More about printers

In the same way that you maintain your computer by keeping it free from dust, emptying the trash (you ARE emptying the trash I hope!), performing regular software updates and similar day-to-day tasks it is important to ensure that your printer software is kept up to date for optimum performance.

It may well be the case that your printer or multi-functional is a year or two old, but manufacturers are obliged to keep the device’s software up to date in line with each system update. 

For example, I own a Canon Pixma MP500 (pictured above) which I bought quite a while ago. In fact it is no longer manufactured, but despite this Canon still update the software to bring it in line with the latest Mac OS version. These updates are not ongoing however and once a device has reached a certain age the manufacturer may stop issuing updates.

Sometimes it may arise that you own a printer which is very old and no drivers are available for it on the manufacturer’s website. The good news is that the people at sourceforge.net offer free high-quality drivers for many old printers here. So, before you throw away your old printer see if you can get it to work with Gimp Print!