New Epson ET 8550, Need to Install Drivers for iPad & iPhone

[Latte1]

Hi,

I just purchased this computer. I've listened to a number of You Tube videos on unboxing it & setting it up, but they've said not to download drivers for Air Print & for right now, that is what I need.

I went on the Epson website & downloaded the app for it. Can I install the drivers from that, will it find my wifi?

Down the road, I'd like to be able to connect it to a very old desktop that isn't hooked up right now because of a flood. However, the OS isn't up to date & I'm not going to upgrade it because I'd have to wipe everything out & start from scratch. It's at a point where I can't just upgrade over it. I don't need it for the internet at all, just some programs on there that I can't install any longer. Do you think I'd be able to do that?

Also, while I was watching the videos online, I saw that it does come in black, but it certainly isn't easy to find & the two places that have it are charging $250 more for it. Any idea why it's difficult to find in black?

While I was looking for it in black though, some places list a ET & a Super ET with the latter being $100 more & I don't know what the difference is? I was hoping I might be able to find that out also.

I sure miss the time when stores had all of these set up & you could try them in the stores & the sales people actually had knowledge of them.

I appreciate any info you can give me. Thanks so much!

 

[James Mike]

Printer Drivers seem to exist for atleast windows 7 and OSX 10.6 ? Not sure if they actually include drivers for your printer for OSes that old or they only work for older printers that may also be supported by that Driver package.

It is probably less confusing even if it is a bit more time consuming to do the initial(@7:00-18:29) and network setup(@22:19) from the printer itself rather than start from a PC/Phone. The driver setup program(presumably the phone app as well) has prompts on how to get the printer onto the network but the mobile app/setup program is not required for the printer to connect to a network.

Once the printer is connected to the network the app should be able to detect and use the printer and the driver setup on your computer will prompt you with the printer's name and address when selecting the wireless setup option instead of showing the instructions for connecting the printer to the network. Basic printing functions may even work without the companion app on your phone provided that drivers for the inbuilt printing services are available or has been downloaded.

Network Setup can be done in three ways with your product from the looks of it. You can either enter manually enter your network credentials from the printer itself, Do a push button configure between your home router and printer, or have a computer connected to the wireless network configure the printer for wireless connection during driver setup.

Directly Printing to the Printer via wifi-direct should also work with your printer.

 

[Latte1]

Printer Drivers seem to exist for atleast windows 7 and OSX 10.6 ? Not sure if they actually include drivers for your printer for OSes that old or they only work for older printers that may also be supported by that Driver package.

It is probably less confusing even if it is a bit more time consuming to do the initial(@7:00-18:29) and network setup(@22:19) from the printer itself rather than start from a PC/Phone. The driver setup program(presumably the phone app as well) has prompts on how to get the printer onto the network but the mobile app/setup program is not required for the printer to connect to a network.

Once the printer is connected to the network the app should be able to detect and use the printer and the driver setup on your computer will prompt you with the printer's name and address when selecting the wireless setup option instead of showing the instructions for connecting the printer to the network. Basic printing functions may even work without the companion app on your phone provided that drivers for the inbuilt printing services are available or has been downloaded.

Network Setup can be done in three ways with your product from the looks of it. You can either enter manually enter your network credentials from the printer itself, Do a push button configure between your home router and printer, or have a computer connected to the wireless network configure the printer for wireless connection during driver setup.

Directly Printing to the Printer via wifi-direct should also work with your printer.

 

[Latte1]

Thank you so much for your reply. I'll worry about the old computer later and keep my fingers crossed for now.



I got it connected to the wifi yesterday, but when I printed out an invitation I made in Procreate, from Procreate, (two cards on one 8-1/2" x 11"), it printed it with an 1/8" border, even though it was designed borderless.



From what I've seen, it's because I didn't get a full printer setup dialogue box, just how many copies & what quality?



Am I going to have to bring this file onto my laptop into Word to print it?



If that's the case, do you know if I can buy Word for my iPad because I don't want to rent it from the Cloud & lose my privacy. If so, do you know where I buy it from and would it bring up the full dialogue box where I could select borderless?



I want to know these things because I still have a week and a half that I can return this printer. I bought this just for my few little fun projects to be able to print borderless, so it's an expensive toy.



Another question would be, knowing what I want it for, do you have any other suggestions that would work for me?



Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. These forums are a wonderful source of help!

 

[Latte1]

Update...



I have the drivers installed on my laptop. I opened the pdf file I created i Procreate, but while it's a larger printer dialogue box, there still wasn't an option to select "borderless" & I checked Advanced & More Options.



Does anyone know what application I need to open this in to get the borderless option?



I am so frustrated. Thanks again so much, fingers crossed, someone must know.

 

[glasseye]

Never printed from Procreate, but all apps I've used have a button in their print dialog labeled "Print Settings". That's where all the paper size, quality settings and paper source are chosen. That's the borderless option appears.

 

[Latte1]

Unfortunately, not in Procreate because they don't use drivers for it, it's very limited.

I couldn't find an option in Adobe Reader either, even going into Advanced Settings.

 

[glasseye]

Workaround would be to export the document from the iPad/Procreate and print it in another app.

 

[Latte1]

Workaround would be to export the document from the iPad/Procreate and print it in another app.

 

[Latte1]

That's what I'm trying to do, but not as easy as it sounds. I downloaded the Epson Print Layout App & finally got to a borderless option, but something is still wrong when I tried to print it. I'm going to call Epson in the morning, thanks.