Driver Update (Mac Snow Leopard)

In my previous posting I mentioned Epson had released updates for the 7900 driver, and also for the helpfully-named "Epson LFP Remote Panel 2" for Macintosh OS X 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7 (I use 10.6.8, Snow Leopard). I'd avoided installing those because I'd been working on some client jobs, things were working fine, and I rarely make changes in the middle of a job.

I've wrapped up those print jobs. I will be working on another later this week. I also need to make a couple of prints of my own work for a gallery show that will hang next week. So today I installed both updates. I did nothing but run the installers, hoping the old versions of the software would be found and replaced. That seemed to be the case with the Remote Panel 2 software; after installing, its version appears as 1.30, just as I expected from Epson's meager release notes. As for the driver, I'm really not sure. The previous version was 8.65, the update being 8.66. I ran the installer and then checked the version in the Mac's Print and Fax preferences panel. That still shows 8.65.

But checking Epson's "Printer Utility 4" (one could ask for more useful application names!), I get a mixed message as shown in the screen shot here. I have no idea what's up with Epson's versioning, and I have no idea what I've got after installing that update. Do I have 8.65? 8.66? Some weird hybrid, parts of each? Beats me. Epson, you could have done a couple of things here to help out. Installation instructions would be a good start. Just telling me whether the printer should be removed and then installed from scratch with the new driver, or to install the new driver "over" the old one, would have been sufficient.

Friend Dean, who runs his 7900 from Windows 7, warned that installing Epson's updates deleted any custom paper sizes he'd created. With that in mind I copied the information from the only custom sheet size I've created so I could reproduce that after the update. But that, along with some custom roll paper sizes I didn't need to keep, were preserved after the update.

After this update I made a print of one of my photos on EEF, 17x22 inch sheet. The print is fine, and since I checked the "Center Image" checkbox in the driver, the print is considerably off-center, as is the norm, so the update didn't fix an obvious flaw. With that box checked, my 21 inch wide photo has a .25 inch left margin, and a .75 inch right margin (landscape orientation). Pretty much what I've come to expect.

Prior to the update I'd made ten letter-sized prints for a client, and a 43 inch wide panorama on 17 inch roll paper. After the update and my 17 x 22 inch print, the LK ink is still showing 1% remaining. My recent nozzle checks have shown no clogs, so there have been no cleanings lately.

  --Jay