find a way of using the Custom Paper Sizes I had created previously for the SP7600 printers.  Eventually, through considerable trial and error as well as some help from the Apple Forum I was able to get the job done.  When I run up against these sort of issues I always document the procedure that finally led me to a resolution.  Following are the Custom Prefs I used and where to find them.  Once I have installed what I believe to be the proper, working Prefs, I open Disk Utility and run First Aid.  I then restart the Mac and test the driver.

For the Custom Paper Sizes -- User > Library > Preferences > com.apple.print.custompapers.plist

For the Custom Presets -- User > Library > Preferences > com.apple.print.custompresets.forprinter.EPSON_SC_P7000_Series.plist   Of course the printer name will reflect the printer you are using.

As I do, I think it's a good idea to create a folder containing all of this information for future consideration.  Of course once you have located the proper pref and saved it in a separate folder, you will have to trash the one you don't want and replace it with the "good" one.  Not sure where you will retrieve the "good" one from, but since I have 3 BootClone drives I had no problem finding a pref that I knew should work, and it did.  My advice would be to save the two Custom Prefs that you know are working as expected and keep them for future use if necessary.  The two prefs I have referred to here were actually created with the SP9900 driver and they work very well with the SC-P7000 driver as well.  One thing to keep in mind is this.  When you are looking for a "good" Custom Pref, click on the Pref and see how much information it contains.  If it's almost empty that means you would have to recreate all of the Custom settings you want within the driver itself, which might take considerable time obviously.  Oddly enough the Custom Paper Sizes were maintained, but the Custom Presets were over-written by the new driver.  Not sure why, but I am thankful that I only had to fix one of them.

Hope this helps Mark.         

Gary 

 
« Last Edit: December 17, 2018, 05:42:26 pm by Garnick »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2018, 09:39:46 am »

Hi Gary,

This is very helpful. Where I went wrong when I attempted to do this was to look in the Epson driver file structure, which I can unpack with a special purpose utility for unpacking DMGs (it's called "Pacifist" if you ever need to do this - marvelously handy). I did not think to look into the OSX operating system, so this indeed is a great unveiling, and good that you found it.

Now I understand more than ever why Epson gave me answer they did; as this lodging of the relevant prefs is not within their own product and you need to go into the OS to reach it, obviously they don't want the responsibility of telling clients how to mess in their operating systems. Understandable - as far as it goes. Baffles me, however, that these are printing presets after all and so many other applications either let you save out their own presets conveniently, or automatically retain them in application upgrades, so why can't Epson keep these bundled within their own driver and by default allow users to retain them from one driver change to the next without all the gymnastics?
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Garnick

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Re: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2018, 09:53:39 am »

Hi Gary,

This is very helpful. Where I went wrong when I attempted to do this was to look in the Epson driver file structure, which I can unpack with a special purpose utility for unpacking DMGs (it's called "Pacifist" if you ever need to do this - marvelously handy). I did not think to look into the OSX operating system, so this indeed is a great unveiling, and good that you found it.

Now I understand more than ever why Epson gave me answer they did; as this lodging of the relevant prefs is not within their own product and you need to go into the OS to reach it, obviously they don't want the responsibility of telling clients how to mess in their operating systems. Understandable - as far as it goes. Baffles me, however, that these are printing presets after all and so many other applications either let you save out their own presets conveniently, or automatically retain them in application upgrades, so why can't Epson keep these bundled within their own driver and by default allow users to retain them from one driver change to the next without all the gymnastics?


Yes, of course you are quite correct about Epson's reluctance to have us dabble in the OS to find some of the files pertaining directly to their product, as in this case.  I guess we both owe Epson an apology to some degree.  OUCH!!!  Interesting what you mention concerning "Pacifist".  I had once downloaded a trial version but had little time to actually discover what it was all about.  I just checked and I have no information on my computer, so I think I'll download and try it again.  Is it available in the AppStore?  Otherwise I'll do a Google search.

Thanks Mark,
Gary 

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Gary N.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Install New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2018, 10:20:51 am »

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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Garnick

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Re: Installed New Driver for SC-P7000 on MacPro
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2018, 12:34:20 pm »

Pacifist

Thank you Mark. I now own it and will begin exploring soon.

Gary
« Last Edit: December 17, 2018, 02:04:13 pm by Garnick »
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Gary N.
"My memory isn't what it used to be. As a matter of fact it never was." (gan)
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