Alps MD 1000 printer in the year 2016

Alps MD 1000 printer in the year 2016

I got myself an Alps MD 1000 printer for the purpose of printing decals.  So let's get started with what works and what doesn't...

First, my printer came with the OEM disk and drivers.  I also got 2 sets of ink, and ordered 1 white cartridge and 1 finish cartridge from ebay.

The first thing I tried was to get it to work with Windows 7.  NO-GO, doesn't work at all and I'm really good at troubleshooting printer compatibility.  Next was Vista 32.  Again, not happening.

NEXT.....Windows XP Version 2002 Service Pack 3

Yes, read it again.... Windows XP Version 2002 Service Pack 3

This one worked with the drivers provided, no trouble at all and Windows Update found a Microsoft driver for the printer as well, but that one doesn't seem to work.

The Alps OEM driver does work with Windows XP Service Pack 3.

I printed some test pages, but right away I was unable to get it to goto the highest resolution because I didn't have a finish cartridge.  I found one on ebay for $8 and ordered it.

I tried a test print of some small logos, and they were terrible, but to be fair they also sucked on my Epson 2200 which is much higher resolution, so we'll revisit that with some higher quality graphics.

Next I tested some numbers and letters and they printed very nice.  So I put in some clear decal paper that is already coated with acrylic (so I don't waste a fresh sheet working out the bugs) and they printed out pretty decent, but again not on the highest resolution.

As I expected, they are pretty much transparent.  So the next test will involve using the finish cartridge when it gets here and attempting to do a white underlay.

Here's one thing I noticed about the Microsoft driver:  it allows you to change all settings without limit.

This would be perfect and I suspect it's here that the whole Service Pack 3 issue comes into play, so I think I'm going to tear down that machine and rebuild it with the best old parts I can find and install Windows XP again and try it 1 service pack at a time.  I should also mention that my XP install CD is for the Pro version.....