A Happy path for setting up the P900 for DTP
As I write this post, the Epson P900 is the least expensive option for a printer that will work with DTP techniques without issues with the printer putting roller marks on the plate. The P700 has the same print head, and in theory should work. However, the thick media front-loading mechanism is different than the P900 and I have never gotten a satisfactory result.
The P900 is the devil
I have assisted several people in getting their P900 printer set up, and there are a load of land mines that must be avoided if you hope to use the printer to its full potential.
#1 Don’t use the Apple printer driver
It seems like you should be able to just open System Settings and add the printer through the Apple dialogs and prompts. Unfortunately, this installs the printer as an AirPrint printer, and one of the critical Epson programs for handling media will simply not work.
#2 Use the Epson driver downloaded from the Epson site for your region
Download the installation .dmg file from Epson. Double click to install the printer. Make sure that your printer is on, and that you have already used the hardware panel on the front of the printer to connect it to your local network. I have had iffy results using the direct-USB connection. In one case, we were able create a USB-connected printer and make the Media Installer work. In another, we failed after multiple attempts. The WiFi option worked every time.
#3 Get a beverage, because it can be slow to install
There were points in the Epson driver installation process that I thought it had failed, but just waiting a few more minutes allowed the installation to finish successfully.
#4 Test if the Epson Media Installer works
The test for whether your installation went smoothly is to navigate to /Applications/Epson Software and double click to open the Epson Media Installer app. There will most likely be dire warnings from Apple. Ignore them and start the app. You should see a screen like this:
Click the import button and download the DTP media file from here, and try to import this media settings file. If that works, download the profile to the printer, and go to step #5, otherwise, go to #4A!
#4A If the media file fails to install…
Move to plan B. Click the Media Download tab in the Medial Installer app, and download a profile from Epson for posterboard:
This should install properly, and now click the original Media Management tab. Highlight the poster board media type and click ‘Copy Media’ to create a copy of this. Edit the settings and change the name of this profile, and then download it to your printer. These are the settings you need:
#5 Change some hardware settings on the P900 printer panel
Finally, to keep the printer from driving you crazy as it rejects your carrier, change a few things on the printer hardware panel.
Navigate to the house icon, and choose ‘Printer Settings’. First select ‘Error Notice’ and turn off both ‘Paper Mismatch’ and ‘Detect Paper Meandering’.
Next, select ‘Thick Paper’ and turn it to ‘Off’
#6 You just thought you were done
The final thing is to check if the printer installed as a Bonjour printer when you did the initial setup. You need the printer to be a Bonjour printer so QuadToneRIP can recognize it over the network. In System Settings, open the ‘Printers and Scanners’ page and see if the Epson you installed is listed as a Bonjour printer. If it is, you are done. But if it is not, you need to install a second copy of the Epson driver as a Bonjour printer (Stupid! I know). If the Epson driver shows up as ‘EPSON TCIPIP’, you need to click ‘Add Printer’ and choose Bonjour printer as your printer type and use the same driver that is already installed. You can see evidence of this madness on my printer dialog box showing two different Epson P800s! :
