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Out of the box (6.00)
The Oki C6000n comes with the basics to get the printer set up and running, including the four toner cartridges, power cord, Handy Reference Guide, Setup Guide, and driver installation CD, which also includes the C6000 User Guide and the OkiLAN 8300e Network Print Server manual.
Setup (6.50)
Getting the Oki C6000n ready to print took about 18 minutes, including driver installation. The physical process involved removing all the tape from the exterior of the printer, and then removing each image drum/toner cartridge from the printer, removing the tape and protective sheet, replacing the drum/cartridge, and locking them all in place. After this, it was just a matter of loading paper in the main tray, plugging the unit into the socket, and turning it on. The Setup Guide instructs the user to print out a demo page to make sure the cartridges are installed correctly.
Installing the software took just a few minutes. We installed just the USB connection, and we were up and running.
Manual / Quick Start Guide (3.00)
Oki seems to be following the trend of putting the printer’s documentation and information in so many different places that it makes it difficult to find what is needed. They include a paper copy of the Setup guide, which does indeed guide the user through setup. The book comes in four languages—English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Also included in paper form is the Handy Reference Guide. This spiral bound book is meant to be attached to the side of the printer with Velcro stickers. It gives a breakdown of the printer menu, accessed via the two-line LCD screen. It also gives paper specification and loading instructions, but in a very confusing format, with similar information scattered around the book. Not exactly as "Handy" as they’d like to think.
The most useful document, the C6000 User Guide comes only as a PDF installed via the CD. We found the document to be repetitive and minimally helpful. The language was confusing, and not all the information needed was available in this manual or any of the other documentation. We often found that the instructions did not always indicate where a particular function can be found, or how to specifically complete a task. For example, when attempting to change the printer driver settings, the instruction tell you where to go, but then leave you hanging with "Proceed with changing the driver settings," with no specifics on how to do it. We also had trouble finding any truly useful information about printing profiles and color management in the manual. It does mention using profiles, and refers the user to a Utility that doesn’t seem to exist.
Drivers and Administration (6.50)
The printer driver for the Oki C6000n can be installed as a PCL driver or a PostScript (PS) driver. The PS driver is recommended if users are planning to print graphics or images on a regular basis, but we found much better results using the PCL driver. If both drivers are installed, they can be switched back and forth via the Advanced tab of the Properties dialogue box.
The driver utility for the PS setup is made up of four tabs. The Layout tab includes simple selections for orientation and page order, while the Paper/Quality tab includes selections for paper source and either color or black-and-white printing.
The Job Options tab allows users to select the printing quality—High, Fine (600 x 1200 dpi), or Normal (600 x 600 dpi)—as well as an optional Image Smoothing checkbox. A separate Job Type box on the right only shows the Normal option when hooked up to a single computer via USB. If the network options are set up, then users can choose to print securely, with or without a PIN. Watermarks and Overlays can also be set up via buttons at the bottom of this tab.
The Color tab provides several options for managing color output. Automatic is set by the printer. Office Color allows users to set the color output to match that of a typical 6500K monitor at three different levels (Auto, Perceptual, and Vivid), a CRT monitor (9300K), a digital camera, or to the sRGB color space.
The Graphics Pro setting gives users options for printing with ICC profiles, with printer simulation, using no color matching, or using the color matching from the application. Options for a CMYK input profile are available in addition to RGB.
An option to use no color matching also appears in the main Color tab, as does a grayscale option for printing color images in black and white.
The PCL driver is simpler and loses one tab from the PS setup. The Setup tab replaces the Layout and Paper Quality tabs, and it includes paper settings and finishing options. The Job Options tab includes a button for fonts, under which a substitution table for True Type fonts is shown for replacing those prints with a comparable printer font. The Color tab houses the same selections as the PS driver, except that there are fewer selections under the Graphics Pro setting (no CMYK profile).
Software (0)
The Oki C6000n comes with no software.
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