Serial adapter printing requires added software?

Question

Under 10.3.9 I had to install extra software to print to my HP DeskWriter 680C via Keyspan USA-28 dual usb serial adapter. In Tiger, I've found an HP 600 series printer driver and CUPS web control ( http://localhost:631 ), but no clear way to specify a serial port. Matt Broughton's comments on adding a StyleWriter indicate serial print still requires software installation under 10.4.x ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2196459&#2196459 ). Should I proceed? Tiger doesn't include serial printer support?
Thanks in advance,
Seth

Answer 1

<snip>
So, you still need to supply whatever adapter is
necessary, and install the driver if one is needed to
recognize your adapter in OS X.
A good description and correct through this last statement.
So, you should be able to use the Print Driver just
fine after you get the adapter working with it's
driver.
Not quite. With the USB to serial adapter and its drivers, the serial port is now functional in OS X. We must now turn to the printing software used by Mac OS X. CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) is used in OS X for printing. As supplied by Apple, however, the CUPS software does not provide support for communicating with serial ports. I have compiled serial backends (serial communications software) that enable this on my website about serial printing in Mac OS X.. There is also a PDF pictorial guide on how to add a serial printer available for download.
So this is a multilayer process.
1. Get an adapter -- the Keyspan adapter
2. Get the serial ports recognized by OS X -- the Keyspan drivers.
3. Get the serial ports recognized by CUPS -- my Serial Print Enabler.
4. Get printer drivers -- for the HP DeskWriter, Gutenprint (Gimp-Print drivers work well). You could also use the hpijs package from linuxprinting.org.
5. Configure the printer through the CUPS web interface. Printer Setup Utility does not have a capability to deal with serial ports.
The StyleWriter situation is a bit different in that it uses a different driver called "lpstyl". The StyleWriter driver needs direct communication with the printer rather than through a serial backend. Therefore, the lpstyl driver contains all the necessary code to use the serial port. No other serial print enabler is required. That is why it is not mentioned in my post about the StyleWriter.
Hopefully this little explanation will help to make
your situation clearer.
Ditto.
I hope this helps.
Ditto.
Matt
Mac Mini; B&W G3/300