Getting Old Printers to Work on New Macs

The saga that has become getting my wife's new computer working is finally over. Yesterday I sat down and figured out how to get all of our printers usable on her new MacBook air. It involved countless Internet searches, none of which helped solve the problem. In fact, one post that I followed created more issues that I had to work around. For anyone who has upgraded from an Intel-based Mac to one of the new Apple silicon Macs, there is one little step that I discovered on my own should you want to use any of your existing printers.

Apple's Migration Assistant did a great job of moving all of my wife's files from her old computer to her new one. It even copied over non-approved programs like printer drivers engineered for the Intel CPUs. The problem surfaces when you try to run them but let's not jump ahead of the story.

My wife needed to print something up last Friday and could not. I did not have time to help her solve the issue at the time and finally got around to looking at it earlier this week. We have 3 printers in the house and she really only uses 2 of them. Neither of them would connect to her new computer. I looked up a number of forums and the best information I had told me to delete the files out of a printer directory. DO NOT DO THAT. I won't repeat where that directory is as that caused an issue I had to remedy, which I will explain at the end of the post.

Nowhere did I find the correct instructions and so I am posting them here. All I needed to do was install Apple's Rosetta 2 software. It allows programs created for the Intel Macs to run on the new Apple M-series CPUs. I discovered this solution when I tried to install printer-driver software. It asked if I wanted to install Rosetta. The first time I said, No. The second time, I gave it a shot. That allowed my Samsung color laser printer to work with my wife's laptop.

Most people will not have a problem with printers unless they are really old like mine. Apple has come up with an all-encompassing printing system packaged with MacOS called AirPrint. There are a huge number of printers supported already. Just not really old ones. Fortunately one of my printers that my wife never uses is on the list and is my Cannon. I connected her computer directly to the printer through a USB cable and it printed without issue.

The last printer I needed to get running is my wife's HP Deskjet 1000 - J110. Apple's Migration Assistant copied over all of the correct driver files but I mistakenly blew them away at the advice of a post I read. Once I figured out I needed to reinstall all the driver files, I looked for them directly from HP. None of the programs I tried worked. I still have the old Mac and so I located all of the files and copied them to the new computer. I used the command-line interface or terminal to do all of the copying and will spare you the details. It involved the "tar" command to create single file that had all of the driver files in their correct directories. Once I copied that single file to the new computer, I used the "tar" command again to install the files in the correct place.

At this point in the process I had to go somewhere and didn't get back to it until yesterday. I thought I had done everything correctly and tried to print something. I immediately got an error message telling me that the MacOS refused to run a program because it couldn't trust the source. I had to use the administrator password to force the computer to run the program. The same thing happened 3 or 4 more times with different programs. Finally I stopped getting error messages but the printer refused to print. At this point I did the only thing that made sense: I rebooted the computer. When the computer came back up, I tried to print a page and it worked. I can now say that my wife's new computer is as usable as the old one before it died.

Should you get a new M-series Mac computer from Apple and want it to work with your old printer, don't do anything other than install Rosetta 2. Your computer will ask if you want to install it and just say, Yes. You don't have to go look for it or do anything special. Then things should work well. If they don't, try a reboot before doing anything else. If that still doesn't work, throw away your old printer and go buy a new one.

Its the Little Things

I am always excited to get a new computer but also dread moving from my old one. Why? It is the little things that get forgotten. The Migration Assistant from Apple did a great job copying all of the files from my wife's old computer to her new one. Unfortunately that is not the only thing that needs to be done when setting up a new computer.

Yesterday morning my wife needed to print something. She discovered that while she had all of her files, she did not have access to either of her two printers. Unfortunately I had a lot to get done and couldn't help her out. Due to time constraints, we couldn't print what my wife needed and had to due without. In hindsight we should have tried to print the night before.

There are probably one or two more little things that need to be set up on my wife's computer. Right now we don't know what they are and won't until we need them. Hopefully we won't be under a time constraint and can get them configured correctly when that happens.

The MacBook Air Data Transfer Worked as Expected

My wife's new MacBook Air arrived today as promised. I immediately opened the box and started setting up the computer for my wife. After asking for my preferred language (English) and geographical area (United States) it asked if I wanted to transfer data from an old computer, iCloud, or a Time Machine backup. I selected the old computer. It then told me to start the "Migration Assistant" on the original computer. It also told me I could find it in the "Applications" folder in the "Utilities" folder. I navigated to the right place, started the app, and selected the 3rd option which indicated it would be sending data to a new computer. Then I just sat back and let the computers do their thing.

