I have been holding off doing anything about MacOS 15 Catalina. When it was announced that 32-bit applications would no longer be supported I checked the System Report on the iMac and found no 32-bit applications that I still used. So far, so good. Then, for some reason, I decided I would look at the Epson Support page to make sure the drivers for my scanner and my two printers were updated to MacOS 15, and I got a nasty surprise.
There is, indeed, a 10.15.x driver for the V700 scanner, but only an Uninstaller and Print CD support under 10.15.x for the R2880 printer and, no support at all for the Workforce 30 printer. For now, the path of least resistance is pretty obvious. Just don’t install MacOS 15. But what happens if, down the road, something else I want to do will only work with Catalina or newer MacOS releases? At the very least, I should probably avoid doing anything now which would further tie me down to 10.14.x.
I have realized for some time that printing is the weak link of my hybrid photo process. As long as I can buy any 35mm film, developer and fixer I can continue taking pictures with my film cameras and developing my own negatives. As long as I have any working digital camera that can work with LTM/M39 lenses I can continue digitizing my my 35mm negatives. So far, none of this depends on a computer, operating system, or software. But next I have to edit the digitized files and print a contact page and things start to get complicated.
At a minimum, I have to be able to invert the image, do some minimal editing, and send the image to a printer. That requires a computer of some sort and, probably, a printer. (I qualified the need for a printer because there are other ways to produce prints, but there is no way to outsource the computer.) Computers have a finite lifetime and they are are expensive. A good solution to the hybrid photo back end process will minimize the cost of the computer.
Printers are expensive too. I have two of them. Neither of them shows any sign of being near the end of its useful life. So rather than continuing down the slippery slope of continuing upgrades I am resolved, as of today, to freeze my computer, operating system, software and printer setup in time, at least until something breaks irretrievably.
Mere Film Photography 
Printing is the one thing I don’t do at home. I send files to Costco and let them do it. They get good results and it doesn’t cost much. I wonder what commercial options are available to you?
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I’ve thought about outsourcing some, if not all, of my printing. I saw some silver gelatin prints made by Harman Lab in California. They were made from B&W scans and looked fabulous. The real issue for me is the contact page I print of every roll of film I develop. I like to see them in real time while my memory of taking the pictures and developing the film is fresh in my mind. I can certainly produce a PDF of the page but getting an 8.5 x 11 print done quickly at a reasonable price might be an issue.
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That’s a hard use case to outsource, to be sure.
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