Epson R2400 (and maybe other Epson Printers) and Snow Leopard: A Solution

Question

I installed Snow Leopard over the weekend and everything seemed to go fine, except the re-installation of my Epson R2400.  It didn't work.  The Epson Web site provides Snow Leopard assistance for the R2400, but it is counter-intuitive.  The following will save you time.
First disconnect your printer from the computer.
Second, go to Mac system preferences, Printers and Fax and delete the Epson printer from the list.
Third, put your Snow Leopard disc back in your Mac and when the dialog comes up, select optional installations folder (or something like that--I don't have it open right now).  Then check Rosetta and install it.
Fourth, go to the Epson Web site.  You need to download a new set of drivers.  Here is where it becomes counter-intuitive.  You would think you should use the first driver and utility package listed, which is referred to as the Combo package.  It refers to Snow Leopard (10.6) and it is the newest one.  But you would be wrong using such simple logic.  You want what is now the second one driver in the list--Printer Driver v.57, which also meets the system requirements.
Fifth, download v.57, install it, reconnect your printer and it prints just fine (I've only done one print so we will see). 
I don't know whether the other Epson high-end printers contain such loopy instructions, but if you are confronted with a choice between a combo pack and a simple one, you might try the simpler one first.
Hope this saves someone some time and aggrevation.
Jack B. Siegel
P.S.  This is not a completely new driver written for Snow Leopard--that may come sometime down the road or may not).  This, so I am told, is a Power PC driver and Rosetta (as in Rosetta stone) is a utility that translates it so that it can be used on an iMac.
As a consumer, you should hate Epson.  They, as has the world, knew Snow Leopard was coming for at least a year.  By now they should have had all new drivers and this should have been worked out so that people didn't have to call technical support (a waste of my time and their's).  Since the Epson R2400 is discontinued, they apparently don't feel compelled to provide premium service and updates for it.  I bought mine about a 1.5 years ago.  They should not abandon products this quickly after discontinuing them.  As far as I can tell, they come out with a new printer in this price segment every couple of years.  I shouldn't have to buy a new printer every two years.
But as I said to myself yesterday as I struggled with the problem:  If I can't print, I can't buy ink.

Answer 1

I am sure your advice will help Mac users, however, my comment is on a different front. I remain fascinated at the extent to which Mac users refuse to blame Apple when they have problems with their OS.  Many Epson drivers don't work, many HP drivers don't work, Cisco VPN (supposedly built into the OS) doesn't work for some, there are problems with PS CS4 and LR, other are having problems with Parallels Desktop, some are struggling to get AT&T's Laptop Connect card software to function, and Nikon has a warning up to not install the new OS if you want to use Capture NX2.  Actually, do a search and you will find lots of complaints.  Perhaps instead of just blaming Epson, HP, Adobe, etc., one might want to bring the producer of the OS into the equation.  It certainly sounds like Apple was not working with some of its major software partners as closely as they should.  It is hardly the case that Apple has a perfect record in this area anyway - there are reasons why there is a 64 bit version of PS CS4 for Vista/Windows 7 and not for 10.X.  Of course, at least for companies like Adobe, Epson, Hp, Nikon, etc., they are also pushing to finish drivers and updates for Windows 7.  Perhaps Apple should have factored that in when they pushed to beat Microsoft to release. 
Leaving all of that aside, anyone who adopts any OS on the date of release 1) needs to do their homework to make sure the stuff they use will work, and 2) should expect that at least a few things won't function the way they want. That is a fact of life for early adopters, and should be considered even more likely to be the case in the middle of a recession that has sucked resources away from companies.  Early adoption of any new technology, whether it be an OS, app, new computer, new camera, or things like a blue ray DVD player comes at some cost. 
BTW, as a legal user of the Windows 7 RTM, I have found that PS CS4 and LR function exceptionally well and my Epson printer drivers work without issue - none of the apps or drivers have (as yet) even been updated for Windows 7.  At least from my perspective, that would suggest that Mac users might want to turn at least a bit to the producer of their OS, and how it handled the development and release of 10.6, before laying all of the blame for problems at the feet of the hardware and software partners....
Stephen