Epson printer Drivers - What happened?

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Level 1

9 points

Epson printer Drivers - What happened?

Wow - really wish I had NOT updated to Ventura. That was a huge mistake. I would like to know whose fault this is - Apple not providing developers with details in time to re-write drivers or the vendors not following up (which I doubt).

Epson ET-8550 no longer works properly. Cannot print borderless nor pick the correct ICC profiles. i have been hearing this is an issue and now am in the thick of it just before I travel to a printing workshop. At this point, I should have bought a Dell laptop... The work around - yes I can print but I cannot interact with the printer very well and cannot produce the product I need. Any suggestions or insights would be appreciated.

MacBook Air (M2)

Posted on Jan 29, 2023 6:39 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Steven Keirstead

Level 1

45 points

Jan 29, 2023 6:53 AM in response to Chris351

It's not just Epson. I am having trouble with my HP DesignJet Z9+ 44" large format printer too. Mac OS Ventura does not save important print quality parameters to presets like older Mac operating systems did. I cannot get reproducible prints because the presets do not save things like paper type, color mode, and print resolution/quality. I am pretty much resigned to reinstalling Mac OS Catalina or Big Sur, all my apps, and reinstalling all my print drivers. That's a good day's work undoing the upgrade just to get my computer and printing working properly again. If someone tells you to just Reset the Mac OS Printing System and that will fix your problems, DO NOT believe them. It will not fix the print preset problems that seem to be baked into Ventura.

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Answer 2

Jan 29, 2023 6:56 AM in response to Chris351

Always validate that a vendor provides support for the target operating system before upgrading or switching to a new Mac. Your responsibility, not Epsons or Apple. That said…

Epson released printer drivers for the ET-8550 in Oct 2022 for Ventura. I you have not downloaded that specific October driver, I would do that, install it, and re-add your printer so it can see the new driver.

Epson had access to the Ventura Developers (SDK) tools as early as June 2022. It is their responsibility, not Apple's, to develop/test/release drivers for the forthcoming (Ventura) operating system — if they choose to do so. Again, Apple has no influence on a vendor's product support and release schedule. It is also Epson's responsibility to keep their drivers functional with new releases of macOS, again, if they choose to do so.

Apple's built-in AirPrint also supports the ET-8550 when networked, and that would avoid needing any device drivers directly from Epson. Your ICC profiles or their updates would still need to be sourced from Epson.

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Answer 3

PRP_53

Level 10

91,843 points

Jan 29, 2023 6:52 AM in response to Chris351

From Epson Canada link below and be sure to choose macOS 13.

The site will default to macOS 10.15 Catalina or at least it does on this Ventura 13.2 machine.

https://epson.ca/Support/Printers/All-In-Ones/ET-Series/Epson-ET-8550/s/SPT_C11CJ21201

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Answer 4

Chris351 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2023 9:53 AM in response to Chris351

UPDATE: So just as an update here, I bit the bullet and reimaged the machine to Monterey (which is the MAC OS shipped with the device last summer). I finally did talk with some of my expert photographers who are extremely MAC and Epson imaging focused. This appears to be some big changes Apple made which some developers believe was made unnecessarily complicated - moreso than it needed to be. And yes some shared responsibility with the printer vendors. The reality appears to be that Air Print is not helpful - because you need the full use of the driver and it's ability to control the printer. Time will fix this - and yes I should not have upgraded. I am very careful about that on Windows. (I'm on Windows 10 and have not upgraded to 11 still waiting for the dust to settle). Epson basically has said they are releasing drivers as they can, but I am sure I will be speaking with them this week even on issues related to Monterey drivers - which wasn't a walk in the park either.

Always fun with computers. I really appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

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Epson printer Drivers - What happened?

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