this is how the world works. i don't see the big deal. that's like saying, "how dare you stop making parts to my 30 year old car and suggest i buy a new one!"

The HP greedy response is exately why I only use Canon printers and other Canon products. EVERY call to Canon customer service or tech support has been a positive experience for me.

I had an incompatibility issue with a Canon printer. After an hour on the phone they could not resolve the issue, they sent a new printer to me overnight FEDEX and I returned the old one.

My out of warranty Canon digital camera had a recall just before Christmas 2007 because of defective sensor. It was sent back before Christmas, repaired free of charge. I would ditch HP and go with Canon printers and scanners.

Have you tried using Image Capture (included in Leopard) for scanning?

@nequam: I should add that certain TWAIN scanners do not work properly with "universal" apps in Leopard if the manufacturer has not updated its drivers. There is a work around by setting the app to "Open with Rosetta," which can be done by right-clicking the app icon and selecting "Get Info" -- click the corresponding check-box.

Try vuescan at [www.hamrick.com]

It got my old scanner working on osx. There is a free trial but costs $40. Might be cheaper to buy a new one, crappy as that may be.

Now I'm confused. I thought Mac's "Just worked?"

Classic "This is not an old printer, I bought it 4 years ago". Sorry, but yes it is an old printer. It's unfortunate that HP doesn't want to support a printer they haven't sold in 4 years. (the 6110 actually came out 5 years ago)

It's just not economically feasible. The cost of developing new drivers just isn't worth it. HP understands they may lose customers, but the very few they lose won't offset the expense of creating new drivers.

Now, you should definitely try using a similar driver or a generic GIMP driver. You may be able to get it working. Also have you tried OSX Image Capture? I've found it to work on scanners that did not have supported drivers.

@ChewySquirrel: heh. Driver support for the Mac is pathetic in some cases. If you've never heard of the concept of buying drivers, you've never owned a Mac.

I had the same problem with an HP scanner when I had to replace my XP computer with one that ran Vista, no Vista drivers for my recent model scanner, and no plans to offer upgraded drivers. HP did offer a generic driver that would let it run with limited function.

I bought a Cannon scanner and printer, never to use HP again,companies want you to be loyal to them,but never want to return the favor.

HP is wortheless. Did the same thing with most of their printers with Vista..of course I dumped HP a long time ago

@ChewySquirrel: Sadly, HP "just doesn't"

@snoop-blog: If this was some 10-yr-old antique, I could understand this stance. But a printer usually has a lifetime well beyond four years. It is not unreasonable to expect it to be supported for that long. Especially since printers do not become obsolete as quickly as the computers themselves. There are still plenty of LaserJet 4's in the field.

@EricaKane: My final straw with HP was two separate incidents. In the first, the battery for my laptop died under warranty and it took them two months to decide that it was out of stock. When they realized this, they simply canceled my warranty order. The second was when I went to buy replacement screws for said laptop. A tiny little ziploc bag of five screws was going to be $48 each.

Macs may have a lot going for them, but this is a prime example of what makes Apple a risky choice.

I juat had a similar experience with HP. I have a 3 year-old printer/scanner that won't feed paper. This is apparently a common problem with these models as there are a bunch of people on the web with the same issue. I called HP and they insisted that I pay for a $60 kit to fix the problem, or buy a new printer. I was very angry. I used to buy HP products all the time, and actually was an HP investor for a while. No more. I refuse to buy any more products from them. What a terrible company.

@ckolony:

They're the most successful (in terms of volume sales) printer and computer company in the world, precisely because they care fuck-all about complaints like these. Consumers themselves and their lust for new, constantly-updated gadgets have created this environment. Lay in the bed you've made.

He'll be able to "Print dew?"
And here I am buying it by the can like a sucker.

That's when you say, thank you, I will... but, it will be an Epson.

"This is not an old printer, I bought it 4 years ago and I'd think it's in their best interest to support the segment of the market that's moving to Mac."

Newsflash -- this _is_ an old printer by today's standards. Bottom line, you can't expect every OS to support your Hardware...

