Multi-lingual, multi-user Mac... multiple Printer Drivers?

[Sharknose]

Hello all. I looking to buy a MacBook Pro at some stage in the near future. But I have a couple of questions.

A bit of background first. Currently, my household has two PCs. My is a UK spec laptop with WinXP. My wife's is a Japanese spec laptop with Jpn Edition of WinXP. We have a (Japanese sourced) Canon PIXUS950 printer (called the PIXMA 950 in the US), which I then downloaded USA English language drivers for us on my computer.

We are looking to switch to Apple, and given that OS X (and the bundled iLife software) is multilingual depending on user preferences, it would mean that we would probably purchase just the one computer (a 15.4 inch) and spend the other money on an external monitor.

I'm a bit of a newbie to OS X (currently reading through some off and online material to get up to speed), and on of things I'm wondering about is installing multiple sets of application software and/or drivers.

For example, in Windows, the Printer Drivers that come with the Canon enable extra settings to be changed in the Printer dialogs. In Windows, you have to download specific language drivers.
So in OS X, would it be possible for me to install Mac Printer drivers just for my user account, and then install the Japanese language version for my wife in her user account?

I've been trying to read the Mac specific manuals for my printer on the US site, but unfortunally the Mac Help document is a dmg file, so I can't read it.


This page (http://guides.macrumors.com/Library) seems to imply that I could install multiple drivers if I needed to... but your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Berserker]

First and foremost, check that printer has a Mac-compatible driver.

However, I don't understand why you should need different printer drivers for different languages (unless you're talking about the printer properties). Printers should just print.

 

[Sharknose]

First and foremost, check that printer has a Mac-compatible driver.

However, I don't understand why you should need different printer drivers for different languages (unless you're talking about the printer properties). Printers should just print.

Yeah, the printer has Mac Drivers. That I'd already checked out before getting the printer because I was starting to get the idea of buying a Mac at that stage.



And, yes, I'm talking about the Printer Properties. With XP, when you install the drivers (which are language specific), you get a whole bunch of extra tabs etc in the Printer Dialog of the Printer Properties.
I suppose, I'm wondering if Macs work in the same way? It's just a pain that I can't read the full Mac Documentation on the website, because it's distributed as a dmg file (unless there's a tool out there that allows me to extract from dmg files on a PC! )

EDIT:
Just got this reply over at the MacRumors forum, from a chap with a similar situation (One English speaking user, one Japanese, and a Canon Printer)

Yep. You probably won't even need to install anything at all, as the drivers appear to be multilingual from the get-go.

I just checked, and from the looks of it not only are the 950 drivers installed by default, but all of Canon's drivers (as well as any other built-in ones, I expect) are already fully multilingual. The print dialogues, settings, page settup, printer utility, etc all show up in whatever language the account is set to default to. I tested Japanese specifically with my S750, and it's there and works fine.

So it looks like it'll do exactly what you want right out of the box, no downloads or installation required.

Sweet!!! Now, why can't Windows be like that!!!

 

[punky_munky]

Yep, you can always bet on OS X just working.