Apple Catalina - printer problems

[richardfinegold]

Good luck with that. I can't remember now whether the Brother laser printer "just worked", or if I had to install a new driver, but our Brother printer didn't cause a major problem. Some printer manufacturers seem to manage the drivers better than others. I suspect you won't have any difficulties.

I am in the unfortunate position of having to apply for a new job, as the troubled South Side of Chicago hospital that employs me recently announced its doors will close in the next few months. At my age, I am not the Belle of the Ball and am applying everywhere, and one of the annoying features of this is the digital manipulation of files. No H.R. Dept will take faxed or copied documents any more, and they all have different formats. My previous computer is a 2010 MacAir that primarily is a music server. I have been using tablets or my phone for many years, occasionally using a work computer to write the odd letter, but now we are being denied access. The old Mac no longer works with even the Mac Business Suite that I paid for, and the Office for Mac stuff has long expired. The old Mac didn’t have enough firepower to upgrade the OS to Many of the H.R. I.T. Systems won’t work with the iOS, so I finally bit the bullet and bought a new one and a new Microsoft Suite as well.

[Dave2002]

Good luck with the applications. Computer application forms (or indeed any forms) are a complete PITA. There’s nearly always one bug (at least) which can’t be fixed, such as an inactive check box, or pull down menu. Plus input boxes which are too small so not big enough for the good stuff you want to put in, and no space or places to give extra useful information (e.g. covering letter), plus they may insist on you having to put in some “data” which you don’t really want to give. If you put in the “wrong” data to satisfy the IT system you’re guilty of lying or fraud - trying to shoehorn a response into some forms is very difficult.

Plus also, now I’m told that many applications don’t even get read by a human, not even an uninformed one, such as a receptionist acting as a gatekeeper to the accept/reject piles. Sad world.

There’s probably an article (or ten) out there giving you tips to fool the electronic form evaluation systems so that at least you’ll get an interview. Without that you may have a difficult time. Best of luck.

[Frances_iom]

The way round many of these problems is to require the use of open standards (eg for Browsers, document standards for any that interface with the public ...) - the EU is heading along this direction but obviously big players Google(Android + Chrome browser are just two of their 'special's) + Macs(who have always attempted to build a walled garden) fight against such

[Dave2002]

The way round many of these problems is to require the use of open standards (eg for Browsers, document standards for any that interface with the public ...) - the EU is heading along this direction but obviously big players Google(Android + Chrome browser are just two of their 'special's) + Macs(who have always attempted to build a walled garden) fight against such

Only partly solves the problems - some of the issues mentioned in post 17 will still apply. Getting the applications to the right person is difficult enough even with human systems.

Too many electronic forms are put together by people who don't understand that they have to be checked, just like a computer program. That isn't an issue with old fashioned hand written text formats, though reading other peoples' (or particularly mine) hand writing is often a challenge.

[Anastasius]

Just a heads up regarding printers.

I ran the latest version of Etrecheck and it flagged up the fact that in future releases of OSX (it did not specify whether this is a major or minor release) that support for unsigned apps and drivers will be stopped. It highlighted the driver on my iMac that would fall foul of this. Yup...the driver for HP JetDirect that connects up the HP LaserJet 1200...an elderly monochrome laser printer that is still going strong after many, many years. HP's support website doesn't even list JetDirect now so no chance of an update. So be prepared for that cherished old printer to stop working.

[Anastasius]

... Apple is these days aimed at a market that is mostly fashion driven and is poor value for the money expended.

Really cannot agree with this statement all. Fashion driven ? Inverted snobbery ? Look at Total Cost of Ownership rather than original purchase price. Look at the grief people using Windows 10 are having. I'd rather buy something that oozes quality and pretty much works rather well apart from some niggles. Also I'd rather be using a computer that has very limited malware aired at it.

[Dave2002]

Just a heads up regarding printers.

I ran the latest version of Etrecheck and it flagged up the fact that in future releases of OSX (it did not specify whether this is a major or minor release) that support for unsigned apps and drivers will be stopped. It highlighted the driver on my iMac that would fall foul of this. Yup...the driver for HP JetDirect that connects up the HP LaserJet 1200...an elderly monochrome laser printer that is still going strong after many, many years. HP's support website doesn't even list JetDirect now so no chance of an update. So be prepared for that cherished old printer to stop working.

I wonder if this kind of action by Apple is really just a not so subtle protection racket. I noticed something similar with virtual instruments for software such as Garageband and Logic - instruments which were working in previous versions no longer work, either because Apple rejects 32 bit versions, or because they were not "approved" and downloaded via the App Store.

Apparently Apple charge a significant amount of the revenue from downloaded Apps in order to approve the signing of apps - so perhaps for some apps - particularly free ones, this makes some completely non workable. What is galling is that often the software which fails this test by Apple would appear to have been working rather well in previous versions of Apple's systems - with seemingly no obvious malware effects. If they were not so greedy, maybe some good apps could be allowed to be signed, and reinstated. Apple is, however, let's remember, one of the richest companies in the world, by the usual measures - so maybe it is now also the greediest.