HP is committed to supporting 2 OSes -- Microsoft and Linux*. I'm willing to bet that Apple is an afterthought.

* /me thinks Scott W. needs to install Fedora. If his printer doesn't work there at least they'll make it work ;)

I really don't think there's a problem here. You shouldn't expect HP to keep updating software and drivers on obsolete products. If you got 4 years out of a $200 printer, consider yourself incredibly fortunate. These low-end officejets usually break after a year or two.

dude...buy a real computer and maybe someone will support it with drivers...

@snoop-blog: @MaelstromRider: I agree with you guys. Find a creative solution. If the printer was not intended to run on your OS, then why are you so pissed off? You bought it knowing what it Would and Would Not work under. You changed the operating system, deal with it yourself.

@NickRB: @thetango: agreed. a printer that is four years old, is old compared to tech standards. if your pc can become outdated in 4 years time, guess what that means all the hardware you bought will be outdated as well. and from what i read, the printer worked fine until he decided to switch to mac so how is this hp's fault? everyone knows mac's have compatibility problems, and i'm sure hp never advertised it to work with the system the op set up. i'm not saying hp is so wonderful, just that this guy has an unwarranted complaint.

Only semi-germane, but one of my favorite purchases ever was my Samsung ML-2010 laser printer about 2 years back for a mere $25 after rebate. I had to refill the ink last year for only $10 including shipping on eBay. I've printed around 3000 pages so far, and while it doesn't print as darkly as my laser printer at work, for such a lower price, I'll certainly live with that.

I still see them for sale for $50 or so occassionally -- highly recommended if you're just looking for an inexpensive laser printer.

Shoot when I went to buy ink for my old printer, I discovered it was cheaper to buy a new printer (yes, both HP) so I did that. And I now refill my own cartridges. Anymore, they're designed to be "disposable".

HP = Greedy ????

For not writing new drivers for a 5 year old product?

Oh grow up.

This is nothing new for HP and OS X, unfortunately.

I used to have issues with an old HP deskjet 5550 with an add-on duplexing unit that would "break" every time I installed a major upgrade. Even if I set it to do portrait duplexing, it would still do landscape duplexing. After two separate OS upgrades (10.3 and 10.4, I think?), I wound up eventually having to manually remove all of HP's inkjet drivers from /Library/Printers and install the stock drivers off the OS X install disc.

More recently, I got a (used) LaserJet 1320 and found out that they have no working printer utility bundled with the current driver! The stock drivers will print fine and do duplexing as they should, but if the yellow light starts blinking and there's still paper in the tray it's anyone's guess as to what it's trying to tell me is wrong.

Now I've got a vastly-superior Canon inkjet to replace the deskjet, and the next time I get a laser printer I'll probably go Samsung (which I deeply regret not doing at the time I decided on the used laserjet).

Forgot to add: I'm talking about the driver HP has for the 1320 on their own website, not just the one bundled with OS X.

I don't see what the issue is. Maybe he should have made sure the all in one had leopard drivers before making the switch.

It used to be that if you needed a extra workhorse laser printer, you looked for a used HP. There are thousands of 5's and 6's still out there. They still update the drivers, still make parts, and they still make toner.
Guess they learned their lesson.

@ChewySquirrel: They do. HP scanners, however...

@Taed: I also like the Samsung printers. I have a little black/white I've used for years.

For scanning, I just use a cheap Canon LiDE25 using xsane.

Non-issue. Next time you decide to completely change your OS environment like that, do your homework first. Oh, and go buy a new printer.

@snoop-blog: My only complaint with that it is a PRINTER. You shoot Postscript or PCL4 to the thing, and you should be rewarded with a nice piece of paper. We're not talking about memory or video cards which actually differ physically in how they attach or magic API's to access the GPU's.

Try looking up hplip info - apparently it is supposed to compile on OS-X, and it does support your printer.

BTW, if you need a new HP printer, get toe OJ Pro 7680 or the Officejet 5610 (with the number 56 cartridge). They'll save you a ton on ink.

