Epson 3880 ICC profiles disappear in new MaC OS (Catalina)

[tsinsf]

In a forum post in DP Review somewhat reported that Epson does have a new 64 bit printer driver for the 3880, but that the Epson canned ICC profiles don't appear in Photoshop or Lightroom. Can anybody offer suggestions on what to do now (other than don't upgrade)?

[digitaldog]

Run the ColorSync utility, look for their location, maybe run Profile first Aid.
And no, I'm in no hurry to install Catalina so no direct experience troubleshooting it.

[faberryman]

I have an Epson 3880. Fortunately, given the age of my Mac Mini, I can't upgrade beyond High Sierra.

[Ryan Mack]

The new Mac OS is perhaps the biggest breaking change since they replaced PPC processors with Intel. I would avoid updating for as long as possible and upgrade a second machine first to check compatibility with your favorite apps. I would bet money that printing, plugins, and a lot of other photographer tools are going to be broken for the foreseeable future.

[kers]

The new Mac OS is perhaps the biggest breaking change since they replaced PPC processors with Intel. I would avoid updating for as long as possible and upgrade a second machine first to check compatibility with your favorite apps. I would bet money that printing, plugins, and a lot of other photographer tools are going to be broken for the foreseeable future.

+1
and in any case i would not upgrade the first half year for you may spend a lot of time repairing things that were not broken before.
Photoshop has problems too; i have heard that if you save a file you have to manually write the filetype after the title.. ( like .tif)

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-and-macos-catalina.html#Knowncompatibilityissues

Adobe should be ashamed...  Apple had to rewrite some of their one programs too like the DVD-player.
Some other programs will never be upgraded to 64 bits because it is not economical. (Media-pro for one and maybe also this epson driver)

There are some solutions to keep using these programs through some sort of virtual machine.

[BobShaw]

The new Mac OS is perhaps the biggest breaking change since they replaced PPC processors with Intel. I would avoid updating for as long as possible and upgrade a second machine first to check compatibility with your favorite apps. I would bet money that printing, plugins, and a lot of other photographer tools are going to be broken for the foreseeable future.

+2
It is not just photo apps. It is your whole business. Accounts, Office programmes, etc. I only just upgraded to Mojave so I see it a long, long way off.
I still use Aperture so that is a major roadblock for me.
I also run VMware and have a Mac OS 10.6.8 running programmes from 2003. I have version running High Sierra also.

[Eric Brody]

I love Apple, got my first Mac on April 18, 1984, but sometimes their logic escapes me. I too just recently "upgraded" to Mojave and have no plans whatsoever to go to Catalina for the foreseeable future. Everyone should read Lloyd Chambers' macperformanceguide.com blog entry detailing the reasons why Catalina is a bad idea at this time. I too have an "obsolete" Epson 3880, but it makes great prints. I suspect Epson will not write a 64 bit driver for it. I also have 32 bit copies of the MS Office 2011 software that will not be supported. Arbitrary decisions like these just frustrate people to no rational benefit. On another subject, I just read that AirPods do not have replaceable batteries and when they die in 2-3 years, only option is new hardware, the old goes in the landfill. Come on Apple!

[digitaldog]

Epson just released a new print driver for the 3880. Said to support 64-bit but I’ve yet to confirm. Seems to fix the 16-bit check box bug however.
BTW, this looks useful although you can do pretty much the same using system info:
https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/
EDIT: the above app indicates the new Epson 3880 print driver IS 64-bit.

[elliot_n]

Seems to fix the 16-bit check box bug however.

What bug is that?

[digitaldog]

What bug is that?

Under Mojave it produced real ugly (wrong color) prints.

[Terry_Kennedy]

Adobe should be ashamed...  Apple had to rewrite some of their one programs too like the DVD-player.
Some other programs will never be upgraded to 64 bits because it is not economical. (Media-pro for one and maybe also this epson driver)

I don't really have a side in this fight, since the one "Mac" I have is a Windows virtual machine (I have to do builds of some open-source software for many environments, which includes 32- and 64-bit Mac OS X).

