Apple updates printer drivers, Aperture for 10.6, 10.7
updated 07:00 pm EDT, Thu June 28, 2012
Smaller printer brands get expanded support
Apple has pushed out a minor upgrade to it's earlier major update of Aperture, released two weeks ago. The new 3.3.1 version fixes a bug that could cause the program to hang or crash when upgrading libraries to the new iPhoto and Aperture unified format. The company also introduced or updated hundreds of printer and scanner drivers for major brands under Snow Leopard and Lion, along with more support for several smaller printer brands.
The Aperture update is only for owners of the most recent version, requiring OS X Lion 10.7.4. The 3.3 version announced at the WWDC and released that week also added support for AVCHD video, an Auto-Enhance option, a "set desktop" wallpaper function, new preferences, and many re-designed or enhanced tools, including the Highlights & Shadows function, the White Balance tool, custom sorting, improved monochrome-theme design elements, support for camera-generated RAW previews and more.
Apple has issued updates for nearly every brand of printer it supports, and in many cases every individual printer or AIO device has received an update to its driver for Snow Leopard and Lion. Brands that had little support before have also been expanded, including devices from Gestetner, Infotec, Lanier, NRG, Ricoh and Savin. In addition, Apple has added three InfoPrint devices, the first time the company has appeared on the list of officially-supported printers.
A number of companies saw all their existing drivers updated, along with the usual number of new models added, including Epson, Brother and Fuji-Xerox. Only a handful of updates or additions appeared for Canon (though the PRO-1 line is now supported), HP, Lexmark and Samsung (for the latter, only one model -- the ML-2580 -- was updated). Xerox's own line of printer and AIO devices (including its Techtronix subsidiary) was notable for being the only brand with no updates or additions whatsoever.
The updated drivers will appear on a contextual basis for the affected Macs. Generally, users will see only updates for the printers they have installed, though some users may see generic brand updates for all the printers for which they have available drivers even if they are not using those printers, or drivers for printers they no longer use but which have not been removed from the printer list. The Aperture update is available through Software Update, the Mac App Store and the support website.
