Need printer driver for samsung ML-1210 compatible with Mac OS X 10.11.6

I use Mac OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan) and I would like to find and install a printer driver for an old samsung ML-1210 printer. Can anyone help? If yes, please tell me in simple terms, because I am not computer savvy!

Solution 1:

It’s unlikely you will find a printer driver for this model printer.

• It’s not listed anywhere on Samsung’s support site
• I found a review of the printer from 2001 making it about 20 years old
• A service manual I found online confirms that as it’s copyrighted in 2001 (page 79)
• The specs found on C|Net lists Mac OS 8 as a supported OS and the latest release was 1999.
• The most recent Mac printer driver I was able to find was for Snow Leopard (10.6.8) for the PowerPC Mac; you have an Intel Mac.

However, there may be some hope...

• Though the printer specifications list the only emulation as “PrintThru” (I’ve personally never heard of it) it was quite common for printers to emulate “HP LaserJet”. It can’t hurt to try that generic driver.

• Since it supports Linux, You can try a generic CUPS driver. I found this article How to install the Samsung ML-1210 printer on Mac OS X Lion (and higher). It uses an open source driver (not supported/provided by Samsung).

  Keep in mind this article is from 2011 making it 9 years old. It is technical, so you’ll want to get someone local to assist. It's not feasible for us to test since we don't have access to that printer.

Bottom line... I’ll be the first to applaud your efforts to continue using “useful” equipment, but there comes a point of diminishing returns and if getting a printer working will cost more in time, labor and lost productivity than the price of new one, it’s time to go shopping.

As a buying tip, I suggest you stick with familiar names like HP, Lexmark, Xerox, etc. because you ensure the widest range of compatibility for the longest time. For instance, I have a HP 2025dn (from 2008) that not only has current drivers, but emulates HP (obviously), PCL and PostScript. If your printer can emulate any of these, you can get it to work. Look in either the printer specifications page or in the user manual for confirmation.