[X-Newbies] Re: Printer, Network?'s

[david_elmo]

> Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:15:09 -0800
> From: Randy B.Singer <randy at macattorney.com>
>
> K. Lalemand said:
>
>> A Mac network, 5 Mac's, 3 OS X, 1 OS 9 and 1 OS 8.6
>>
>> I have a Apple Laserwriter II and a HP Laserwriter III, that I'd  
>> love to
>> hook up to the network. I'd use these printers for doing mailing  
>> labels.
>>
>> First off, can it be done, so that ALL of the Mac's can see these
>> printers, and if so, how or what do I need to do.
>
>
> Yes, it can be done, but it will be a kludge.
>
> The two laser printers that you have are LocalTalk printers.  To  
> get them
> on your network you will need LocalTalk to Ethernet adapters.   
> There used
> to be several brands of these, now not a single one is still made.
> However, you can still find one easily and inexpensively on eBay.


I had a simpler problem a while back to get to use my local talk  
apple printer on a Quicksilver running Tiger. And the solution for me  
was to use it connected as usual to my old 7300 running 9 and an  
ethernet cable between the 7300 and QS. The magic trick was some  
software (yes!) called LocalTalk Bridge, downloadable from the Apple  
site. I got help on this from macnetwork at mail.maclaunch.com and they  
are likely to have archives and you can inspect the discussion.

Here's a snippet of some advice I received:

> Your LaserWriter is actually connected by LocalTalk. You need only
> install Apple's free LocalTalk Bridge (or LaserWriter Bridge) control
> panel, plug your printer cable into the printer port, and select  
> Ethernet
> in the AppleTalk control panel. Then both computers will be able to  
> print
> as long as the 7300 is turned on. This can work for any Postscript  
> Level
> 2 LaserWriter, but not the really old Level 1 units.

and


> For anyone who might want the link to LocalTalk Bridge:
>
> http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/ 
> Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/Networking- 
> Communications/Other_N-C/LocalTalk_Bridge_2.1.smi.bin


David Elmo