@btdown:
HAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, a REAL computer, the kind that's a worthless copy of Apple's OS, riddled with security holes, malware, & virii.

Ha. Yeah, a REAL computer...

Thanks for that laugh, I needed it this morning. phew!

You must have missed the posts about the same thing happening w/ Vista upgrades? Yeah... I'm sorry, I grew up on macs, "switched" to Windows, and after I almost threw my computer out of a window in frustration, "switched" back in 2003. Computing's 'fun' again, thanks, and yeah with a rare exception it does "just work." I love reading about people knocking macs, and they always cite some stupid shit that doesn't matter to most folks, usually along the lines of some more "high-tech" goodies... Sadly though, missing the point that if they were so "high tech" it wouldn't matter what OS you're on, you'd be "High-tech" enough to do it yourself (write that program, goodie!). When in actuality, you're just upset that there's no Kazaa client for you to d/l ripped porno & shit.

For the rest of us that just want our computers to work, doing average everyday stuff, and aren't concerned w/ Kazaa & malware & viruses? Yeah thanks, I'll be sticking w/ my Mac, Anti-virus-free (and virus free, oh my!) since 2002 and still going strong.

Yes gaming sucks on a Mac, don't bother telling me. Thankfully, I actually use my computer to compute. If I wanted to play games, I'd get a PS3 or Xbox360. Both're pretty sweet gaming machines, and much cheaper (and cheaper to maintain) than a winblows rig.

haha. a REAL computer he says....

@redhand32:
Here here on the Canon printers.

I started w/ epson, switched to HP after too many failed cartridges and shitting printing, only to experience the same shitting printing and crappy failed cartridges. PLUS, at least w/ epson you don't have to install their CD of crappy programs that lay everywhere on the system and fail to do what you ask them to do (No gawdammit, I don't want you in my dock now leave!), they WILL just work as a printer & with image capture as a scanning port.

Canon though is leaps and bounds better. I have not had one, repeat ONE issue with my Canon products, be it camera or Printer. the cartridges are a little more expensive, BUT since they work and print perfectly every time, that means I don't have to buy a new printer as often to get prints, actually SAVING me money.

Bottom line: IF YOU'RE IN DOUBT WHICH PRINTER TO BUY, SHOP THE CANONS. THEY WILL WORK BETTER FOR YOU, EVEN IF THEY'RE A LITTLE PRICIER (save $30 now spend an extra $100 later, guys & girls).

Seriously

Set up a CUPS + SANE server using Linux and have Leopard print using that. As for scanning, here are just a few frontends you can put to use: [www.sane-project.org]

@SacraBos: i thought he could print, just not scan. at least that's is the way the article read right? rta!!!!

update, i read it once again, and yeah i'm pretty sure the op said it would print, just not scan.

to me this seems more like a mac vs. pc problem more than hp's problem. lets face it, pc is more widely used, and therefore has more hardware that supports it. PERIOD. you have no legit complaint, in fact it's more of a bitch and moaning of how uncapatible macs really are. that's your real bitch, it's just you stuck too far up steve jobs azz to admit anything that is a con of the mac system. i like windows better, but i'm not afraid to admit there are things i don't like about it. mac users are like living this lie that macs have NO problems ever, in fact it's not mac's fault, it's hp's yeah that's it.

@randombob

At least my printer works in Linux, too.

@snoop-blog: "i don't see the big deal. that's like saying, "how dare you stop making parts to my 30 year old car and suggest i buy a new one!""

Careful (or any) reading of the article shows that the printer isn't thirty years old, it's four years old. So it's like saying "how dare you stop making parts for my 4 year old car and suggest I buy a new one!"

I agree, 4 years old is not something that HP has to support anymore, but while searching some other tech support sites, many users are reporting that other drivers work fine. Try:

1. Using the drivers for the Officejet 6210 ([h10025.www1.hp.com]
)

2. Using the drivers designed for OS X 10.2.8 ([h10025.www1.hp.com])

3. If you're willing to pay for it, try VueScan ([www.hamrick.com])

4. Try this file: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software9/COL21156/mp-55656-1/HP_Installer_PSC7100_v9.7beta.dmg others are reporting success with it too.

