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Phaser 300X


Using the Phaser 300X GX driver
If you are using Apple Macintosh QuickDraw GX, use the Phaser 300X GX driver to print to your Phaser 300X printer.

System requirements

Note:You must have an optional PhaserShare card installed in the printer before using the installed software.
The Tektronix Phaser 300X GX printer driver requires the following hardware and software:

Installing the Phaser 300X GX printer driver

  1. Follow the instructions in "Using the Macintosh Installer" to install the Phaser 300X GX printer driver.

    Select Easy Install to automatically install the printer's software, or select the Phaser 300X GX printer driver option in the Custom Install window on the printer's CD-ROM.

    The driver is only installed if you are running QuickDraw GX on your Macintosh.

  2. Go on to "Creating a desktop printer" for instructions on creating a desktop printer.

Creating a desktop printer

 QuickDraw GX requires you to create desktop printers for printing. Depending on the type of application you are using, printing is as easy as dragging a document onto a desktop printer icon.

Note:If you want to rename the printer listed in the Chooser, do so before creating any desktop printers. If you rename the printer in the Chooser, any desktop printers referring to that printer will not work, and must be removed to the Trash and recreated. See "Changing the printer's name" for instructions on using the LaserWriter Utility to rename the printer.
  1. Select Chooser from the Apple menu.
  2. Click the Phaser 300X GX printer driver icon on the left side of the Chooser. A list appears with the printers available on your network. (If the printer driver icon does not appear, Restart your Macintosh, and repeat the printer driver installation procedure; also, check the cable connections on your computer and printer.)
  3. In the Connect via field's pop-up menu, select your printer's communication method:
  4. Click on your Phaser 300X printer in the list of printers on the right side of the Chooser.
  5. Click the Create button to create a desktop printer. An icon of the printer appears on the desktop with the same name as the printer selected in the Chooser.
  6. Close the Chooser by clicking its close box.

Setting up unique desktop printers

 You can create more than one desktop printer of the same physical printer. Each desktop printer can be set up with different print modes or options and given a descriptive name. This feature makes it easy to print to a specific printer with the options you want already selected.

  1. Create a desktop printer; see "Creating a desktop printer" for instructions.
  2. Select (highlight) a desktop printer icon.
    The Printing menu appears in the menu bar at the top of the Macintosh screen.
  3. Use the Printer Driver Defaults command in the Printing menu to select options for desktop printers; see "Selecting printing options" for details.
  4. To rename the desktop printer, highlight the icon on the desktop and type a new name. Renaming a desktop printer has no effect on the printer's name in the Chooser.

Printing with a desktop printer

 If you are using QuickDraw GX applications, do one of the following:

If you are using non-QuickDraw GX applications, do one of the following:

Using the Printing menu

Most of the commands in the Printing menu are standard QuickDraw GX driver commands, and are documented by Apple (see the Macintosh Guide on-line document for details). The last group of commands in this menu are printer-specific.

Control printing

Use the Start Print Queue and Stop Print Queue commands in the Printing menu to control the print queues on individual desktop printers.

  1. Select (highlight) a desktop printer icon.
  2. From the Printing menu, select either Start Print Queue or Stop Print Queue.

Designating a default desktop printer

  1. Select (highlight) a desktop printer icon.
  2. From the Printing menu, select Set Default Printer.
    A check-mark appears next to the command, and a bold outline appears around the desktop printer's icon.

Using printing extensions

 Use the Extension Setup command in the Printing menu to specify which third-party printing extensions you want enabled for the currently selected desktop printer. By default, all printing extensions are enabled.

  1. Select (highlight) a desktop printer icon.
  2. Select Extension Setup from the Printing menu.
  3. Make selections as desired.
  4. Click Save.

Selecting printing options

Use the Printer Driver Defaults command in the Printing menu to set default options for the selected desktop printer. This dialog box includes such options as the color corrections and print quality modes.

Note:The printer defaults dialog box is also available through the Print command in the File menu for QuickDraw GX applications.

Phaser 300X Defaults

Options

Where to find details

Color Correction
  • None
  • Vivid Color
  • Simulate Display
  • SWOP Press
  • Euroscale Press
  • Commercial Press
  • SNAP Press
  • Monochrome
  • Use Printer Setting
  • Custom profile list*
    		•  Correcting Printed Colors
    Print Quality
  • Standard
  • Enhanced
  • Premium
    		•  Selecting Media and Image Options
    Finepoint Sharpening Check box on or off. (The default is on.)
    Color Control Strip Check box on or off. (The default is off.)
    Display Manual Feed Dialogs Check box on to see a dialog box confirming each page you want to print with manual feed. (The default is on.)

    * This option is available with the printer's extended features option only.

    Downloading printer utilities

    Use the Printer Utilities command in the Printing menu to download printer utility files to the selected desktop printer. This command cannot be used on a shared printer, except by the Macintosh hosting the shared printer.