However, this does point out a flaw (intentional or otherwise) in Apple's developer relations. Windows has driver signing and the additional WHQL certification of drivers if desired. From what I've read, the whole "What? You have a printer driver not supplied by Apple? Why?" thing came up when Apple started requiring drivers to be signed and was a bit of a surprise to both the driver writers and Apple.

Regarding 64-bit conversions, for most code it is relatively painless. In the case of drivers, there is usually a larger platform-independent part and a much smaller OS-specific part. The platform-independent part is likely being compiled for both 32- and 64-bit modes already. I have a large development environment (over 1M lines of code) that I've been dragging around since 4.2BSD on a VAX and it still builds and runs on the latest FreeBSD and Linux releases. There  have been tweaks over time, but there were no "OMG, this is broken and there's no way to fix it other than a complete rewrite" type issues.

Whether or not a particular developer wants to support the latest operating system is a different issue, of course. Some developers have gone out of business, some hardware is no longer within any sort of reasonable support timeframe, etc. But currently-sold products should see drivers and/or utilities released for the latest Mac OS. It will likely take some amount of time, depending on how much advance notice (if any) the developer had, the difficulty of doing the work, and the delay if getting Apple to sign / certify the drivers is needed.

[rajahornstein]

Epson just released a new print driver for the 3880. Said to support 64-bit but I’ve yet to confirm. Seems to fix the 16-bit check box bug however.
BTW, this looks useful although you can do pretty much the same using system info:
https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/
EDIT: the above app indicates the new Epson 3880 print driver IS 64-bit.

I just looked at Epson support for the 3880 and searched for “Catalina” and “64” and found nothing. Where did you get the new driver and have you tried it using Catalina? This is the only thing making me wait taking the admittedly possibly foolish step of upgrading to Catalina.

[digitaldog]

I just looked at Epson support for the 3880 and searched for “Catalina” and “64” and found nothing. Where did you get the new driver and have you tried it using Catalina? This is the only thing making me wait taking the admittedly possibly foolish step of upgrading to Catalina.

https://epson.com/Support/Printers/Professional-Imaging-Printers/Epson-Stylus-Pro-Series/Epson-Stylus-Pro-3880/s/SPT_CA61201-VM

[Eric Brody]

The new driver is 10.33, released on 10/8/19. Since I'm on Mojave and absolutely cannot see any  reason, that's ANY REASON, to go to Catalina, I'll likely try the new driver on my laptop first and then on the desktop.

[luxborealis]

I think this thread needs some good news and a positive experience to report, especially as it ranked high on a search for Catalina and colour profiles.

I am finally getting back to printing after a hiatus of many months.

In that time, I switched to a MacBook Pro 2019 then upgraded it to Catalina (from a 2011 MBP w/ Sierra) - no problem - and upgraded from Lightroom 6.6 stand alone to Lightroom CC Classic – no problems - none - nada.

I'm printing to an Epson 3880. Had to order and install a new Maintenance Tank - no problem.

I downloaded and installed the driver from Epson - no problem.

I downloaded and installed the ICC Profile from Moab for the Entrada Rag paper I'm using - no problem.

I printed a photo - no problem. Looks identical to previous printings.

I do not use soft proofing. I do not use any monitor calibration (Benq SW2700). The print matches the monitor and looks ideal.

The biggest problem I have is that the display cable only works when plugged into the charging slot of my USB-C hub, so I can't plug my MBP into the AC at the same time. I think I can live with that!!

[jlewis166]

I have an Apple iMac, just upgraded to Catalina, and two 3880's. I turned on the printers yesterday after a few months of not printing. And nothing! The printers are working as I can print test sheets from their menus but the iMac does not communicate with the printers. I spent over an hour on the phone with Apple yesterday to no avail--lots of interesting steps but no progress.

I'm about to open a call with Epson.

I did download the new driver.

[digitaldog]

I have an Apple iMac, just upgraded to Catalina, and two 3880's. I turned on the printers yesterday after a few months of not printing. And nothing! The printers are working as I can print test sheets from their menus but the iMac does not communicate with the printers. I spent over an hour on the phone with Apple yesterday to no avail--lots of interesting steps but no progress.

I'm about to open a call with Epson.

I did download the new driver.

USB, Ethernet?
No issues on this end with my 3880.

