This a very special gear, the Polaroid ColorShot Printer. It only runs on old Windows versions. So here is the story I had with it:
I've
been tempted for a while and I knew there are no drivers for a recent
system, but I finally bought it from the U.S. for next to nothing, the
Colorshot printer for Spectra film. After a fast delivery (8 days in
priority) I connected the device: in fact, it is not possible to
install the drivers, neither under Win XP nor Win7. For the software
(Photomax Pro), no problem.
So back to the web, how to install a
virtual machine. I chose Oracle VM, free and easy. You have to have a
Win98 with its code, fortunately I kept one. When everything was
installed, with no problem, a great disappointment: Oracle does not
support lpt1 (parallel connection). If you have the USB model, which
also exists, here is the installation you need.
New tour on the
web: I decided myself for Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, free too. During
the installation it says that it's incompatible with XP family version,
but it works, just override the warning screens. New installation of
Win98 (it is long, it takes an hour for everything) and here you are, a
system with lpt1 (but no usb). The printer can finally be installed.
I
put the spectra pack provided (date 09/01) and start printing. Ejection
of the dark slide, it made some noise and finally there's a picture.
But, alas, the film is out of date. Part of the pod is solid and stays
in the pocket. Back on the web, I order a PZ600 from Impossible.
Some
days later, delivery of the pz600. Suspense: I put the pack in and
start printing. The first picture, I'm a little late to hide it from
light. The blue layer disappears after a long wait (10 minutes), but it
is a recognizable photo. The second, I hide it as soon as it comes out
and I don't look at it for a few minutes, it keeps blue spots for the
moment. in all the quality of impossible colors is not yet perfect, but
I knew it.
That's the story. Now 3 photos:
The printer and its manuals, software installed and visible on the screen.
Screen capture.
The results on 2011 Impossible film. Would be more colourful on recent film. Row below, expired and dead Polaroid film.