    1. Select (highlight) a desktop printer icon.
    2. Select Printer Utilities from the Printing menu.
    3. In the Utility pop-up menu, select the utility you want downloaded to the printer, then click OK. See the following table for a list of utilities available in this dialog box.
    4. If you see an alert message, click OK or Cancel as desired. The utilities in the following table can be downloaded to the printer with the Printer Utilities command from the Printing menu.

      Utilities

      		 Where to find details
    5. Print Startup Page
    6. Print Configuration Page
      		7.  Modifying Printer Operations
    7. Print CMYK Sampler
    8. Print RGB Sampler
    9. Print HSB Sampler
    10. Print Fonts Sampler
    11. Print PANTONE Sampler
      		12.  Using Color

    Download PostScript files

    Use the Send PostScript File command in the Printing menu to download PostScript files to the selected desktop printer. For example, use this command to download the utility files included on the CD-ROM shipped with the printer. This command cannot be used on a shared printer, except by the Macintosh hosting the shared printer.

    1. Select (highlight) a desktop printer icon.
    2. Select Send PostScript File from the Printing menu.
    3. Select the PostScript file you want to download.
    4. Click Open to send the file to the printer.

    Setting up a shared printer

     You can share a desktop printer in the same way you share files, folders, or volumes, with the Sharing command in the File menu. Both the host and client computers must have a copy of the same printer driver.

    1. Create a desktop printer; see "Creating a desktop printer" for instructions.
    2. Highlight the desktop printer icon you want to share.
    3. Select Sharing from the File menu.
    4. Click the check box to turn on Share this printer.
    5. Click the close box.
    6. At the alert message, click Save.
    7. The desktop printer's icon changes to reflect the change in status to a shared printer.

    Using a shared printer

     If you want to use a printer hosted by another user's computer, do the following:

    1. Open the Chooser from the Apple menu.
    2. Click the Phaser 300X GX printer driver icon on the left side of the Chooser.
    3. In the Connect via pop-up menu, select Servers.
    4. The list of printers in the Chooser changes to show only shared printers. Click on the shared printer you want to use.
    5. Close the Chooser.

    Printing from QuickDraw GX applications

     Use the following dialog boxes if you are using QuickDraw GX applications with the Phaser 300X GX driver.

    Using the Page Setup dialog box

    Select Page Setup from the File menu, then click the More Choices button to see the extended dialog box.

    Refer to Apple's QuickDraw GX documentation for instructions on installing printing extensions; refer to "Using printing extensions" to use the Extensions Setup command in the Printing menu to enable installed printing extensions.

    Using the Print dialog box

     Select Print from the File menu, then click the More Choices button to see the extended dialog box.

    Using the TekColor printing extension

     In the Print dialog box, select the TekColor icon in the scrollable list at the left of the dialog box to see printer options.

    Note:This dialog box is similar to the one that appears when you select Printer Driver Defaults from the Printing menu; refer to "Selecting printing options" for details.
    The default settings in this dialog box reflect the defaults for the selected desktop printer. With most applications, you can change the printing options and save those options with each document.

    Printing from non-QuickDraw GX applications

    If you are using non-QuickDraw GX applications with the Phaser 300X GX driver, the Page Setup and Print dialog boxes look similar to the standard LaserWriter driver. However, these dialog boxes have no printer-specific options, such as TekColor color corrections. These dialog boxes reflect the selections made in the default desktop printer. You cannot change these printer settings from an application, but you can change them by selecting (highlighting) the default desktop printer and using the Printer Driver Defaults command in the Printing menu.

    You can also change the default desktop printer before you change printing selections. To change the default desktop printer, see "Designating a default desktop printer".

    Changing a desktop printer's default selections

    1. Click to highlight the default desktop printer.
    2. From the Printing menu, select Printer Driver Defaults.
    3. Make desired printer selections, then click OK and return to your application.

    Viewing printer status

     Once you send a print job to a desktop printer, you can monitor the status of the print job in the Printer Status dialog box.

    There are two ways to open the Printer Status dialog box:

    Disabling QuickDraw GX

     You may want to disable QuickDraw GX when printing from some non-QuickDraw GX applications so you can use a driver such as the Adobe PSPrinter driver.

    There are two ways to disable QuickDraw GX:

    Method 1

    1. Open the Extensions folder inside the System Folder.
    2. Drag the QuickDraw GX extension onto the desktop.
    3. Select Restart from the Special menu.

      Method 2

    1. Select Extensions Manager in the Control Panel.
    2. Click to disable all QuickDraw GX entries, such as QuickDraw GX and QuickDraw Helper.
    3. Select Restart from the Special menu. Any desktop printers created before you disabled QuickDraw GX will have an "X" drawn through their icons. These desktop printers remain unavailable for use until QuickDraw GX is re-enabled.

    Note:During installation, QuickDraw GX altered the Fonts folder inside your System Folder. If you disable QuickDraw GX, you may need to reinstall some fonts.

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