One of the things that really should “just work” in the Apple environment is printing. Printers are a piece of hardware “sent from hell” and it doesn’t get any easier just because you have a Mac. See this insightful Oatmeal comic for why that is.
Printer drivers don’t keep up, perhaps because of the endless variants created mostly to sell ink cartridges, toners and other useless add-ons.
Unfortunately, Mac OS X Lion does not include drivers for the Samsung ML-1210, a cheap old black and white laser printer that I bought years ago. I should’ve remembered this as I had the same problem on OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard. The following solution works on all those variants:
In common with other variants of OS X, Lion supports CUPS – the Common Unix Printing System. This means that generic open-source drivers are available to use that enable Lion (and indeed Leopard, and Snow Leopard) to successfully print using this printer.
There are three separate pieces of software to install, including the driver, but all can be found at this page on the Linux Foundation website.
Essentially, you need to download each Disk Image listed (Samsung GDI, Foomatic-RIP and GPL-GS) and run the installer inside each one.
Once you’ve done this, open System Preferences and then click Print & Scan. Click on the small + icon on the left which should bring up the Add Printer dialog box. Samsung ML-1210 should already be listed and, under ‘Print using the Samsung ML-1210 Foomatic/gdi driver should already be selected.
Click ‘Add’ and the printer will be added to the list of available printers on your system. Sorted!
Nice to know someone else needed to use this old but sturdy printer with Lion. Thanks so much this worked brilliantly.
I just got a Mac and I’m trying to use my ML 1210 with it too. Before I saw this page, I had installed all three of those softwares, and it seemed like the printer was recognized properly, however when I tried to print something the print window keeps saying that the printer is offline.
Not sure what to do….any ideas?
Not sure to be honest. Look in the Print & Scan preferences pane and see if there are multiple entries for the Samsung ML-1210? If so, remove them all then use the + button to add a new one using the mentioned driver.
I’m assuming the printer is turned on and has paper in it, ready to print?
Hi pia,
Did you ever find a solution to this? I am having the same problem. I have installed the three softwares and the printer worked for a while. I have changed nothing but the printer now claims to be offline. I have checked Print & Scan as Josh R suggested and the Samsung ML-1210 showed as expected, but appears offline. I deleted it to add it again but nothing is appearing in the Add Printer dialog box. Everything in that dialog box is greyed.
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
I’ve installed the software twice, but the printer doesn’t work properly. It prints but cuts down the text from the top of the list and leaves about 5 cm spare place at the bottom.
Does anyone have the same problem? Any ideas?
I have the same problem, no idea how to fix that though.. any help would be appreciated!
found a solution:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2145980?start=0&tstart=0
Thanks. I’ve read all the instructions, but I still have a problem because I can’t download foomatic-rip-2008-01-30.dmg! The linux site is unavailable and I cannot find this driver anywhere else. I would appreciate if someone can send me it!
This would be great if “The Linux Foundation” hadn’t somehow “turned their site OFF” and won’t allow any downloads from the site. I’ve tried this site 3 different times over the last week and I always get:
This site is down for maintenance. We will be restoring service shortly. Thank you for your patience.
The Linux Foundation
Same experience here.
Apparently they’re rebuilding the site after a hacking concern.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Linux_Foundation#Website_issues
It’s back up; just grabbed the downloads. :)
I am facing the same problems – “leaves about 5 cm spare place” and cannot download foomatic-rip-2008-01-30.dmg because the site is down.
Please let me know as well, if somebody finds alternative download site or can share with DMG file.
Thanks
I had the same problem and so had to install the Foomatic-RIP 3.0.2 and NOT the newer Foomatic-RIP 4.0.2.
You can install the old version over the new one without any problem and now my printer is working treat!
http://www.openprinting.org/download/printdriver/macosx/foomatic-rip-2008-01-30.dmg
Thanks a lot!!! :D
I just finished installing the driver stuff for my ML-1210 and it works perfectly.
Once catch, though, is to remove the appended “.download” from the “gplgs-8.71.dmg.download” before installing that one. The other catch when going to the Preferences step, is to first power-up your Samsung printer – otherwise the icon will not show up to select. The versions that I installed are: samsung-gdi-1.816.2, foomatic-rip-4.0.6.230, and gplgs-8.71 on this date of Dec 21, 2011.
Thanks for posting this. I downloaded and installed all three programs and am now able to use my Lexmark E210 printer, which is the same as the Samsung ML-1210. Everything is running just fine!
Ditty here…I hope I can continue to use my Lexmark E210 until the end of time…thanks for the help!
Well, that was supposed to be ditto.
you all are great. MY PRINTER WORKS. !!!!!!
Thank you vary much.
Margins need a little adjusting but otherwise works great – many thanks for this
Thank you very much for these tips!!!
좋은 정보 감사합니다.
세 가지 모두 설치하니 아주 쉽게 프린터가 잡히네요. ^^
Excellent guide. Thanks for this, I thought my printer was useless now I don’t use PC’s anymore. You are a star!!!
Thank you so much, I’ve been trying install my printer during the last year and I did’t have success until now, you don´t imagine what I had to suffer without my old printer, samsung could not even help me! have a nice day!!
Amazing! Thank you :-)
Bravo!! The programme(s) make the Samsung Printer work perfectly.
Tony
Thanks for this posting. Saved a printer from the land-fill.
Mostly works for Mountain Lion. Prints OK, but the printer seems to need restarting between print jobs.
Thanks for the tips and link.
extra ! thanks a million for this posting . Saved a printer too … needs margin ajustements like the others but it will do …
Thanks! Drivers downloaded and installed as described. Just printed a webpage, and it works fine!
Thanks man! You saved me a lot of time!
Brilliant! You rock…!
It doesn’t work on my iMac OS X 10.8.2 anyone has the same story? Thank you for the help!
Hey, I took it back. It worked! I overlooked the step of “run the installer inside each one.” first, then at the “add printer window”, replace the ddp file with the latest one found under the printer name “ML1210” Good luck everyone and thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the tip. It works the first time.
Thanks, it was certainly useful, and time saver! +1000 : )
Awesome!! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you very much for this. I can finally stop banging my head against the wall.
Are the files still online? I can’t find they
Thank you. Worked like a charm.
merci Josh R
I LOVE YOU!! thanks :)
Many thanks for your article and links most helpful.
I can finally use my husbands printer!
G.R.E.A.T.
Thanks!!!
Thank you so much ! From Paris with tears of joy ! No surprise you got the same name as Josh Homme…you are a blessing !
Thanks. I’ve used this many times over the years.
It even worked on Mavericks – thank you!!!
how do you fix the margin error? The top is cut off.
DO NOT work with OS Yosemite 10.10 !
Yosemite 10.10.3 doesn’t work. Any ideas?
In Yosemite the CUPS system is sandboxed and so just installing all this stuff won’t work. Google “CUPS Sandboxing Relaxed” for details on how to get round it.
Hi! Is there a Ghostscript for Mac OS X 10.11 (El capitan)?