@SacraBos: "I also like the Samsung printers. I have a little black/white I've used for years."

I agree. I have a Samsung ML-1710 personal laser printer which I picked up for $80 about five years ago. I've seen similar models for as cheap as $50. Yes, the toner is $70, but it seems to last a long time (haven't replaced mine yet), doesn't dry out, is waterproof, etc.

4 years is not new for technology, including printers. I have an old HP 5550 inkjet and they haven't put out new drivers for at least 3 years on it. I don't expect them to keep supporting my old hardware every time a new OS comes out.

My next printer will be Epson or Canon; while my printer works ok, the drivers are buggy and sometimes cause it to freak out. Plus the HP ink is WAY too expensive.

I find a major issue is a problem of nomenclature. Quite a few people think that it's like going from SP1 to SP2 or something like that, a gradual increase, when actually the jump from Tiger to Leopard is more akin to 95>98.

There have actually been substantial changes to the PDF/Print/Preview system in OS X with each decimal version (at least since 11.3. I dunno before then). Driver support for such older printers when going up a version have always been kind of fleeting.

The problem isn't just HP either.

@StevieD: "HP = Greedy ????"

Inkjet ink costs several hundred dollars per ounce. Some manufacturers also place logic in the cartridge so that once it's empty it can't be refilled with cheaper ink.

So, yeah, the inkjet cartel could fairly be labeled "greedy".

I'm surprised they don't spend the relative little cost to support the printer, though, since the printer is pretty much a vehicle to get people to keep buying the ink.

who says my canon printer doesn't work in linux? And how is that relevant a) to the OP issue, or b) your previous comment, or c) mine? Yeah I think you're missing all the points, mang.

All I'm saying is that (A) my Mac is indeed a real computer. It has issues same as your Winblows computer has issues, it's at tradeoff (I get a computer that generally "just works" but doesn't have "program A" or some shit you're going to complain about; and you get games, malware, viruses & BSOD's, yay!), and also (B) HP and Epson printers both blow donkey b*lls, get a Canon and you'll printer longer, better, and actually have support from the manufacturer.

To the OP: Dude, I feel for you, but in all reality 4 years is an eternity for a printer, and as you can read in the posts, BOTH new OS's are having the same issues. It IS a manufacturer problem in a sense (HP not supportive w/ new drivers), but others are right to say that you can't expect them to expend resources forever supporting old models... is 4 years "forever?" Yeah, maybe in the printer world it is. 30 years for a car = 4 years for a printer? I'd say that's probably fair. So uh, get a Canon and get to work!

(For the record, I've got an Canon MP510 w/ scanner and it's working for me on 10.5 every which way; $120 or so new a year ago and not a problem to report, and Canon DID upgrade their drivers when 10.5 came out, what a concept, huh?)

snoop-blog, in the pecking order of printers, even when it was new, the 6110 was a dog. Cost per print was too high compared to the competition. The fact that the unit is still working for this guy is a testament to how well this guy treated the printer.

As an aside, the 6110 is not really a HP OEM designed device. Its offshore third party with an HP nameplate. So when the Taiwan developer moved on so did HP. Sorry that is just the way it is. Fact most of the inkjets sold are now OEM'd from overseas. Only the high end models are built by the likes of HP/Lexmark/Xerox.

@ckolony: You're angry because you have a 3 year old printer with a worn out part, and they want to charge you for a replacement part that will fix it?

Be happy they're not telling you "out of luck, buy a new one" like they're telling the OP. At least you have an option that doesn't involve the local landfill.

A good example of why you shouldn't buy "all-in-one" devices. They generally suck when it comes to drivers and support.

Want something that lasts forever? Look for the "business" or "enterprise" version of a product. Sometimes costs a few bucks more (often same price), doesn't come bundled with garbage "trials" and silly features.

I've been doing the whole business thing for ages, and it works well.