Apple has done an oustanding job of integrating CUPS, a family of Unix printer driver supporting hundreds of printers, with Mac OS X 10.2.

This time we're not second class citizens of the IT world, 10.2 support all these printers out of the box (number of supporter printers is even greater than the one in Windows XP) - but Apple hide (intentionally?) an easy way to configure new printers that are not in a very tight shortlist. Here follow two brief tutorials on how to configure Mac OS X 10.2 for Stylus Scan 2500 printing.

Epson recently-released TWAIN drivers work with SS2500 (do a search on www.versiontracker.com for download address). The AIO (and its little brother SS2000) is NOT explicitly supported, but does work perfectly, both with Image Capture and Adobe Photoshop. The solution is now complete.

Tutorial 1: the easy, Apple way

1. Open Print Center. Click 'Add New Printer' with the option key down. Choose 'Advanced' tab and configure popups as follow (the printer should have been connected and turned on BEFORE turning on the Mac): then click 'Add'.

Tutorial 2: the hard, Unix way

1. Connect your printer before turning on your Mac (this is a bug with CUPS 1.1 and USB printers, and depends also on your configuration). Open your browser of choice

2. go to the address 'http://localhost:631' (no quotes) and you'll be prompted with a config screen. select 'Manage Printers'

3. select 'Add Printer'

4. fill in the blanks. Description is what will identify your printer in all the menus and in the Print Center app. Select 'Continue'

4a. Select your printer model from the popup menu and then 'Continue'. To be recognised as a device (and thus appearing in the popup) the printer should be connected and on before CUPS starts.

5. Select 'EPSON' and then 'Continue'

6. Select 'EPSON Stylus Color Series'. If you're configuring a different Epson printer you should select appropriate driver (trial and error should do fine). Do not select the 'New' version for a Stylus Scan - it will not work. Select 'Continue'

7. This message should confirm that your printer has been configured.

8. In the Print Center app you'll find your printer ready to print