PrinterSwitch is a control panel/system extension that allows you to easily select among many different printers when you print documents in your applications. It eliminates the need to use the Chooser to select a printer.
PrinterSwitch complements Apple's Desktop Printers because it allows you to select different print devices even if your application won't let you drag & drop documents onto a Desktop Printer. It also works well with Apple's new LaserWriter 8.4.x driver, letting you switch between different printer drivers and PPD files.
PrinterSwitch is shareware with a 14-day free trial period. Registration is quick and easy; registered customers get free technical support and free upgrades to future versions of PrinterSwitch. See the "How To Register" file for more details.
• Why is PrinterSwitch better than existing printer switching utilities?
PrinterSwitch presents a simple user interface that is always available when you need it; no need to memorize "hot key" sequences.
PrinterSwitch understands the latest LaserWriter 7 & 8 drivers and will correctly switch between different PPD files. You always use the proper PPD file for the printer, eliminating a common source of PostScript errors.
The handy printer status display will tell you if your networked printer is busy, out of paper, etc. before you print, not afterwards!
PrinterSwitch is ideal for networked environments. It is simple to install, and network administrators can easily preconfigure a Macintosh by copying PrinterSwitch and its preference files to the new machine.
Installation
• System Requirements
Any kind of Macintosh
System 7.0 or greater
Two printing devices, or a printer and faxmodem, etc.
PrinterSwitch will not work with Quickdraw GX.
• Installation instructions
Important: Please read the License agreement included in the PrinterSwitch folder before installing. This agreement limits our liability. If you do not agree with the terms of this agreement, do not install the software.
Copy the "PrinterSwitch" control panel to your control panels folder.
If you use Apple's "Control Strip" or the shareware "Desktop Strip" extension, you will want to install the PrinterSwitch Control Strip Module. It's inside the Extras folder.
Copy the "PrinterSwitch Strip" file to your Control Strip Modules folder or Desktop Strip Modules folder. (You'll find either of these folders inside your System folder.)
Note: If you have previously installed PrinterSwitch release 1.0.4 or earlier, you need to replace the control panel and control strip module, as shown above. Also remove your "PrinterSwitch Printers" folder. PrinterSwitch 1.1 will not recognize PrinterSwitch Printer files created with version 1.0.4 and previous. You can keep your "PrinterSwitch Preferences" file when you upgrade.
Once you have finished copying everything, restart your computer.
If installation was successful,
PrinterSwitch will display this icon:
If something went wrong (or you held down the Shift key,)
PrinterSwitch will display this icon:
If something went wrong, PrinterSwitch will notify you with a message after startup is complete.
How to use PrinterSwitch
PrinterSwitch is activated when a user invokes the Print dialog or Page Setup dialog. For example, choosing Print... from the File menu, or P.
As an example, open any document in SimpleText. When you choose Print... you will be presented with the PrinterSwitch dialog.
When you first use PrinterSwitch, there will be only one printer in the popup menu, and the menu will be disabled (greyed). This is normal; PrinterSwitch must "learn" about your printers before it can switch between them. (See below for more details.)
Each printer will also display the printer driver name and PPD file, if applicable. Networked LaserWriter-style printers will also show a printer status display in blue on color monitors. This tells you the current status of your printer; updated every 5 seconds. In the example above, the printer is "idle" and ready to print your documents.
Choose "OK" and you will be presented with the appropriate "Print" or "Page Setup" dialog for the printer you have chosen. When you print, your output will be sent to the chosen printer.
The "Change Page Setup options before printing" checkbox allows you to select appropriate page setup values after you select a printer, and before you print. We recommend you choose this option whenever you switch between different printer drivers.
• How to teach PrinterSwitch about your printers
PrinterSwitch learns about each printer you use, one at a time. So the first time you use PrinterSwitch, it will only display one printer in its Printer menu. Try it now: in SimpleText, choose Print (P) then press OK. The Print dialog will appear. Press Cancel to exit the print dialog.
Open the Chooser and select a different printer. Then return to your application and Print (P) again. This time the PrinterSwitch menu will contain two printers. Once you've set up PrinterSwitch, you won't have to do it again. It saves your settings in a "PrinterSwitch Printers" folder inside the Preferences folder.
You may copy the PrinterSwitch Printers folder to other computers in your organization, and when you install PrinterSwitch on those computers, it will immediately know about the printers.
