Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Chapter 13. Graphics, Fonts, and Printing

The Macintosh may be only the five-percent solution in the mainstream business world, but in the graphics and printing industries, it’s the 800-pound gorilla. You’d better believe that when Apple designed Mac OS X, it worked very hard to keep its graphics and printing fans happy.

This chapter tackles printing, faxing, fonts, graphics, and ColorSync. It also covers PDF (Acrobat) files, which Mac OS X uses as an everyday exchange format—one of the biggest perks in Mac OS X.

Mac Meets Printer

One of the biggest complaints about the original Mac OS X was that at the outset, not many printer companies had rewritten their printer drivers—the software that controls various printer models—for Mac OS X.

Fortunately, the situation has improved: Today’s Mac OS X comes preinstalled with hundreds of printer drivers. All the major printer companies—Epson, HP, Canon, and so on—are on the case, working to develop drivers for current and future printer models. Even so, millions of older printers are incompatible with Mac OS X. The moral: Investigate the situation before you buy the printer (or before you upgrade to Mac OS X).

When you’re ready to hook up your printer, follow this guide:

1. Connect the printer to the Mac, and then turn the printer on.

   Inkjet printers usually connect to your USB jack. Laser printers generally hook up to your Ethernet connector. (If you’re on an office network, the laser printer may already be connected somewhere else on the network, ...