Maybe do the Epson Enema and install drivers (from Epson) again: 
   1.   Delete all instances of Epson printers from System Preferences>Print & Fax.

   2.   Then go to /Library/Printers and toss the whole Epson folder.

   3.   Toss LFP Remote Panel (IF you are using this utility for your printer).

   4.   Then reinstall drivers from Epson and never Apple.


When you go back to Print & Fax to add the printer, on 10.X I had to wait almost a minute before the IP version of the printer showed up, whereas the Bonjour one shows up right away. Then add the IP instance of the printer. This is for printers on a network.
Then re-install LFP Remote Panel if you use it with this printer.

NOTE: IF you have more than one Epson printer, you need to install the driver in the order of their release! Older then newer or you run into issues (eg, install 4800 before you’d install 3880).

[budjames]

Disappearing standard Epson ICC profiles for my Epson P800 happened several times after various updates of Catalina on my iMacPro. Simply reinstalling the Epson driver restores the profiles.

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.

[jlewis166]

USB, Ethernet?
No issues on this end with my 3880.

Maybe do the Epson Enema and install drivers (from Epson) again:
   1.   Delete all instances of Epson printers from System Preferences>Print & Fax.

   2.   Then go to /Library/Printers and toss the whole Epson folder.

   3.   Toss LFP Remote Panel (IF you are using this utility for your printer).

   4.   Then reinstall drivers from Epson and never Apple.


When you go back to Print & Fax to add the printer, on 10.X I had to wait almost a minute before the IP version of the printer showed up, whereas the Bonjour one shows up right away. Then add the IP instance of the printer. This is for printers on a network.
Then re-install LFP Remote Panel if you use it with this printer.

NOTE: IF you have more than one Epson printer, you need to install the driver in the order of their release! Older then newer or you run into issues (eg, install 4800 before you’d install 3880).

Thank you.
An update: I spent an hour on the phone with Epson to no avail. Then, the following day, another hour on the phone with Apple; again no positive results. Yesterday I reinstalled Quad Tone RIP, which I use with my other 3880 that has Piezography inks: it worked fine.
That seems to isolate the issue to Epson's driver.
This recipe sounds like its worth doing.
Then it will be back to Epson again.
Very frustrating.


I thought I'd add some more information. I spent more time on the phone with Epson. This person suggested connecting of the router with internet cable instead of USB. I did so, fired things up and found that it did not recognize any of the cartridges. I replaced some of the cartridges with others I had around, though empty, and those were not recognized. Advisor said "It's a hardware problem, find a repair shop." etc and so forth. So I thought I'd try another 3880 as I have a friend with a spare, clogged buy available.
Then I thought before doing that I'd see if my other 3880, the one one runs on Quad Tone RIP for Piezography would run with the Epson driver, as we know its connection is sound. I created a new printer using the Epson driver--same result as on the other device--no connection!

So we have a conundrum--one printer definitely works with QTR and not with the Epson driver. The other, which has only been tried on the Epson driver does not connect. Now it does not seem like a hardware problem in the printer but a problem with the driver.

I hate to have to go buy a new printer just because Epson can't get their driver working.

This not the first time I've had to replace a printer after a Mac OS upgrade when Epson could not get their drivers working.

Any other advice or suggestions gladly welcomed.

[RobWignell]

Hi.  I installed Catalina a month ago on my 2018 MacBook Pro and have no problems printing to my Epson 3880 or 7880.  I knew that I would lose access to the X-Rite Colorport software that I use with an old (but very good) DTP70 for creating printer profiles.  I use a very old 2009 MacBook Pro to drive Colorport and the DTP70 on the infrequent occasions that I need to scan a target set for a new printer profile.  One disappointment is losing access to ColorThink 2.  I had the impression that it and ColorThink Pro are being updated to work with Catalina but I have no news on this yet.  The driver that Digital Dog hunted down should solve your problem.  I used the Go64 software to check what problems I might encounter in moving to Catalina it identified a few applications that I no longer use and was able to delete as well as Colorport and ColorThink 2.  All profiles were available in LR, PS and Qimage One.  I can't help with a solution but can say that you have described a problem that I didn't reproduce.
Good luck.