Jaguar incompatibilities

The following applications and hardware have problems functioning under Mac OS X 10.2.

Software

VectorWorks - The Architosh site reports on problems with VectorWorks graphics software from Nemetschek N.A. It appears there may be changes in the graphics technologies under Jaguar that could affect other graphics apps as well...

Hardware

Printers

Brother MFC line of All-in-One printers - MNJ reader Eric Poustie says that his Brother MCF line of all-in-one, USB-based machines are not compatible with Jaguar and that even trying to install the machine in the printer list causes his machine to hang. In digging around for the status of a new driver, he found this page from the Brother Web site. A driver is coming...that is the good news.

Epson EPL-5700i laser printer - Fletcher Sandbeck notes that his laser printer shows up in the list of available USB printers hooked to his Mac under OS X 10.2 but it is listed with "No Driver Found." He adds that Epson has no information about when or if drivers will become available...

Hewlett Packard All-in-One printers - John Mahar points out the following page from HP. It clearly offers this warning: IMPORTANT: The current all-in-one software drivers for Mac OS X v 10.1 will no longer function on Macintosh systems upgraded to Mac OS v 10.2. Hewlett-Packard is aware of this issue and working on a solution. Please check back to this Web page for information regarding new driver updates.

HP cp1700 - Joshua Ogle says his printer shows up in the Add printer dialog, but OS X 10.2 says it cannot find the driver. He also says that VectorWorks seems to function as well for him under Jaguar as it did under OS X 10.1.5, but he adds that isn't saying a lot...

Epson scanners - Dan Warne writes:

" Epson scanners in Jaguar no longer work if using Photoshop 6 in Classic mode. The Epson TWAIN driver reports no scanner found on the USB bus. I have rebooted into OS9 native and everything works as it should -- it seems that 10.2 is interfering with classic's ability to access peripherals on the USB bus.

I believe this is because Apple's "Image Capture" application now supports scanning (rather badly). The program picks up the Epson scanner no problems, and the interface is nice and easy to use, but the scans are shocking quality -- it looks like you are getting the 'raw' data from the scanner without the lightness adjusted properly.

To make matters worse, the Epson "Scan to File" and Photoshop 7 Twain drivers for OS X are no longer available from Epson's site. Their epsondevelopers.com domain has disappeared completely. I've emailed an Epson email address I found in the google cache of the site, but have not heard back from them as yet.

Looks like Epson scanner owners are pretty stuffed with 10.2! Let's hope the reason the EpsonDevelopers site is down is because Epson is about to release final drivers to coincide with the release of 10.2.

Logitech USB keyboard - According to Weblogger Jake Savin, this keyboard suffers from the Command and Option keys being reversed under OS X 10.2.

Lucent Wavelan 802.11b wireless PC-Card - Also according to Savin, the driver that allowed this card to run under OS X 10.1.5 doesn't function under Jaguar.

A helpful note: If your USB trackball or mouse stops working under OS X 10.2, one alternative while you wait for the vendor to update its drivers you could check out the USB Overdrive beta 5, which offers compatiblity with Jaguar. It is $20 shareware from developer Alessandro Levi Montalcini...

Definitions: Mac OS X 10.2 and "Jaguar" are both names for the newest update to Apple's operating system software that is due in stores on Aug. 24, 2002. These reports are being culled from various news sources and mailing lists and if you are aware of additional incompatibilities of corrections to this report, please contact me at rob@whiterabbits.com.

Rob McNair-Huff is a longtime Mac user and writer from the Pacific Northwest. In addition to writing about the Mac, and running this Web site, Mac Net Journal, he is the author of two books - Insiders' Guide to the Olympic Peninsula and Mountain Bike America: Washington - and he is working with his wife Natalie to write a third book this year called Birding Washington. If you have a need for Mac consulting, writing, Web design or photography help, check out Rob's business site: White Rabbit Publishing.
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9/29/02; 5:48:22 PM by RMH