I started the data transfer in the kitchen with only a single machine plugged into power and the other running on the battery. It suggested I apply power to both computers and I did. Then I decided with it being Christmas Eve and knowing we had a lot of food to prepare I should move the computers to a less busy area of the house. I unplugged both machines and found 2 new outlets in my bedroom. I let the process continue and it did so without interruption. My wife has a lot of photos and so it took about an hour to complete.

Once the data transferr finished, I had one or two more questions to answer. My wife had to log into her apple ID and then the setup finished. She is now ready to use her new computer. Apple has done a great job making the process of upgrading to a new computer as painless as possible. The only downside is that users get used to the ease and it is almost impossible to change platforms later.

Pulling Data Off a Dead Computer

My wife's new MacBook Air will arrive tomorrow and so I started the process of pulling data, files, and pictures off her old one. So how do you do that when the computer won't even boot? Today I worked to figure that out and had great success with the help of my oldest son.

The key to the process is that my son has a MacBook Air that is the same era as my wife's old one. He doesn't use it any more and loaned it to us. Having recently replaced the battery in the laptop, I have all the tools necessary to unscrew the screws for the case and access the internals. So after skiing this morning, I put both laptops on the kitchen table and removed the bottom panel for each computer. Then I gently removed the solid-state drive from my wife's and swapped it with my sons. The hard drives on MacBook Air laptops look more like a couple of chips on a printed circuit board (PCB) and could easily be mistaken for memory chips, which is exactly what they are, just a different kind of memory.

I screwed the back onto my son's laptop, flipped it over, and pressed the power button. The computer booted right up and I logged in. I made sure I could access all her files and then closed the lid, putting the computer into sleep mode. Then I put my son's solid-state drive into my wife's old computer, screwed the back panel back on, and tried to turn it on. Nothing happened which is what I expected. I really did this just to make sure I didn't lose any screws or parts.

My hope is that the new computer will work similarly to when I replaced my iPhone. All I had to do was put my old phone next to my new one and the initialization process for the new one automatically copied over everything from the old one. If it doesn't work that smoothly then I have a USB drive I can copy all of the important files to and then copy them to the new computer.

Not everyone has easy access to a second laptop and you may wonder what I might have done without it. There are devices you can get that are meant to access solid-state drives and my son also has one of those. Then of course, there is the option of going to the local thrift store like my 8-year-old neighbor and finding a cheap laptop similar to my wife's. Fortunately my first solution worked.

Best Buy For the Win

After careful consideration and thorough research I selected a new computer for my wife. I decided to get her a 13-inch MacBook air with 16 GB of RAM, the M3 processor, and 256 GB of solid-state storage. The next thing I needed to decide is where to buy it from.

Working for Sony, I have a number of fellow employees that have left and gone to work for Apple. I have helped a number of them pick up Sony products for a discount and they are willing to do the same for me. They receive a 15% discount on Apple products and so I used that as my base comparison price. If I couldn't find the computer cheaper somewhere else, I would call in a favor. That price came to $934.15 plus tax.

I keep getting daily e-mails for Costco and Best Buy, so I checked them first. Costco had the exact model I wanted for $899.99, which is cheaper than the Apple employee discount. Best Buy came in for a dollar less at an even $899.00. That became my new standard. My wife told me Amazon had a great price and so I looked there. They matched Best Buy at $899.00. I also looked at one of my favorite online stores: B&H Photo. They usually have great deals on Apple products and they didn't disappoint, or so I thought. They had the computer for $50 less. Then I carefully looked at the specs and saw that it was for the 8GB of RAM version. I'm glad I double checked all the specs. I came very close to making a big mistake.

Ultimately it came down to Amazon or Best Buy as the place to purchase the computer. How to decide? I looked at who could get it to me fastest as they both have free shipping. It turns out Best Buy beat Amazon by 2 days. That is where I made my purchase and I didn't have to call in a favor from a friend.

MacBook Air or iPad Air

My wife recently went on a trip and brought her MacBook Air so she could do some work during her downtime. She used it for about 10 minutes and then shut it off to go play with grandkids. When she tried to turn it back on, nothing. We played with it a bit but decided to wait until we got home to really troubleshoot the problem. We got home and discovered she needs a new laptop. For the moment, she is making due with my old Chromebook I got for free but I have been wanting to replace it for the past 6 months. I figure I have a week before my wife will demand a replacement laptop.

Having used my Chromebook for around 6 years, it is a great device and will do everything my wife needs a computer to do. I thought about replacing her laptop with one and threw the idea out to my son, who works in technology. He suggested getting an iPad with a keyboard instead. This has brought on a research project over the past several days trying to figure out which device would be the best replacement.

