It looks like Dell isn't very serious about Mac support, or at least isn't very attentive. I'm writing on January 12th, 2010, and Dell still has an .exe file posted for the 2330d/2330dn Mac drivers. I downloaded the .exe file, in the hope that it was just mis-labeled. Nope, it really is an .exe file, and my Mac can't do anything with it. I copied it to a PC via a thumb drive (flash drive), and it unpacked into a folder full of .dmg files. I transferred these files back to my Mac, opened, and installed each one under Snow Leopard 10.6.2. I then used System Preferences>Print & Fax to set up my printer, using the 2330dn driver. I've tested by printing a number of modestly complex documents, including two-sided printing. So far, everything seems to work.
So for those with access to a PC, or running Windows on their Macs, this is one solution. It's sad that Dell doesn't just post the same driver files as a .zip file, instead of an .exe file. I haven't been able to find the files anywhere else for download. The folder contains four files. The two whose names start with "Dell" are dated 6/29/09, and those starting with "Printer" are dated 6/20/08.
The .exe file is a self-extracting archive, you can open it with whatever you normally use to open zip files, or just rename it from whatever.zip.exe to whatever.zip and then double-click it, or just use 'unzip whatever.zip.exe' from the terminal.
I wonder if JasonKohles has tried anything that he describes. It's June 25, 2010, as I writie. I have just tried following his instructions on both a G5 PowerMac running 10.5.8 Leopard with all updates, and an Intel Core Duo iMac running 10.6.4 Snow Leopard, with all updates. I got none of the results that he mentions. Months back, I tried unzipping this file on a G4 PowerMac running 10.4.11 Tiger, and an Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro, running Leopard. None of them could do anything with this .exe file, either.
To call an .exe file "a self-extracting archive" is curious in the Mac context. It will not self-extract on a Mac. In general, .exe files do nothing on Macs. The standard Mac operating system doesn't interpret them, and doesn't help the average user open the file. I have never seen a .exe file do anything on a completely stock Mac, certainly not self-extract. Thank goodness, since that offered some level of protection during the heyday of email viruses and trojans. There are some downloadable and purchasable utilities that can do something with a limited number of .exe file types, but I bet most Mac users won't have them installed or know how to use them. Or one could install Windows on a Mac, in a variety of ways. None of these options come close to the concept of "self-extracting."
Following through Jason's suggestions one by one: Double-clicking on this .exe file on my Macs does NOT unzip it. What I, and most Mac users "normally use to open zip files" is the Mac OS, where double-clicking a .zip file will unpack it. Not in this case. Renaming the file from .zip.exe to .zip doesn't help either. This isn't a .zip file with .exe added to the name by mistake. Removing the .exe doesn't turn it into a .zip file the the Mac OS can handle when you double-click the file icon.
Jason's final suggestion didn't work for me either, until I did a web search, and got more information. Here are the steps that worked for me.
Copy the Dell Mac driver.zip.exe file to a convenient place, for example, the Desktop. (I used the .zip,exe file that I downloaded a few months ago, and eventually opened/unzipped on a PC). Put the .zip.exe file in a place where you can see the file icon. Launch Terminal.app from the Applications>Utilities folder. Typing "unzip" and then the file name will fail, because of path issues (although maybe Jason thought this was so obvious that it didn't need to be mentioned). Type the command "unzip" (without quotes, followed by a blank space), and then instead of typing the filename, drag and drop the icon of the .zip.exe file from the Desktop into the Terminal window. The Mac OS will type in the complete file name, also typing in all the necessary parts of the path name.
Now hit Return or Enter, and you should see a few lines in Terminal about the different files that it is "inflating". And then, "Voila!" ... Nothing seems to have happened. Where are these files that were supposed to be inflated? For me, they showed up in the root of my user account, which you can see by clicking the House icon next to the username, in the sidebar of a Finder window. They are in a folder named "2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages", at the same level of the hierarchy as your Desktop, Documents, and Music directories.
Others on the web have said that they get error messages when using the Terminal unzip command on this file. I just tried re-downloading it, and I now get the error message, "End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive...".
Someone at Dell could fix this in fifteen minutes. Until they do, good luck to all Mac users. Maybe the above instructions will help, or maybe you can find a friend with a PC.
