Do old Samsung ML printers work on Mac OS Big Sur with Splix? Yes

[Verhushkin]

Here is how I got my samsung ML-1520 to work.

Note: there are some steps I did that may not be really necessary. I indicated them with (?) at the end.

• Download and install Samsung Printer Drivers v3.92

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software13/printers/SS/Print_Common_SW/Samsung_Mac_10.15_Driver_V3.92...

• Download splix-2.0.0 from http://cl.ly/2A1A0c160P27/download/Splix-2.0.0.zip (This is an unofficial location, but the zip does not seem to exist anymore on the official site only a source tarball)
• Unzip Splix-2.0.0
• Copy pstoqpdl and rastertoqpdl from Splix-2.0.0.mpkg/Contents/Packages/target.pkg/Contents/usr/libexec/cups/filter to /Library/Printers/Samsung/UPD/Filters (I navigated there using Finder, you need to right click on some files and show contents)
• Copy ml1520.ppd from Splix-2.0.0.mpkg/Contents/Packages/target.pkg/Contents/usr/share/cups/model/samsung to "/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/Samsung ML-1520 Series"
• Make "Samsung ML-1520 Series" executable (?)
• Edit "Samsung ML-1520 Series

Change line *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 rastertoqpdl" to *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 /Library/Printers/Samsung/UPD/Filters/rastertoqpdl"

• gzip "Samsung ML-1520 Series"
• Make folder ML-1520 in /Library/Printers/Samsung (?)
• Copy contents of folder /Library/Printers/Samsung/ML-2160 to /Library/Printers/Samsung/ML-1520 (?)
• Rename /Library/Printers/Samsung/ML-1520/ML-2160.icns to ML-1520.icns (?)
• Plug in your printer
• Add printer and use driver "Samsung ML-1520, Splix V. 2.0.0"
• Now I was able to print!

Thanks Apple and HP for not supporting our printers...

[IreneSaaavedra]

Hello. Please, I don´t understand this part: 

• Make "Samsung ML-1520 Series" executable (?)
• Edit "Samsung ML-1520 Series

Change line *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 rastertoqpdl" to *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 /Library/Printers/Samsung/UPD/Filters/rastertoqpdl"

• gzip "Samsung ML-1520 Series"

Can you explain it better, Than you 😄  

[mwek]

For anyone trying to get ML2165W to work with Big Sur: the official SpliX tarball did not work for me. However, there is a patched fork on GitHub: https://github.com/bendlas/splix/. Installation requires manual compilation:
1. Install homebrew -- instructions are on brew.sh
2. In terminal, install command line tools: xcode-select --install
3. In terminal, install jbigkit: brew install jbigkit
4. Unpack the archive downloaded from the master branch
5. Build and install the SpliX tool -- in terminal run make && sudo make install
6. The make install will fail when trying to copy Samsung drivers. Ignore this failure.
7. Select the drivers you want to install. They are in the root directory and in the ppd/ subdirectory. For ML2165W, it was ml2165.ppd in the root directory.
8. In terminal, install the driver manually:
sudo chown root:admin [driver].ppd && sudo gzip [driver].ppd && sudo mv [driver].ppd.gz /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/

[TracyMaps]

Hi @Mwek

I've done according to your instructions but nothing changes. When I plug in my ML-2160 laserjet printer it is not recognized by BigSur. No list appears. At all. I've used ml2160.ppd as I thought it might be the closest to my model.

the output of the 'make && make install', yields (as expected) the following:

     INSTALL           optimized/rastertoqpdl
     INSTALL           optimized/pstoqpdl
     INSTALL           Samsung PPD files
install: mkdir /usr/share/cups/model/samsung: Operation not permitted
make[1]: *** [install] Error 71
make: *** [install] Error 2

Could you please help me? am I doing anything wrong?

[mwek]

Hey TracyMaps, did you execute the step 8 from the instruction?

In terminal, install the driver manually:
sudo chown root:admin ml2160.ppd && sudo gzip ml2160.ppd && sudo mv ml2160.ppd.gz /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/

The printer driver should be available on the list when you add the printer.

[madmax2148]

I am also getting the same error when trying to do the make install etc..

My printer is CLP-300 but I can't build the application
I am running the make install as root.

Please help

ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L/opt/local/lib'

     CXX               src/pstoqpdl.cpp

     LINK              optimized/pstoqpdl

     INSTALL           optimized/rastertoqpdl

     INSTALL           optimized/pstoqpdl

     INSTALL           Samsung PPD files

install: mkdir /usr/share/cups/model/samsung: Operation not permitted

make[1]: *** [install] Error 71

make: *** [install] Error 2

[mwek]

install: mkdir /usr/share/cups/model/samsung: Operation not permitted

^^^ this is the failure that can be ignored (step 6). Please continue from step 7.

[madmax2148]

So are you saying just ignore trying to do all the make + make install of all the previous steps?

And just manually copy the CLP300.ppd file directly from the ppd subdirectory inside the splix (make install) directory using your command in step 8?

What is the reason the make install failed?

and can't create that directory?