ALPS printer

[bbussey]

My ALPS  MD5000 either has gone on the fritz, or the Windows XP updates over the past few months have finally destabilized the printer driver to the point where the functionality is inadequate.     I wanted to print some white decals in time for this weekend.  If anyone can help me out by printing a decal sheet and mailing it to me so it arrives by Friday, please send me a PM or an email.  Thanks.

[Ike the BN Freak]

I've been looking for someone to be able to print white decals, all I need is BN style hood road numbers and numberboards.

Is there a list somewhere on here that those that have an ALPS printer who can print decals for those of us that need decals to be printed?

[Scott Lupia]

Bryan, my  Alps printer has been out of service for the last few months.  It hurts.  It really really hurts.

Scott Lupia

[TiVoPrince]

Found 
my ALPS MD1000 not working recently.  Verified that it was still using the 2.2.4 driver and the USB-Parallel adapter was functionoing.  Checked to see if I had mistakenly enabled bi-directional printing because thet always made it go wonky for me.  Confirmed that I had not selected the uber icky MicroSoft driver by mistake. 

Restored my January 2012 computer backup and it works a treat.  This could indicate a setting change that was restored to working by restore.  All I care is that it works again and I found a partially used white cartridge while tidying up my office the other day.  The ALPS universe iappears to be smiling upon me.

I might be checking Windows Updates by installing them one at a time trying to identify the culprit programme.  There are so few useful XP updates these days I am considering passing on all except security based updates.  Testing the ALPS functionality immediately after any driver change is going to need to be a routine... 

[bbussey]

Just tried as you suggested, with the bi-directional off.  Got artwork totally out of registration.  Played around with a few more settings and got it to recognize the white cartridge at the initial print, but then it asks for the black cartridge after loading the paper.  So the good news is that the problem is definitely the driver interacting with XP, as opposed to the printer.  So now I have to dig up an old NT-Workstation disk image somewhere that I can create a VMWare virtual workstation from, in addition to finding the CD with the ALPS drivers on it if I can't parse it from the XP station.

[Hyperion]

If the driver functionality in newer versions of Windows is such a problem, wouldn't it make sense to just get some old POS Windows 98 computer off eBay for like $20 and run it off that?

Kinda like those of us who still have old rigs for playing DOS games and the like.

[TiVoPrince]

Fortunately 
it looks like I will always have an XP machine.  One computer has collected all the castoff, but still useful hardware that was not ME, Vista, and Windows7 compatible.  Couple of really spiffy video cards, scanner that only likes XP, Remote conrols that require serial ports but hate USB-serial converters and of course playing "Chip's Challenge" until my hands cramp up...

[SkipGear]

Just tried as you suggested, with the bi-directional off.  Got artwork totally out of registration.  Played around with a few more settings and got it to recognize the white cartridge at the initial print, but then it asks for the black cartridge after loading the paper.  So the good news is that the problem is definitely the driver interacting with XP, as opposed to the printer.  So now I have to dig up an old NT-Workstation disk image somewhere that I can create a VMWare virtual workstation from, in addition to finding the CD with the ALPS drivers on it if I can't parse it from the XP station.

Have you tried dumping the driver and reinstalling it? Don't use the automatically installed Microsoft driver. The correct drivers are available on the Alps Yahoo groups. If you want, I can e-mail you a copy of the driver I am using.

[peteski]

My ALPS  MD5000 either has gone on the fritz, or the Windows XP updates over the past few months have finally destabilized the printer driver to the point where the functionality is inadequate.     I wanted to print some white decals in time for this weekend.  If anyone can help me out by printing a decal sheet and mailing it to me so it arrives by Friday, please send me a PM or an email.  Thanks.

Brian, I have couple of Alps printers but unfortunately I will not be able to help you this week (or weekend).

I have not seen you on either Alps or alpsdecal Yahoo groups. I highly recommend that you join both of them. They have few thousand members each  who are willing to help and are pretty active.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Alps
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alpsdecal

Once you joint  the Alps group, you'll have access to its Files section. There you'll find all versions of the drivers for these printers and lots of useful troubleshooting information.

I have feeling that since this thread has nothing to do with N scale, it'll probably be moved.

Anyways, Win XP should have not problem working with Alps.  The drivers were written for XP and most Alps users run them on XP (I still use Win98) 
How is the printer attached to the PC? On-motherboard LPT port or a USB/parallel adapter?
What version of the driver are you using?
Have you tried fully uninstalling and reinstalling the driver?
As far as troubleshooting goes, you need to give a bit more detail than just "functionality is inadequate" 
I still think that it might be more productive to post details of your problem and configuration on the Alps group.

[Chris333]

I have feeling that since this thread has nothing to do with N scale, it'll probably be moved.

lol

[bbussey]

Have you tried dumping the driver and reinstalling it? Don't use the automatically installed Microsoft driver. The correct drivers are available on the Alps Yahoo groups. If you want, I can e-mail you a copy of the driver I am using.