Tip: Each PrinterSwitch Printer file is named after the printer name (for example; "Office Printer"). You may change these names in the Finder, and the new names will appear in the PrinterSwitch menu.
• Configuring PrinterSwitch
PrinterSwitch has several options you can set via the PrinterSwitch control panel. Open the control panel and you will be presented with a number of choices:
You can configure PrinterSwitch to activate before the Print and/or Page Setup dialogs by using the checkboxes on the left.
If you select a "Hot key to activate", PrinterSwitch will not appear when you open Print or Page Setup dialogs, unless you hold down the "hot key". For example, if you set "shift" as your hot key, you should hold down the shift key while selecting Print or Page Setup from the menu.
PrinterSwitch has the ability to change Page Setup options before printing. This option is always under your control; a checkbox in the PrinterSwitch dialog allows you to enable or disable this feature. The popup menu labeled "Change Page Setup options before printing" allows you to set the default for the checkbox: At your option, it will be checked:
• Whenever you switch to a different printer driver (recommended)
• Whenever you switch to a different printer
• Always
• Never
The Register button allows you to register PrinterSwitch. Registration will allow you to use PrinterSwitch after your 14-day free trial period has ended. See the "How To Register" file for complete details.
* The PrinterSwitch Control Strip Module
Control Strip is a handy system utility, available in System 7.5.3 for all Macintoshes. For those who do not use Control Strip, the Desktop Strip utility is a good alternative.
You can find Desktop Strip at Men & Mice Software's web site:
http://www.menandmice.com/
Desktop Strip is also shareware, so if you use it you should register your copy.
"PrinterSwitch Strip" is a Control Strip Module that will work with either Control Strip or Desktop Strip. Here is a picture of a typical Control Strip with PrinterSwitch Strip installed:
The PrinterSwitch button is the rightmost button. When you press this button, the PrinterSwitch dialog will appear. This is handy for activating PrinterSwitch from the Finder, and activating PrinterSwitch from applications that do not use the standard Print and Page Setup dialogs (for example, Adobe PageMaker).
The only place the PrinterSwitch CSM will not work is from the Chooser. When the Chooser is active; the button will be disabled and will not function.
PrinterSwitch CSM requires that PrinterSwitch load at startup time. It will not install into the Control Strip unless PrinterSwitch has loaded.
Reference Section
• Known problems and solutions
PrinterSwitch will not activate when the PrinterSwitch control panel is open. Close the control panel before using PrinterSwitch.
The Printer status display only works with networked LaserWriter style printers; it will not work for networked StyleWriters or ImageWriters. Also, if AppleTalk is disabled, the printer status display will not appear.
The Printer status display may not show useful information if your printers are attached to print servers or print spoolers. Some print spoolers will always display a standard status message, instead of showing the printer's actual status. No fix is possible in the near-term.
PrinterSwitch will not auto-activate from within the Finder when you use Page Setup or Print.
However, PrinterSwitch may be used from the Finder via the PrinterSwitch Control Strip module.
Also, Apple Desktop Printers (Included with LaserWriter 8.3.2 and LaserWriter 8.4) provide functionality comparable to PrinterSwitch when used in the Finder.
Microsoft Word has problems printing when switching from any printer to the Global Village GlobalFax printer driver. This problem may occur with other printer drivers as well.
• Workaround: Switch to the GlobalFax printer driver by using the Chooser.
PrinterSwitch won't auto-activate from within programs that don't use standard Print or Page Setup dialogs (i.e. Adobe PageMaker.) Use the PrinterSwitch Control Strip module to activate PrinterSwitch from within these programs.
The PrinterSwitch dialog appears twice in a row if TonerTuner™ is installed. We are working on a fix for a future release; in the meantime, the best workaround is to set up a hot key to activate PrinterSwitch.
• Special Note
If you get a Macintosh printing error stating "The LaserWriter Prefs file is damaged. Please select another printer from the Chooser." This means that PrinterSwitch is confused about which LaserWriter Prefs file it ought to use. You should not encounter this message, but if you do, here's how to correct the problem:
1. Open the Preferences folder and drag the PrinterSwitch Printers folder to the trash.
2. Go to the Chooser and select a printer. This should fix the LaserWriter Prefs file problem.
3. Use PrinterSwitch as usual. Since you threw out the PrinterSwitch Printers folder, PrinterSwitch will rebuild this folder as it "relearns" your printers. You will have to teach PrinterSwitch about your printers once more (see above for details on how to do that.)
