How to install the Samsung ML-1210 printer on Mac OS X Lion

Posted on by

One of the things that really should “just work” in the Apple environment is printing. Printers are a piece of hardware “sent from hell” and it doesn’t get any easier just because you have a Mac. See this insightful Oatmeal comic for why that is.

Why I believe printers were sent from hell (comic)

Printer drivers don’t keep up, perhaps because of the endless variants created mostly to sell ink cartridges, toners and other useless add-ons.

Unfortunately, Mac OS X Lion does not include drivers for the Samsung ML-1210, a cheap old black and white laser printer that I bought years ago. I should’ve remembered this as I had the same problem on OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard. The following solution works on all those variants:

In common with other variants of OS X, Lion supports CUPS – the Common Unix Printing System. This means that generic open-source drivers are available to use that enable Lion (and indeed Leopard, and Snow Leopard) to successfully print using this printer.

There are three separate pieces of software to install, including the driver, but all can be found at this page on the Linux Foundation website.

Essentially, you need to download each Disk Image listed (Samsung GDI, Foomatic-RIP and GPL-GS) and run the installer inside each one.

Once you’ve done this, open System Preferences and then click Print & Scan. Click on the small + icon on the left which should bring up the Add Printer dialog box. Samsung ML-1210 should already be listed and, under ‘Print using the Samsung ML-1210 Foomatic/gdi driver should already be selected.

Click ‘Add’ and the printer will be added to the list of available printers on your system. Sorted!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jacobashendorf Jacob Ashendorf

    Nice to know someone else needed to use this old but sturdy printer with Lion. Thanks so much this worked brilliantly.

  • pia

    I just got a Mac and I’m trying to use my ML 1210 with it too. Before I saw this page, I had installed all three of those softwares, and it seemed like the printer was recognized properly, however when I tried to print something the print window keeps saying that the printer is offline.

    Not sure what to do….any ideas?

    • Josh R

      Not sure to be honest. Look in the Print & Scan preferences pane and see if there are multiple entries for the Samsung ML-1210? If so, remove them all then use the + button to add a new one using the mentioned driver.

      I’m assuming the printer is turned on and has paper in it, ready to print?

    • CG

      Hi pia,

      Did you ever find a solution to this? I am having the same problem. I have installed the three softwares and the printer worked for a while. I have changed nothing but the printer now claims to be offline. I have checked Print & Scan as Josh R suggested and the Samsung ML-1210 showed as expected, but appears offline. I deleted it to add it again but nothing is appearing in the Add Printer dialog box. Everything in that dialog box is greyed.

      Any help appreciated. Thanks!

  • http://www.facebook.com/ann.korzhova Ann Korzhova

    I’ve installed the software twice, but the printer doesn’t work properly. It prints but cuts down the text from the top of the list and leaves about 5 cm spare place at the bottom.
    Does anyone have the same problem? Any ideas?

    • Hannes

      I have the same problem, no idea how to fix that though.. any help would be appreciated!

    • Hannes
      • http://www.facebook.com/ann.korzhova Ann Korzhova

        Thanks. I’ve read all the instructions, but I still have a problem because I can’t download foomatic-rip-2008-01-30.dmg! The linux site is unavailable and I cannot find this driver anywhere else. I would appreciate if someone can send me it!

  • R.D. Harles

    This would be great if “The Linux Foundation” hadn’t somehow “turned their site OFF” and won’t allow any downloads from the site. I’ve tried this site 3 different times over the last week and I always get:

    This site is down for maintenance. We will be restoring service shortly. Thank you for your patience.
    The Linux Foundation

  • http://gravatar.com/briedisvilks briedisvilks

    I am facing the same problems – “leaves about 5 cm spare place” and cannot download foomatic-rip-2008-01-30.dmg because the site is down.
    Please let me know as well, if somebody finds alternative download site or can share with DMG file.
    Thanks

  • Frank Swanson

    I just finished installing the driver stuff for my ML-1210 and it works perfectly.
    Once catch, though, is to remove the appended “.download” from the “gplgs-8.71.dmg.download” before installing that one. The other catch when going to the Preferences step, is to first power-up your Samsung printer – otherwise the icon will not show up to select. The versions that I installed are: samsung-gdi-1.816.2, foomatic-rip-4.0.6.230, and gplgs-8.71 on this date of Dec 21, 2011.

  • Leigh Davies

    Thanks for posting this. I downloaded and installed all three programs and am now able to use my Lexmark E210 printer, which is the same as the Samsung ML-1210. Everything is running just fine!

    • umlawgator

      Ditty here…I hope I can continue to use my Lexmark E210 until the end of time…thanks for the help!

      • umlawgator

        Well, that was supposed to be ditto.

  • ivan

    you all are great. MY PRINTER WORKS. !!!!!!
    Thank you vary much.

  • Manofdogz

    Margins need a little adjusting but otherwise works great – many thanks for this

  • tias

    Thank you very much for these tips!!!

  • http://blog.naver.com/kansapa kansapa

    좋은 정보 감사합니다.

    세 가지 모두 설치하니 아주 쉽게 프린터가 잡히네요. ^^

  • Gledders

    Excellent guide. Thanks for this, I thought my printer was useless now I don’t use PC’s anymore. You are a star!!!

  • Gabriela Cabreras

    Thank you so much, I’ve been trying install my printer during the last year and I did’t have success until now, you don´t imagine what I had to suffer without my old printer, samsung could not even help me!  have a nice day!!