Yesterday I finally got enough stuff working on the new workstation for me to make it my main workstation. When you get to that point, you don’t want to delay, because it’s complicated to keep two machines in synch. File synch’ers aren’t particularly useful when there are a bunch of files that should be different and a bunch that shouldn’t. What allows me to call a computer my main one is where it is and to what it’s connected. I moved the new workstation to where I like to work, but didn’t plug in a lot of the USB cables; I need to do that one at a time, either just before or just after installing the drivers, depending on the peripheral.
I use a Logitech wireless mouse but I don’t like the large and invasive suite of applications that get loaded when you install the driver. I’ve discovered that their mice work just fine with the base Windows drivers, albeit with some loss in function and programmability, so I just plugged in the mouse and left the Logitech software out.
My main monitor is an NEC PA301W. Before I do any serious image editing on my new workstation, I need to install SpectraView II software. I downloaded it from the NEC web site, but it wanted the serial number of an earlier installation, and I couldn’t find the CD that shipped with my monitor. I went through all my old installation CDs, and made an impressive pile of the ones that I don’t need any more:
I will call NEC on Monday, and see what I can work out with them.
I have a Fujitsu document scanner that I use to turn piles of paper into bits on a disk. I downloaded and installed the driver. I installed a Fujitsu scanning app that came with the scanner. I tried to update it, but the new software didn’t recognize the old app, and refused to carry on:
The old app seems to work OK, so I’ll just leave it.
I downloaded and installed the Epson 4900 and 9800 drivers. It was not painless. I favor USB connections for Epson Pro printers, although I’m happy to use business printers over a LAN. At first, the printer driver installer couldn’t find the 4900:
but on the third try, it did.
but on the third try, it did.
I installed the device profiles that I’d made for both printers. I made a test print, after cleaning the heads.
With the 9800, the driver installer never found the printer. When I said to install to a TCP printer port, it said it succeeded:
but couldn’t print over it and the properties didn’t look right:
I manually selected a USB port. Windows shows the 4900 and the 9800 sharing a USB port:
I unplugged and plugged in the USB line and finally got Windows to assign different USB ports to the two printers.
That seemed to fix it. I did a nozzle check, and they were all working, in spite of the fact that the last print I made on the 9800 was a month ago.
While I was making a test print on the 9800, I noticed that two of the inks were low. Since it was just a test print, I took the opportunity to do something which I’d always wanted to try, but never had the nerve to do. I walked up to the printer, opened the right ink door, lowered the lever, noticed that the printer stopped printing, took out the old cartridge and put in the new one, raised the lever, and did the same thing on the left side. After a few seconds, the printer started printing again. When I pulled the print out, I couldn’t see where I had changed the cartridges. Good job, Epson.
Leave a Reply