Yes, I did try it, several times. Note that double-clicking it while it is still named .exe obviously won't open it in whatever you normally use for zip files, but if you run that program and then do File -> Open it should work fine. As for all your complicated instructions for unzipping, just typing the filename works too. If you need step by step instructions, this is what I did to install the drivers on half a dozen computers this morning (from the terminal):
Connected to ftp.ins.dell.com. 220 Microsoft FTP Service 331 Anonymous access allowed, send identity (e-mail name) as password. 230-Welcome to the Dell FTP site. A service of Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas. ...
[jkohles@jkohles-macpro:~ 0]$ open 2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages/Dell2330dnLaserPrinter_X.dmg
No, it will not self-extract on the Mac, but that is irrelevant because it is still a zip file. Removing the .exe isn't supposed to magically turn it into a zip file, it was already a zip file, with some extra executable that the Mac can happily ignore and a screwy extension that confuses things.
The most likely reason that you are getting the 'End-of-central-directory signature not found' is that your browser hasn't finished downloading the file yet, and the file you are trying to unzip is empty.
I appreciate your adding more information, Jason. Again, my results are different than yours. Perhaps you are peeved with my lengthy description of what I did, but I wrote it because your instructions did not function for me. I thought that some other readers might benefit from more complete and detailed instructions, from someone who wasn't able to succeed based on what you wrote.
As I said in my last post, your suggestion that I use "whatever you normally use" to open zip files does not function for me. What I normally use is the Mac OS graphical interface. While this does contain a File>Open option, using it just opens this R240457.zip.exe file in TextEdit as multiple lines of text characters. Maybe "it should work fine", but for me, it doesn't work at all.
Similarly for your statement that "just typing the filename works too." For me, Terminal tells me "cannot find or open R240457.zip.exe. I'm guessing that some things on your Mac are different from the four Macs that I tried, so that you don't get the "file not found" error. Since you know more than I do, I won't try and guess what the important differences might be.
It may be that my problems with the "End-of-central-directory signature not found" error relate to unfinished browser downloads, as you suggest. I have tried the downloads from my browser multiple times, and the browser indicated that downloading had ceased on each one. The oldest ones are more than an hour old. I have the belief that these downloads are unlikely to finish at this point, and I am still getting the error message.
The download file sizes vary, from 8 KB to 31 KB, which supports your hypothesis of incomplete downloads. I'm working on an Ethernet connection in a university campus office, where downloads are pretty spritely. If the downloads aren't completing, what does that suggest to you? What is the file size of your successful download of R240457.zip.exe? Do you have suggestions for other readers, who might have trouble getting a complete download of the file, using a browser to get the file from Dell's servers?
I wasn't 'peeved' by the length, if anything I was a little annoyed by the fact that the message started out by wondering if I had tried what I had posted or if I just made stuff up for kicks.
What you normally use to open zip files is not Mac OS, it's an application. If you don't know which application, then it's probably Archive Utility, which is included with OS X and is likely part of the problem as Archive Utility apparently can't recognize these as zip files even if you rename them, despite the fact that basically every other archive tool does.
When you are using Terminal, there is a concept of a 'working directory', in order to use files from the command line, you have to enter a path to the file. If the current working directory in your shell is the same directory the file is in, then you can just enter the filename, otherwise you have to enter a path to the file. And yes, I did assume that people know this, because this is an extremely fundamental concept when using the terminal, generally I assume that people who don't know this don't use Terminal. I'll make the assumption that you are downloading the files into your 'Downloads' folder, in which case you can resolve the problem simply by typing 'cd Downloads' before trying the unzip command.
If you are only getting part of the file, then my guess would be that your computer or your network is broken. The size of all the driver files are listed on Dell's website right on the page where you download them (R240457.zip.exe is 13MB). If you are having trouble downloading them you could also try downloading them using the 'ftp' command, as I showed in my earlier post. Doing it that way might also reveal additional information about the problem. Although University networks are often zippy, they are also often heavily filtered, and your network admins may simply be blocking FTP access.
Rich M.
2 Posts
0
October 11th, 2009 12:00
The Lexmark E360dn driver, which is included in Snow Leopard, works fine with the Dell 2330dn. / Rich
Koninda
3 Posts
0
January 12th, 2010 15:00
It looks like Dell isn't very serious about Mac support, or at least isn't very attentive. I'm writing on January 12th, 2010, and Dell still has an .exe file posted for the 2330d/2330dn Mac drivers. I downloaded the .exe file, in the hope that it was just mis-labeled. Nope, it really is an .exe file, and my Mac can't do anything with it. I copied it to a PC via a thumb drive (flash drive), and it unpacked into a folder full of .dmg files. I transferred these files back to my Mac, opened, and installed each one under Snow Leopard 10.6.2. I then used System Preferences>Print & Fax to set up my printer, using the 2330dn driver. I've tested by printing a number of modestly complex documents, including two-sided printing. So far, everything seems to work.
