Multiroll feeder & HP 1055cm Plus from a Mac

[kevin b]

Anyone out there have an HP 1055cm Plus plotter with the multiroll feeder running on a Mac network? And having any success switching between rolls?

HP tells us it should be automatic when you select the paper size but it will only print to whatever is set as the default size at the plotter. Plus the automatic thing doesn't make sense as conceivably you couold load three different media all at 36" and you should be able to choose which media it goes to. They also say that with OS 10.4 Apple "demanded" that the drivers be part of the software so Apple wrote the drivers themselves and that they must not have included functionality for the multiroll feeder. While that sounds like something Apple might do it also sounds like HP is wanting to wash their hands of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Are you printing or plotting? Plotting usually seems to work better than printing from Macs to the HP machines.

If you search the forum here you will find pretty much of a consensus that HP does a poor job supporting Macs. I found it to be impossible to rotate print jobs to fit a D-size sheet across a 36" roll on a 1050c (plotting was fine). The only solution was to change to a 24" roll or trim 12" off the prints. The HP repair tech told me that the driver for the printer simply didn't work well with OSX and wasn't likely to be fixed.

The notion that it is Apple's fault is absurd. Not only do most printers work just fine on Macs, the GimpPrint and GhostScript drivers often produce better results than OEM drivers. This proves that it is possible for third parties to write good drivers for the Mac.

[kevin b]

We typically plot rather than print but neither printing or plotting is working on this new plotter. And the plotting works fine its only the multiroll feeder thas giving us problems.

We have another HP with just a single roll which we have to fake with a custom paper size (no margins) when printing 2x3 PDFs to get them to come out with the right orientation and not have to trim or have them resized to 99%.

[Anonymous]

Out of curiousity. . .what type of connection are you using the print to the 1055? Are you using a Jet Direct, or a USB / Parallel?

Oh. . .and I used to work in DesignJet support for HP. . .for every one good person there is to talk to. . .there are 7 other knuckle dragging, nose picking, "wut's a kawmputor?" slobs to help you with the following methods:

-Get your information
-15 minutes later of giving said information, they have you reboot the machine, and printer.
-"hmm. . .that didn't work. . .let me put you on hold while I do some research. . ."
-15 minutes later, "Let's go ahead and update the firmware. . ."
-if firmware is current, then let's re-install the printer drivers
-if drivers don't work, you're placed on hold again
-if you're printing to a jet direct card, you are then forwarded to the jet direct group.
-jet direct runs tests with you on the card, and then sends you back to the designjet que. . .usually to another knuckle dragger (see first step)
-rinse, lather, repeat, for a few times, until you talk to an 'engineer', which then blames your network, computer, or operating system; stating that there is absolutely no problem with the printer, and that YOU need to go back 2-3 versions of your current operating system. . .

I didn't support the 1055 when I was there, but I remember everyone cried when they got a multiroll call. Hell. . .it barely worked well in it's native windows / windoze environment. It might be worth your while, setting up a cheap windoze 2000 or XP system, and share the printer with the appletalk option. . .just a thought. I highly doubt that you'll be too succesfull trying to get it to run from the MAC environ with the full multiroll capabilities. . .

If you'd like some help, feel free to reply, or PM me.