Recently Apple has released the newest version of their desktop OS, version 10.7 Lion. They have made some changes to the way our vendors’ equipment interacts with the new OS. Our advice to you at this time is if you want to maintain scanning and printing capabilities from your Apple equipment that you delay implementation of the new OS until further notice from our Supportworks team.
Scanning:
Scanning to folder either via SMB or FTP at this point is not an option. Apple has made a change in how SMB is used in the new OS. Changes in licensing with “Samba” (an open source suite of tools for networking with Microsoft Windows and other devices) required Apple develop its own solution for interacting with Microsoft Windows and other devices. The new solution precludes scanning from our vendors’ devices. All vendors and Apple are working on a solution. This problem affects both older and newer equipment.
Printing:
Our vendors are working on developing drivers that will be fully compatible with the new desktop OS. This process can sometimes take upwards of 3 to 6 months. This problem affects both older and newer equipment.
Here is an email we received from our Technical Representative from Ricoh:
Just some advice—If you have customers who are considering upgrading from Mac Snow Leopard, OS 10.6, to Lion 10.7, they would be well advised to wait. It seems that not only has Apple replaced the Samba SMB client with their own open source equivalent, that kills scan to folder, but simple printing also seems to be an issue, which other manufacturers are having the same problems.
The issues are under investigation, but in reading the “Apple Support Communities” web page, Lion looks more like beta software than a stable release. 10.7.1 has already been released which didn’t solve any of our issues, and 10.7.2 is already in the developers hands, but looks to be more of a test for iCloud than a bug fix. Generally Apple takes about a month to get everything straightened out and a good patch released. Remember, if you live on the cutting edge, you tend to bleed much more. Will update if and when I receive more information.
If you have any questions, please call our Supportworks team at (865) 524-1124 .
One Comment
I like it when we are proactive with getting this type of information out to our clients. It can certainly preempt a lot of problems.