So for those with access to a PC, or running Windows on their Macs, this is one solution. It's sad that Dell doesn't just post the same driver files as a .zip file, instead of an .exe file. I haven't been able to find the files anywhere else for download. The folder contains four files. The two whose names start with "Dell" are dated 6/29/09, and those starting with "Printer" are dated 6/20/08.
Dell2330dLaserPrinter_X.dmg
Dell2330dnLaserPrinter_X.dmg
PrinterFile Loader_X.dmg
PrinterStatus_X.dmg
Good luck!
jasonkohles
3 Posts
1
June 25th, 2010 09:00
The .exe file is a self-extracting archive, you can open it with whatever you normally use to open zip files, or just rename it from whatever.zip.exe to whatever.zip and then double-click it, or just use 'unzip whatever.zip.exe' from the terminal.
Koninda
3 Posts
0
June 25th, 2010 11:00
I wonder if JasonKohles has tried anything that he describes. It's June 25, 2010, as I writie. I have just tried following his instructions on both a G5 PowerMac running 10.5.8 Leopard with all updates, and an Intel Core Duo iMac running 10.6.4 Snow Leopard, with all updates. I got none of the results that he mentions. Months back, I tried unzipping this file on a G4 PowerMac running 10.4.11 Tiger, and an Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro, running Leopard. None of them could do anything with this .exe file, either.
To call an .exe file "a self-extracting archive" is curious in the Mac context. It will not self-extract on a Mac. In general, .exe files do nothing on Macs. The standard Mac operating system doesn't interpret them, and doesn't help the average user open the file. I have never seen a .exe file do anything on a completely stock Mac, certainly not self-extract. Thank goodness, since that offered some level of protection during the heyday of email viruses and trojans. There are some downloadable and purchasable utilities that can do something with a limited number of .exe file types, but I bet most Mac users won't have them installed or know how to use them. Or one could install Windows on a Mac, in a variety of ways. None of these options come close to the concept of "self-extracting."
Following through Jason's suggestions one by one: Double-clicking on this .exe file on my Macs does NOT unzip it. What I, and most Mac users "normally use to open zip files" is the Mac OS, where double-clicking a .zip file will unpack it. Not in this case. Renaming the file from .zip.exe to .zip doesn't help either. This isn't a .zip file with .exe added to the name by mistake. Removing the .exe doesn't turn it into a .zip file the the Mac OS can handle when you double-click the file icon.
Jason's final suggestion didn't work for me either, until I did a web search, and got more information. Here are the steps that worked for me.
Copy the Dell Mac driver.zip.exe file to a convenient place, for example, the Desktop. (I used the .zip,exe file that I downloaded a few months ago, and eventually opened/unzipped on a PC). Put the .zip.exe file in a place where you can see the file icon. Launch Terminal.app from the Applications>Utilities folder. Typing "unzip" and then the file name will fail, because of path issues (although maybe Jason thought this was so obvious that it didn't need to be mentioned). Type the command "unzip" (without quotes, followed by a blank space), and then instead of typing the filename, drag and drop the icon of the .zip.exe file from the Desktop into the Terminal window. The Mac OS will type in the complete file name, also typing in all the necessary parts of the path name.
Now hit Return or Enter, and you should see a few lines in Terminal about the different files that it is "inflating". And then, "Voila!" ... Nothing seems to have happened. Where are these files that were supposed to be inflated? For me, they showed up in the root of my user account, which you can see by clicking the House icon next to the username, in the sidebar of a Finder window. They are in a folder named "2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages", at the same level of the hierarchy as your Desktop, Documents, and Music directories.
Others on the web have said that they get error messages when using the Terminal unzip command on this file. I just tried re-downloading it, and I now get the error message, "End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive...".
Someone at Dell could fix this in fifteen minutes. Until they do, good luck to all Mac users. Maybe the above instructions will help, or maybe you can find a friend with a PC.
jasonkohles
3 Posts
0
June 25th, 2010 11:00
Yes, I did try it, several times. Note that double-clicking it while it is still named .exe obviously won't open it in whatever you normally use for zip files, but if you run that program and then do File -> Open it should work fine. As for all your complicated instructions for unzipping, just typing the filename works too. If you need step by step instructions, this is what I did to install the drivers on half a dozen computers this morning (from the terminal):
[jkohles@jkohles-macpro:~ 0]$ ftp ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/printer/R240457.zip.exe
Connected to ftp.ins.dell.com.
