beachycove
Well-known member
A series of observations and printing questions for the A/UX cognoscendi:
An Apple Workgroup 95 file/print Server, properly configured, has not one but two print spoolers built in. One is the Appletalk-based spooler included with AppleShare Pro. The other is a unix-based IP/ LPR spooler administered by the archaic LPC command. The latter can, interestingly, utilize any AppleTalk or even serial printer selected in the Chooser, and I gather that the former can be used to network a serial printer also, like an ImageWriter, over Appletalk. If I have understood the matter correctly, A/UX was capable of translating, as necessary, between Quickdraw printing instructions and Postscript, essentially on the fly. This was all part of its bridging of the two networking worlds that A/UX represented at the time it was produced. Pretty spiffy.
Assuming that both spoolers can be active at the same time (can't see why not), could an A/UX box, then, be set up both as an AppleTalk and LPR print spooler, allowing continued use of an AppleTalk-only printer in the most recent versions of OSX, as well as by older systems on a network? Might its (LPR) print spooler even show up in Bonjour? Could it, conceivably, allow continued use even of a Quickdraw-based LaserWriter, ImageWriter, or StyleWriter?
Please tell me the answer is yes. I need a reason to dust off an A/UX box, fire it up, and put it to good use.
An Apple Workgroup 95 file/print Server, properly configured, has not one but two print spoolers built in. One is the Appletalk-based spooler included with AppleShare Pro. The other is a unix-based IP/ LPR spooler administered by the archaic LPC command. The latter can, interestingly, utilize any AppleTalk or even serial printer selected in the Chooser, and I gather that the former can be used to network a serial printer also, like an ImageWriter, over Appletalk. If I have understood the matter correctly, A/UX was capable of translating, as necessary, between Quickdraw printing instructions and Postscript, essentially on the fly. This was all part of its bridging of the two networking worlds that A/UX represented at the time it was produced. Pretty spiffy.
Assuming that both spoolers can be active at the same time (can't see why not), could an A/UX box, then, be set up both as an AppleTalk and LPR print spooler, allowing continued use of an AppleTalk-only printer in the most recent versions of OSX, as well as by older systems on a network? Might its (LPR) print spooler even show up in Bonjour? Could it, conceivably, allow continued use even of a Quickdraw-based LaserWriter, ImageWriter, or StyleWriter?
Please tell me the answer is yes. I need a reason to dust off an A/UX box, fire it up, and put it to good use.