Several months ago kids headed back to school or off to college and a number of articles appeared on the Internet as to which device parents should get for students. While my wife is not a student, she will use it like one and I found the articles very useful. I listed out what my wife uses a computer for and realized that a MacBook Air, an iPad Air, and a Chromebook would all work well. I could also throw a Windows laptop into the mix as my wife often uses Windows at work. Then I priced everything and discovered that if I get a keyboard for the iPad Air, the total price comes within $40 of the MacBook Air. Now I am shortcutting a lot of the technical details as you can find an older generation iPad for around $200, but I question the longevity of the device. When comparing computers, it is best to try and make the comparison as equal as possible with regards to CPU, RAM, and storage space. That is pretty easy with the Apple products, less clear-cut between them and Windows or Chromebook machines.

Right now I am leaning towards the Apple MacBook Air as it represents the least amount of a learning curve for my wife. It comes close to the same price as the iPad with keyboard but weighs significantly less. No it is not as versatile as you can separate the iPad from the keyboard, but knowing how my wife will use the computer, I think it to be the best choice. The only thing that can throw a wrench into those plans is that Costco has a Dell laptop that competes with the Apple one for about half the price. Ultimately I will leave it up to my wife to decide.

New Laptop Battery

A week or so ago, my wife seemed rather distraught. We have a number of projects going on in the house and I worried that maybe we had a plumbing leak. For some reason, plumbing problems appear most in my adult nightmares. She said that wasn't the issue but that her laptop computer wasn't holding a charge. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. She changed out chargers as we have a number of different chargers for various Mac computers and that fixed the problem temporarily. Once she pulled her laptop off the charger, she only had about an hour before the battery drained completely. I immediately knew the problem: she needed a new laptop battery.

My wife has a MacBook Air that I picked up about 7 years ago. Knowing that she is reaching the end of life for her computer, I asked if she wants a new one but she doesn't see the point. Her current computer is working flawlessly for her and so I went to the website IFixIt and did a search for "MacBook Air Battery." I found the information for an Early 2015 with a 13-inch monitor and looked at ordering a new battery. I also reviewed the instructional video to see what tools I would need.

Replacing a MacBook Air battery is a simple task that anyone who has ever used a screwdriver can accomplish. You just have to have the right screwdrivers. My wife's required a Pentalobe 5, which looks like a 5-pointed star to remove the case and a Torx 5, which looks like a 6-pointed star to remove the battery. I made sure to order the screwdrivers from IFixIt as they were only $6 each. Interestingly I did not need to order the high-quality ones as I was sent the screwdriver bits with a universal handle because of my battery order. Now I have 2 of each.

I placed my order and it arrived the next day. I had a break in my work schedule and asked my wife to bring me her laptop. I grabbed some reading glasses and went to work. The first thing I noticed is how tiny those laptop screws really are. I carefully placed them nearby for when it came time to reassemble everything. The old battery came out quickly and the new one went in just as fast.

Any time you replace a laptop battery, you also want to calibrate the battery. Instructions came in the package and so we charged the battery to full and then kept it on the charger for a few hours. Then my wife started using the laptop running only on battery power until the computer turned itself off. After using it for about a week, today the MacBook Air finally shut down. I asked my wife how much time she actually got out of the battery and she estimates about 7 hours of real use. She is happy with that.

Apple makes a great computer that lasts for many years. My wife is gentle with her laptop and so I expect it to continue working for several more years before needing to be replaced. That makes replacing a battery much more cost effective than getting a new machine. It wouldn't surprise me if we get a total of 10 years out of it now.

AirPlay: Sharing Your Screen on Your Television

My wife and I had a rare moment last night with some unscheduled time. Rather than waste it, I told her I would teach her something new. In the end, I learned something new.

Lately my wife has been waking up early to exercise before heading off to the law firm where she works. As it is early in the morning, she likes to log in on her computer and exercise with some pre-made videos that she pays an annual fee to access. A few days ago she asked how she can connect her computer to our large television. Last night I figured I would show her.

My usual method for connecting a computer to our TV is to use an HDMI cable and plug it into our receiver. There is a nice HDMI outlet on the front of the receiver which makes it very simple. I grabbed a cable that connects to her laptop only to discover it wouldn't work. I had a cable with a display output that fit her MacBook Air. That is not the same as an HDMI cable so it didn't work with the receiver.