220 Microsoft FTP Service
331 Anonymous access allowed, send identity (e-mail name) as password.
230-Welcome to the Dell FTP site. A service of Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas.
...
[jkohles@jkohles-macpro:~ 0]$ unzip R240457.zip.exe
Archive: R240457.zip.exe
inflating: 2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages/Dell2330dLaserPrinter_X.dmg
inflating: 2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages/Dell2330dnLaserPrinter_X.dmg
inflating: 2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages/PrinterFile Loader_X.dmg
inflating: 2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages/PrinterStatus_X.dmg
inflating: Version.txt
[jkohles@jkohles-macpro:~ 0]$ open 2330d_2330dn_Mac_G4_Web_Packages/Dell2330dnLaserPrinter_X.dmg
No, it will not self-extract on the Mac, but that is irrelevant because it is still a zip file. Removing the .exe isn't supposed to magically turn it into a zip file, it was already a zip file, with some extra executable that the Mac can happily ignore and a screwy extension that confuses things.
The most likely reason that you are getting the 'End-of-central-directory signature not found' is that your browser hasn't finished downloading the file yet, and the file you are trying to unzip is empty.
Koninda
3 Posts
0
June 25th, 2010 12:00
I appreciate your adding more information, Jason. Again, my results are different than yours. Perhaps you are peeved with my lengthy description of what I did, but I wrote it because your instructions did not function for me. I thought that some other readers might benefit from more complete and detailed instructions, from someone who wasn't able to succeed based on what you wrote.
As I said in my last post, your suggestion that I use "whatever you normally use" to open zip files does not function for me. What I normally use is the Mac OS graphical interface. While this does contain a File>Open option, using it just opens this R240457.zip.exe file in TextEdit as multiple lines of text characters. Maybe "it should work fine", but for me, it doesn't work at all.
Similarly for your statement that "just typing the filename works too." For me, Terminal tells me "cannot find or open R240457.zip.exe. I'm guessing that some things on your Mac are different from the four Macs that I tried, so that you don't get the "file not found" error. Since you know more than I do, I won't try and guess what the important differences might be.
It may be that my problems with the "End-of-central-directory signature not found" error relate to unfinished browser downloads, as you suggest. I have tried the downloads from my browser multiple times, and the browser indicated that downloading had ceased on each one. The oldest ones are more than an hour old. I have the belief that these downloads are unlikely to finish at this point, and I am still getting the error message.
The download file sizes vary, from 8 KB to 31 KB, which supports your hypothesis of incomplete downloads. I'm working on an Ethernet connection in a university campus office, where downloads are pretty spritely. If the downloads aren't completing, what does that suggest to you? What is the file size of your successful download of R240457.zip.exe? Do you have suggestions for other readers, who might have trouble getting a complete download of the file, using a browser to get the file from Dell's servers?
jasonkohles
3 Posts
0
June 25th, 2010 13:00
I wasn't 'peeved' by the length, if anything I was a little annoyed by the fact that the message started out by wondering if I had tried what I had posted or if I just made stuff up for kicks.
What you normally use to open zip files is not Mac OS, it's an application. If you don't know which application, then it's probably Archive Utility, which is included with OS X and is likely part of the problem as Archive Utility apparently can't recognize these as zip files even if you rename them, despite the fact that basically every other archive tool does.
When you are using Terminal, there is a concept of a 'working directory', in order to use files from the command line, you have to enter a path to the file. If the current working directory in your shell is the same directory the file is in, then you can just enter the filename, otherwise you have to enter a path to the file. And yes, I did assume that people know this, because this is an extremely fundamental concept when using the terminal, generally I assume that people who don't know this don't use Terminal. I'll make the assumption that you are downloading the files into your 'Downloads' folder, in which case you can resolve the problem simply by typing 'cd Downloads' before trying the unzip command.
If you are only getting part of the file, then my guess would be that your computer or your network is broken. The size of all the driver files are listed on Dell's website right on the page where you download them (R240457.zip.exe is 13MB). If you are having trouble downloading them you could also try downloading them using the 'ftp' command, as I showed in my earlier post. Doing it that way might also reveal additional information about the problem. Although University networks are often zippy, they are also often heavily filtered, and your network admins may simply be blocking FTP access.