Dear Diary: Samsung ML-1610 on macOS 10.12 Sierra

I have a trusty Samsung ML-1610 printer that I think I bought for like $90 back around 2003. It’s been an outstanding little cheapie that so far has seen me through two undergrad programs and is now seeing my wife through her third such program. Overall, it’s unremarkable, but I like it enough to keep it going.

I’ve long-since used SpliX to get it to work under more recent versions of macOS. Lately, I’ve found splix’s installer fails to complete (I suspect SIP is in the way). And so this post exists to help me keep track of what I’ve done to install it on my wreckless fleet of macs.

I even have a newer better printer, but I scored a whole new toner cartridge for the 1610 for dirt-cheap. So I want to keep my ML-1610 going and if this toner lasts as long as the last cartridge, I’ll be in my late 90s by the time it runs out.

Setup the ML-1610 under macOS Sierra (etc)

Here are the steps that got it working for most recently:

1. Create ~/Printers/ and copy in my Samsung driver dumpster archive
2. Extract the archive in to ~/Printers/
3. Run the SpliX 2.0 installer from the extracted archive. It will fail to complete, but succeed enough that the rest will work.
4. Open System Preferences > Printers & Scanners, click the plus to add a new printer.
5. Select the printer from the list of detected printers (in my case it’s seen via Bonjour)
6. Under Use, select Other…, navigate to ~/Printers and go find usr/share/cups/model/samsung/ select the ppd file for the printer (ml1610.ppd, in my case)
7. Click Add

If you get the error message:
The software for the printer was installed incorrectly. Please reinstall the software from the manufacturer.

You probably failed to run the Splix installer. Indeed it does fail to complete. But the attempt at running it led to the printer then working when I added it.

Epilogue

The SpliX driver for the ML-1610 has never been rock-solid. I’ve found I occasionally have to attempt a print more than once. It’s minor to me, but would annoy certain personalities. This is the cost of rotting driver support for a device that’s probably no longer widely used. It’s kind of sad because it’s a perfectly fine printer for modern use. But folks reading this far probably do have one and by now it’s working for them again.

To anyone who freaks-out because their 15yr old $90 printer occasionally takes two print attempts to work, go buy a new printer, you cheap fuck.