Interestingly enough, the solution was staring me right in the face, literally. There is a sticker on my receiver that says it is capable of AirPlay. I had never used it before but knew it is used to transfer computer displays to televisions. I turned on the receiver and television. Then I went into my wife's System Preferences on her computer. There I selected "Displays." In the bottom-left corner is a pull-down list that says: "AirPlay Display:" with a selection of "Off." I opened the pull-down list and saw my receiver listed by its model number. I selected it and was given a 4-digit code from the television to enter on the computer. Once I entered it, the computer display was mirrored on the television.

As AirPlay is from Apple, I looked on my iPhone and saw that I could transfer the display from my phone to the TV. That got me excited. I hoped I could play games from my phone on a larger screen. Unfortunately that is not the case. I can display photos or play videos on my television from the phone but not use the TV as a second screen.

This morning my wife got up and headed down to the TV room to do her morning exercise. Normally I can keep sleeping and not notice she is down there early in the morning. The high-end surround sound system woke me right up. I'm glad she figured it out.

Maintaining Your Electronics

Yesterday I brought a pair of skis into the shop to have new bindings mounted for the upcoming ski season. I own about 7 pairs of skis already and so you are probably wondering what is special about these new ones. I am trying out a new ski binding that works well in the resort but can also be used efficiently in the backcountry. Needless to say I am getting pretty excited about the upcoming ski season, especially since it snowed at my house on Sunday.

This morning I started going through my e-mail and saw an article about the Pieps DSP Pro changing from transmit to search or off modes. For those that don't know, Pieps is a small transceiver (both a radio transmitter and receiver) that is used to help find someone in the event of an avalanche burial. I use a different brand from BCA that I love and so I am not worried that I need to replace my transceiver. I still read the article. Basically there is a faulty switch caused by not properly maintaining the equipment. That is a polite way of placing blame on the user instead of the manufacturer.

This brings up the point of what the proper maintenance is for all of your electronics. Do you know what that means for you? When I received my new avalanche transceiver, I read through the very short manual but now don't recall anything about regular maintenance. Considering the thing may someday be the difference between a bad day and a downright tragedy, I may want to reread the manual. I do know that my avalanche air bag is due for maintenance and will be doing that in the next week or so.

What about other electronic devices? Should I be worried about my computer? My mobile phone? How about any of my PlayStation consoles or televisions? Ultimately most of the electronics I own will never be used to save a life. The only exception might be a mobile phone. If my television stops working, I can repair it under warranty or get a new one. While it may seem like I am miserable, I won't be dying any time soon.

So how do you maintain a mobile phone? Fortunately it is something you use every day and so it is easy to see if it is working correctly or not. If it stops working, get it replaced immediately. Some things to look at are cracked screens and bulging battery compartments. Older rechargeable batteries can start to swell and may need to be replaced. If you are up to the task yourself there is a great Internet resource called IFixIt.com. I am a huge fan and just used one of their battery kits on my wife's MacBook Air. I also used them to help replace the screen on her mobile phone when it had a crack that caused it to stop working correctly. 

If you have any electronic device that is used to save a life, please pay attention to proper maintenance procedures. That helps to ensure it will work when you need it. Oh and don't buy any Pieps DSP avalanche transceivers no matter how good the deal may seem. After today's article people will be dumping them in favor of a different brand or newer model.

Time for Another New Laptop

My youngest daughter and I got to spend the day together. My wife is accompanying my youngest son on a road trip as he moves to Ohio. That allowed my daughter and I to spend the day together rock climbing, buying wood to replace our backyard fence, and watching a movie together. During the course of the day, my daughter told me it is about time to replace her aging MacBook. I asked her why and she reminded me that her current computer is 8 years old. I think she may be right about replacing it.

I recently went through the exercise of replacing a computer and know that you pay a premium when you buy a Mac. However it is hard to argue with the fact that her current Mac is 8 years old and lasted her well. When I bought her that computer, I told her to take care of it as her next one would be her responsibility. She has treated it well and only now does she need to replace it.

Having spent 8 years with a Mac makes it difficult for her to want a Windows computer. She knows all of the ins and outs of the Mac operating system. I think a shift to Windows would confuse her. I asked her what she wants, thinking that she might go for the less expensive MacBook Air. Nope, she wants another MacBook Pro. Given the difference in prices, she will end up spending about $400 to $500 more than for the MacBook Air. I thought about it for a bit and realized that the Pro will probably last another 8 years while the Air would only last 4. That justifies the cost of the more expensive laptop as it will ultimately be cheaper in the long run.

It is important to note that not all Mac laptops are supposed to last that long. My oldest daughter gets only a couple of years before things start breaking as she is a little harsher on her computers than my youngest daughter. My youngest daughter also really only uses her computer to do things like visit social media sites and browse the Internet. She is not a software developer nor does she require a lot of horsepower.