• Frequently asked questions
Q. Is PrinterSwitch compatible with LaserWriter 8.4?
A. Yes; PrinterSwitch can work quite well with the LaserWriter 8.4 driver. You can use PrinterSwitch to switch between different printer drivers, and use LaserWriter 8.4 to switch between your LaserWriter compatible printers, if you desire.
But:
LaserWriter 8.4 adds several new features, including advanced "page setup" functions. Software that takes advantage of these new, advanced functions may have problems if you switch from the LaserWriter 8.4 driver to a different printer driver by using PrinterSwitch.
As of this writing (8/1/96) no currently shipping software uses these advanced "page setup" functions. We will provide a solution very soon, to be compatible with new software before this becomes a problem.
Q. Will you be releasing a PowerMac - native version?
A. No. PrinterSwitch works by patching the original Apple Printing Manager. For a variety of technical reasons, the Apple Print Manager is not PowerMac - native code, and never will be. Therefore it would be counterproductive to write a PowerMac - native version of PrinterSwitch.
Q. Will you make PrinterSwitch work with QuickDraw GX?
A. No. QuickDraw GX works by entirely different mechanisms and it would be very difficult to adapt PrinterSwitch to that architecture. QuickDraw GX has its own, more convenient methods of switching between printers, so PrinterSwitch is not needed in that environment.
Q. How about Copland (System 8)?
A. No. System Extensions won't work under Copland, and the built-in printing architecture of Copland is Quickdraw GX. So (for the reasons mentioned in the question above) PrinterSwitch won't run with Copland.
• Release History
8/1/96 version 1.1
Version 1.1 adds a printer status display for networked printers (LaserWriters and similar printers from other manufacturers.)
PrinterSwitch Printer files can now be renamed, and appear in the menu with the name you choose.
PrinterSwitch will now recognize and save separate PrinterSwitch Printer files for a single printer with different PPD settings (works with LaserWriter 7.x and LaserWriter 8.x)
Added arrow-key selection of printers; up and down arrows will cycle through your list of printers.
Better handling of low-memory situations and better startup compatibility.
New file creator code 'PSWx' solves an unfortunate creator conflict.
6/10/96 version 1.0.4
Version 1.0.4 Adds support for the HP LaserJet 8.x printer drivers. Previous versions of PrinterSwitch would not save and restore the PPD files correctly.
Also added more convenient educational discount registration.
5/8/96 version 1.0.3
PrinterSwitch 1.0.3 fixes several bugs in version 1.0.2 and previous. Register D0 is now restored properly after exiting _PrGlue, this should solve some application compatibility issues. Also, a bug that may have caused crashes at startup time has been fixed.
New feature: You can now change Page Setup options from within PrinterSwitch. This will help users who switch between different types of printers (i.e. LaserWriter and ImageWriter II)
4/7/96 version 1.0.2
PrinterSwitch 1.0.2 supports up to 48 different printer/driver combinations. Previous versions supported 16.
Added support for the Adobe® PSPrinter driver. PrinterSwitch will correctly save and restore PSPrinter PPD files.
In versions 1.0 and 1.0.1, a damaged PrinterSwitch Preferences file would cause PrinterSwitch to freeze at startup. This has been fixed; PrinterSwitch will now report an error message instead.
3/25/96 version 1.0.1
Fixed a crash that may occur at startup when using system software earlier than System 7.5. (gory details: there's a documented bug in Apple's GestaltValue library code. PrinterSwitch 1.0 used this library, but for 1.0.1 I have removed the library and written my own Gestalt code.)
Upgraded to the latest version of the Register application (v1.2.3) now includes space for your comments.
2/22/96 version 1.0
First production-quality release to public.
Added PrinterSwitch Control Strip Module.
• Contact Information
email: Brookline_Software@kagi.com
postal mail: Brookline Software, 7 Strathmore Road #2, Brookline, MA 02146 USA
fax or telephone: +1 (617) 566-0883. Please use email instead, if at all possible.
All trademarks used in this document are the property of their respective owners.
Software publishers are permitted to redistribute PrinterSwitch 1.1 on CD-ROM or diskette, provided that:
• Only unregistered copies are distributed.
• Distribution is free or at a reasonable price (i.e. cost of production + distribution + modest profit)
• One (1) reference copy of each CD-ROM or diskette title is provided to Brookline Software. Mail the software to the address shown above in "Contact Information".
