Restart

A print was needed.

But the last time I printed anything real on the Epson Stylus Pro 4800, I had Mac OS X 10.4.x with Parallels 3.0, running Windows XP and using Qimage as a RIP-lite.

Uh-oh, because now I have Leopard and no Parallels.  Could I get everything working in 2 days?  It was the 23rd, and I needed it for a Christmas gift...

* * *

So, I installed the Epson driver: 12787 (Leopard-6.11), and 12690 (RemotePaneUtil-3.13).  Turns out I really *did* only need the driver, and not the utility.  That's quite nice of Epson to create a unified driver/utils bundle.

Then, I reinstalled Parallels-3.0, since I figured that would get the old VMs up and running as quickly as possible.  Had to remember to search on laptop for P-3.0 license key, stored under Element5, the online retailers that handles Parallels purchases before this year.

Then, tried to start the VM.  Kernel panic on the Mac.  Prob because I upgraded the Mac's video card (ATI 1900 -> NV8800, because the fan on the ATI blew up, and started a jet-engine-loudness in my right ear; that install went nicely, BTW)  :(  Which happened to blow up the auto-download of Para-4.0, which I just bought the upgrade to, while waiting for Para-3.0 to install.  :((

Fixed the download by just installed the demo from the main Para site.  Then, installed it, and used the new license keys.  Had to go through a stupid VM install (won't start Para without going through the creation of a dummy guest OS).  Still unhappy at this point.  :(((

But, once I did that, I opened an old Para-3.0 VM.  It told me I had to convert it to the Para-4.0 format.  Fine.  When it's done, it tells me I have to start the VM to finish the conversion.  :((((

At this point, I'm still printing nozzle tests for the printer--which hasn't printed since Dec '07--and don't want to blow that up in case it KPs (kernel-panics) again.  So I wait until the check finishes.  Done.  Start the new VM.  It works!  Holy crap!  :)

Then, I start up Qimage.  Works, and all the settings are saved!  :))

*Whew*

A few prints later, and all the nozzles are clear.  I'm pretty impressed, after all.  Thank goodness I covered the printer with the plastic sheet, since the sheet is covered in fine detritus.  While I'm doing that, I'm starting up Lightroom, and fixing up the export options.  OBTW, the old VM knew where the "shares" were, and accessed them just fine.  So the export from LR to Qimage didn't really change.

:)))

Everything is as I remember, and I'm ready for a print.

Mac OS X, Parallels, and Qimage FTW.