Yes, I found version 2.2.4 of the XP driver and reinstalled.  Same issues.  I suspect that the steady stream of Windows Updates over the years has rendered it unstable.

I broke down and created a virtual NT Workstation in VMWare and installed the NT version of the printer driver there.  I haven't tested it yet but that should work.  Just finished installing CorelDraw8, now I have to install all my railroad fonts.  I'll probably test it out tomorrow night after work.  Good thing I keep copies of all my "obsolete" software.

I have feeling that since this thread has nothing to do with N scale, it'll probably be moved.

Well, it is for printing N scale decals!   

I do this stuff for a living, so I know the drill.  Once I have the virtual NT workstation finished, I'll know for certain if my issues are with the physical printer or not.

I wish someone would release an affordable white toner cartridge.

[SkipGear]

Yes, I found version 2.2.4 of the XP driver and reinstalled.  Same issues.  I suspect that the steady stream of Windows Updates over the years has rendered it unstable.

I broke down and created a virtual NT Workstation in VMWare and installed the NT version of the printer driver there.  I haven't tested it yet but that should work.  Just finished installing CorelDraw8, now I have to install all my railroad fonts.  I'll probably test it out tomorrow night after work.  Good thing I keep copies of all my "obsolete" software.

Well, it is for printing N scale decals!   

I do this stuff for a living, so I know the drill.  Once I have the virtual NT workstation finished, I'll know for certain if my issues are with the physical printer or not.

I wish someone would release an affordable white toner cartridge.

I use my Alps from the laptop I am on right now that is XP and has all the updates installed. Never had any issues. I've always used bi-directional capability on an LPT cable. I won't give up this computer because of the parrallel printer port. My vinyl cutter also requires it. Can't get a laptop anymore with anything but USB.

[peteski]

Yes, I found version 2.2.4 of the XP driver and reinstalled.  Same issues.  I suspect that the steady stream of Windows Updates over the years has rendered it unstable.

That is a plausible explanation. But the problem might also be the graphics software you're printing from.  Did you try to print something simple from let's say a Notepad or MS Paint?  How about printing a test page from the printer's properties menu?

I broke down and created a virtual NT Workstation in VMWare and installed the NT version of the printer driver there.  I haven't tested it yet but that should work.  Just finished installing CorelDraw8, now I have to install all my railroad fonts.  I'll probably test it out tomorrow night after work.  Good thing I keep copies of all my "obsolete" software.

Welcome to the club of obsolete SW collectors!  I still have my DOS 4.1 and Win 3.0 installation floppies along with Corel Draw 3 (both on floppies and on that new fangled CDROM thingie)!     Corel Draw 8? I'm impressed!  I upgraded from version 7 to 10 probably about a year ago.  We're both are on the bleeding-edge of technology!

But why not install XP on your VM guest and 2.2.4 Alps drivers?  BTW, hwo will the printer be attached to that virtual machine? I don't think it will have a parallel port and with XP, USB is not officially supported (and can be problematic).

Well, it is for printing N scale decals!   

But it can also be used for anything else (including printing dirty pictures)!   

I do this stuff for a living, so I know the drill.  Once I have the virtual NT workstation finished, I'll know for certain if my issues are with the physical printer or not.

Well then, if you know your Alps so well, why then did you ask for assistance on a model RR forum?    Just kidding Bryan,  It was really nice meeting you at the Springfield show last winter.

I wish someone would release an affordable white toner cartridge.

Well, it is not that simple. You can presently buy laser printer toner cartridges with white toner (for Cannon, IIRC). Affordable? I don't know. You would need 2 laser printers (since you can't just swap toner color on a printer without a full purge of the previous color): one dedicated to just white and the other to CYMK colors. But capability of printing white toner on a laser printer by itself will not come even close to what Alps can do. Like Alps' ability to precisely retain paper to print multiple, perfectly-aligned layers of ink.  However, since you are already familiar with Alps, I'm not going to spell out all those unique capabilities of Alps vs. a laser printer.  The bottom line is that even though Alps is in its end-of-life stage, it is still irreplaceable.  At least in the consumer-priced range of printers.

[bbussey]

I've always used CorelDraw to output to the Alps.  I always keep a couple of versions of software, just in case there are kinks in the new version.  CDR8 was very stable and works for my primary needs: etching patterns and printing artwork.  But I also have CDR12 and use both interchangeably.

You can access all physical ports of the host hardware through VMWare.  Connecting the Alps to the parallel port isn't an issue.

I have old printers as well, and they can be picked up on the secondary market for pennies on the dollar as well.  It would be simple and inexpensive to dedicate one to white toner use, and make it a network device if necessary.

I might hit you up for a copy of your CDR3 CD.  CDR8 opens legacy CDR files, but only so far back.  I've used the product since CDR2 and could use the old copy to open some archived artwork.

[haasmarc]

I could use a copy of CDR3 as well.  I was given a business and some of the files that came with it are old CDRAW files and my current version will not open them.  The person that gave me the business doesn't have the install disks either.