My daughter didn't order the computer today as she is waiting to make sure she doesn't have any expensive bills coming up any time soon. She doesn't want to deplete her savings until she does a little financial forecasting first. This is good as it will give her some time to evaluate which options she wants and is willing to pay for. I'm sure she will be excited when the new computer comes.

Final Answer

My son finally made it home safely after two years in Armenia. I have been struggling with the decision on what computer to get him for his first year in college. I presented several choices to him and let him do some research for several days. He came back with a computer choice. Then I felt I needed to make one last look to make sure we reviewed all possible options.

There are several online computer vendors that allow you to specify the features you are looking for and so I visited Best Buy's. They have a store really close to my house and so I knew I could order it, have it shipped there for free, and pick it up rather quickly. I used the configuration tool and put in the options I thought would work best for a college freshman looking to start in the Mechanical Engineering department. Surprisingly I found a computer I had overlooked. I presented it to my son as a viable alternative to his choice and let him decide. I always believe that any large purchase should be thought about for at least a day. When I go to buy cars, I often tell the salesperson I want to sleep on it before I make a purchase. They hate that but then I don't have buyer's remorse. So I let my son sleep on the decision.

He came back and settled on a MacBook Air with an Intel i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128 GB solid-state drive. Sure I could have gotten more disk space, but with terabyte drives costing $70, why would you need to? I agreed with his decision and so I ordered the computer. The only problem with his choice is that the i7 is an upgrade and so it is not kept in stock at the Apple stores. I had to have it custom built. It will be here next week but is coming all the way from China. School starts on Monday so I hope my son doesn't need his computer until Wednesday when it is due to arrive.

Another Windows Laptop

My wife has been using one of my old Mac laptops and it is time to get her a new one. We had been looking at another Mac but then I came across a laptop fire sale. I found a name-brand Windows machine with an i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 750 GB Hybrid hard drive for around $500. I couldn't help but pick one up just to see if my wife could make the switch from Mac to Windows. If not, I have been looking for a new laptop to keep on the boat and so it won't go to waste.

I spent a couple of hours over the weekend setting up the new computer and showing my wife how to navigate around Windows. It reminded me of how much I hate Windows, but I tried not to let it show too much. I told my wife to try and avoid using her old computer and just use the new one. Then I boarded a plane on Monday morning and left her alone with her new toy.

I talked to my wife this evening and the first thing she tried to do was get her e-mail set up. The built-in e-mail program with Windows won't support her e-mail service provider. This is in contrast to her Mac which does quite nicely. Strike one for Windows. Unfortunately, e-mail is the majority of how my wife uses a computer. She has set the new one aside and will wait for me to get home to help set up e-mail. In the mean time, she is back to using her Mac.

My wife says that she wants to continue to try and use the new computer but if I was a betting man, I would bet the boat is getting a new computer and my wife will be looking at the MacBook Air in the very near future.

Two Computers

I have a daughter headed to college in September. That means I got to buy her a computer that she will take to school. Luckily her birthday is in July and so I could get the laptop as a gift. I just had to decide which one to get. When I started writing this blog, one of my first postings was on which computer was the best to send with your kid to college. I was sending my oldest daughter off to school at the time and decided the MacBook was the best choice.

It is now 3 years later and the MacBook is no longer an option. Apple has two models, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. Each one has a number of options ranging from screen size to memory. If you are really looking for the original MacBook, you can pick up a refurbished model from MyService. I sat my daughter down and gave her a choice between the Air, Pro, or a refurbished MacBook. Naturally, she didn't want the refurb and I can't say I blame her. I told her I would give here the difference in price to help pay for tuition and she still wanted the new computer. While the Air is a very light computer, my daughter wanted something with a little more horsepower. So I got her the least expensive MacBook Pro.

A few days later, one of my oldest son's old roommates sent me an e-mail asking for help getting a computer. I have a corporate discount to one of the major laptop manufacturers and could save him about $100 on an $800 laptop. I mentioned that my daughter turned down my corporate discount option and went for the more expensive Apple computer. His budget wouldn't let him spend more than the $700 and he wasn't interested in a refurbished Mac. We played around with the configuration and kept the price withing his budget.

My daughter loves her new computer and has been using it constantly since her birthday. I will be interested in comparing the two computers over their respective lives. When I bought my oldest daughter her computer, I was confident it would last. Now I have two computers bought at the same time to compare against each other.  Time will tell which is the best deal, but I'm betting on the Mac. My oldest daughter's MacBook has required an upgrade or two, but is still running strong.