🚀 go-pugleaf

To oversimplify:

Talking to a printer requries both a printer driver and a printer
controller.

The printer driver runs on your computer, while the printer controller
runs inside the printer.

A printer might, in effect, have multiple controllers which talk
different languages.

So, the manufacturer would make the printer controller just once, but
someone needs to make a printer driver for each system (Mac OS X and
Mac OS 9 are different systems; Windows 9x and Windows NT/2000/XP are
different systems).  And the PostScript driver for systems already
exists, manufacturers don't have to make it.

Many more drivers have been written for Windows, so your ability to
use printers in the Mac is more limited.

There are two main reasons for this
1. Commercial - there is more money in selling printers for Windows.
Apple's update to Mac OS X has compounded this because manufacturers
may have written drivers years ago for Mac OS 9 and kept selling them,
with minor updates for new models; but they don't want the investment
of a new Mac OS X driver.
2. Historical - PostScript is much more associated with the Mac. More
Mac users buy PostScript. More Mac applications expect or work best
with PostScript.

So, if they say a printer is not compatible with the Mac, believe
them. It means the driver doesn't exist.

Aandi Inston