Oh-oh. CD printer?

[PeterBJ]

There is a couple of steps more when printing CDs on a Canon printer, at least with my printers. You must first start the CD print software and open a CD door to insert the tray with the disc, but not before being told to do so by the software, else the tray will be rejected.

My CD print capable printers are old and use the old CD label print software, that is from the days of Windows 98 and the introduction of Windows XP. The software works well with Windows XP but is sometimes slow and unresponsive under newer Windows versions.

Newer Canon printers with CD print capability uses newer software for disc printing, I guess it is the Easy Photo Print program. I guess the newer software is better.

 

[Sherden]

I got a Canon IP4300 and it works without all the issues described by PeterBJ. Mine is less older than his printer and the software works fine under Win7.

Honestly it don't have any a lot of options but printing on CD\DVD is pretty straightforward and results are pretty good.
It is one of the suggested Canon models whit regards to CD\DVD printing.

Unfortunately it is a capability that is disappearing from latest Canon's all-in-one, it is only available on the top of the range products

 

[PeterBJ]

Here is a thread with instructions for both the old and new Canon software for disc printing, for comparison.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Do you actually HAVE to use dedicated CD software to print CDs? That would be a BIG minus. On the HP I can use any word processor, or I suppose any program that uses the printer. I just have to use the right page size and margins, etc., and tell it to print to the CD tray. The directions are poor, but it works great.

There's a bug in the Linux driver, so it doesn't do the margins right and I have to use Windows to get it right, but it does actually work otherwise.

A lot of these current Canon printers in the U.S. now have CD trays. If all else fails, how about Epson? Are any of these any good?

 

[crenedecotret]

Hmm, now that you mention it, $150 including yet another batch of Canon paper, plus $35 for a Linux driver, plus whatever it takes to refill it.

When you say slow, you mean something like 5 minutes or less? Less than the time it takes to burn a CD? That's what I have now and it's fine.

Anyone know how well these work with the Linux TurboPrint driver? (I can print CDs under Windows if I have to, but it's really nice if I can stick to one computer for everything.)

I no longer have a CD printer, but on the canon IP4500, Turboprint worked quite well. I used Glabels with a custom template I built that would print exactly in the right spot for the tray this printer uses. The official Turboprint documentation suggests sending a 14x14cm square with a 1cm margin to the printer with the CD tray selected and the special builtin CD size. The advantage is that if you change printers, it should still work as the driver does the adjustments.

Pretty much all distros have glabels in their repositories.

Save this as ~/.config/libglabels/templates/Turboprint_CD 14CM.template and give it a whirl

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Glabels-templates xmlns="http://glabels.org/xmlns/3.0/">
<Template brand="Turboprint" part="CD 14CM" size="Other" width="140mm" height="140mm" description="Turboprint CD 14x14 CM">
<Label-cd id="0" radius="59mm" hole="11.5mm" width="118mm" height="118mm" waste="0mm">
<Markup-margin size="0mm"/>
<Layout nx="1" ny="1" x0="10mm" y0="10mm" dx="118mm" dy="118mm"/>
</Label-cd>
</Template>
</Glabels-templates>

In glabels it should then appear as manufacturer: Turboprint, size: ANY, category: ANY

 

[Sherden]

Do you actually HAVE to use dedicated CD software to print CDs? That would be a BIG minus. On the HP I can use any word processor, or I suppose any program that uses the printer. I just have to use the right page size and margins, etc., and tell it to print to the CD tray. The directions are poor, but it works great.

......

No, you don't have, you can use any software, BUT with the bundled software you don't have to fiddle with margins or other settings to "center" the printing on the CD\DVD.

 

[msmart]

I print directly to my (Canadian version) iP4500 from Photoshop (Elements). I'll find the template and post a link.

Here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/download/u178bnq140831qu/Watershield_DVD_Tray_F_Template_2.psd

 

[Humbum]

Hi there,

First post, bit stumped. I've been looking for a decent CD printer online for weeks now but have been unable to find one that is satisfactory, all-in-one or otherwise, so I've decided to succumb to asking. I need one which can provide good quality occasional printing, doesn't waste ink on 'self cleaning' and will last for years. Economical printing would be a definite plus, seperate ink cartridges mandatory. All-in-one is not needed but would be nice. Are there any about that coat as well? I'll resign myself to a spray if not.

Many brands appear to have had a massive drop in quality recently so I'm hesitant to spend blindly. I live in England (if that makes a difference) and am prepared to spend up to £150 new or used if the quality is excellent. Can anyone help?

Kind regards.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Sorry, Humbum, the ink used for self-cleaning is what (hopefully) keeps them from clogging up. It's a coincidence that this also increases profits. It's the nature of inkjets.

Some of the new Canon printers are pretty inexpensive, at least in the U.S. I don't know how good they are, though. (My HP has shown some signs of improvement, and is still hanging in there, so I haven't done my homework. I suspect it might be possible to improve it by tearing it down part way and cleaning the media transport.)

 

[PeterBJ]

Excuse me for straying a bit off-topic.

@ThrillaMozilla I also had CD printing problems with a Canon printer. Here is how I solved them. Maybe this would also work with an HP printer?

Here is the MSDS for cleaner I used.