[muglo] Re: classic printing?

on 27/5/03 12:59 AM, Alex at admeddemda@xxxxxx wrote:

> I've been really frustrated since I've been trying to make OSX my
> main OS. I have some questions about printing. I've searched the web,
> and all I get is more confused.
> 
> Can printing be done in classic mode? I have a serial printer. I
> choose it in the chooser in classic mode, but I cant seem to turn
> appletalk off (a little blurb comes up saying open network
> preferences and choose appletalk, but I have no idea what this
> means). Appletalk isnt even supported in classic, so why cant I turn
> it off?

Classic *cannot* control hardware, let alone communicate with it! This is
why OS X is sooooooo damned stable (13 days and 22 hours since last restart
:) :) (type "w" or "uptime" in the Terminal)... over 1 month since last
crash). Classic (OS 9) was one horrendous mishmash of 17 years worth of code
evolution.

To do any trouble shooting I'd need more info from you:
1. what OS X version are you running? 10.2.6 or 10.2.5 *highly* recommended.
If you're running anything less you're not using OS X to its fullest extent.

2. what computer? Beige G3 presumably since you're trying to print to serial
printer.

3. MOST importantly, what printer are you using? Does it have OS X drivers?

Re: AppleTalk 1 -- what it says is exactly what OS X means. Go to "Network
Preferences" in "Apple:System Preferences..." and turn off AppleTalk in the
"AppleTalk" pane for the relevant interfaces (i.e. ethernet, AirPort, IR,
BlueTooth, etc.) there. Classic is allowed to control *nothing* (a damned
good thing).

Re: AppleTalk 2 -- AppleTalk *is* supported in Classic but only for a very
limited purpose (and, only as of OS X 10.2 Jaguar). You can login to "old
style" AppleShare servers (e.g. Novell Netware 3.1.1) using the
Chooser:AppleShare device that you cannot use through OS X Finder's
command-K.

Re: Printing from Classic -- it is possible (I do it all the time), and you
do not necessarily need the OS X printer setup.  I regularly use Acrobat
PDFWriter which has no OS X counterpart.

> Anyway, I go to print and I get an error in classic, similar to os9,
> saying please make sure a printer is connected blah blah, well it is,
> obviously it just cant see it.

You may have luck with turning off the AppleTalk (as you suspect), and if
you can find yourself some drivers for serial devices.

> What good are classic apps if you cant even print from them??

I've actually never had problems printing from Classic apps -- I've had
hissy fits trying to get OS X apps to work on occasion though... some
learning teething pains getting used to a different way of printing (even
though Classic worked fine)

> I have also unsuccessfully tried to print with my Imagewriter in OSX.
> I installed the drivers from linuxprinting.org, but while the
> imagewriter starts to print, it stops and never prints the last 2
> lines of any document.

Ah, I should've read this far. So you *can* print and you *can* communicate
with the IW (answers an earlier question -- an IW or an IW II or an IW LQ?).
This sounds like a linuxprinting.org driver problem that you'll need to
fiddle with. I would search the web (google or your favourite search engine)
to see if other people have succeeded where you're having problems.

I'm actually stunned that you can still use the IW in OS X, even with the
mixed success you're having.

> Seems like all my older serial devices I thought would work in
> classic at least, wont even work at all.

I doubt 99% of your non-printer serial devices will work.

Printers will possibly (probably) work with the OSS drivers.

Other things will probably not -- no one has much of an incentive to write
drivers (manufacturers don't... serial devices are at least 5 years old now)
for serial devices since only the very first G3 has a serial port, and most
serial devices now have superior USB or even FireWire versions for only a
few $$$ more than it would cost to buy drivers (e.g. cameras, printers,
scanners, drives, controllers, etc).

> anyone printing in classic mode? if so , how?

Yep, to three different lasers (Apple LaserWriter IIg, HP LaserJet 1200n,
and a Brother 1870, all ethernet printers... haven't used serial in *years*)
and a Canon i550 inkjet (USB interface).

PS If your time is billable, and/or if you run your own business you should
probably ditch the IW and get yourself a new (i.e. USB) dot-matrix printer.
The time you spend trouble-shooting the IW would easily pay for itself if
you were to get a new USB dot-matrix (especially since serial
trouble-shooting skills are a non-sequiteur in OS X (since no-one makes
RS232 devices anymore) unless you are using scientific equipment which is
set up with RS232 data-loggers).

PSS technically it is incorrect to refer to USB and serial since USB *is* a
serial interface. USB and RS232 (or similar interface) is probably a better
description.

Eric.


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