[G4] USB-DIN adaptor cable

[Michael L. Brown]

Doug is correct. The easiest way to connect the printer up is via 
ethernet, thru a pair of  LocalTalk connectors and some telephone 
line to a Farallon or Asante AppleTalk to ethernet adapter. Either 
connect the Farallon/Asante adapter to your Mac via crossover cable, 
or via your hub or router with a regular ethernet patch cable. You 
did not say which LaserWriter Select printer, which Mac or which 
system. The lash up above will work with any Mac with built-in 
ethernet, or an ethernet card, a LaserWriter Select 360 and the 
adapter on both OS 9 and OS X. Appletalk has to be active for the 
computer to talk to the printer adapter over ethernet. Avoid the 
LaserWriter Select 300. Apple did no port the driver over to OS X.

FYI the 3pin DINs are the pre-USB printer cable that connected up to 
a serial port. Serial port cables and LocalTalk connectors have seven 
pins but fit into the same socket.

I have a LaserWriter Select 360 that I splurged and bought for $1300 
in 1994, and it is still going strong... over 4500 pages per 
cartridge, in Postscript level II and 10 pages per minute. It is by 
far the oldest and most reliable piece of computer equipment I have 
owned.

Mac G4/400, with 1 MB RAM, PowerLogix PG4-1000 accelerator card, ATI 
Radeon 8500, an a bunch of other junk running on OS 10.2.6.

Regards,

Mike

>At 16:07 +0000 6/23/03, Douglas McCabe wrote:
>>I've been given a Personal LaserWriter printer that seems in good 
>>working order except that I can't attach it to my G4 which only has 
>>USB sockets for connecting peripherals. The LaserWriter cable has 
>>an eight-pin DIN plug at one end going into a 2-socket housing at 
>>the other end, and these sockets are 3-pin DINs.  Does anyone know 
>>where I can purchase a DIN-USB adaptor cable that will allow me to 
>>hook the printer to the G4?  Would appreciate any help.  Regards.
>
>The 8 pin MiniDIN is an RS422/RS232 "Localtalk" connector. It can be 
>connected to any standard RS232 serial port with an appropriate 
>cable. It can also connect to an AppleTalk cable if the printer has 
>the right plug in board attached.
>
>What you're probably looking for is a USB to serial adapter but the 
>software for it is another matter.
>
>For Ethernet you might be able to use an Asante ethernet to LocalTalk adapter.
>

-- 
Almost never pointless.