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Personal Laserwriter NT / NTR and LaserTalk (Help needed!)

danda

Well-known member
I am looking for someone with a Personal LaserWriter NT and / or a Personal LaserWriter NTR to do a test for me. Specifically, download the LaserTalk software and see if it is able to connect to the printer. Additionally, if any individuals here are familiar with the LaserTalk software, I would appreciate advice on how to activate the feature in LaserTalk that allows the rendered PostScript output to be copied from the printers framebuffer back to the Mac.


Now follows a long (and boring ;)) explanation as to why I need this - feel free to skip!

As noted in another thread, I am planning on getting rid of my three broken LaserWriters - an LS, an SC and an NTR, due to lack of space. I am am, however, possibly considering keeping and repairing the NTR because it has PostScript and therefore is "programmable" (to a limited degree). In particular, the LaserTalk software allows for debugging PostScript and (theoretically - I haven't figured out how to do this) displaying the frame-buffer back on the screen with a special PostScript hook.

The problem is that the NTR uses PostScript level 2. I believe there were later versions of LaserTalk that were compatible with PostScript level 2, but the commonly-available version is an early version and may not support this. All of my Personal LaserWriters currently are non-functional and do not power up, so I cannot check to see if LaserTalk works with the Personal LaserWriter NTR - and I don't really want to spend ages repairing it only to find that it doesn't work with LaserTalk. Hence why I am asking to see if the NTR works with LaserTalk!

Currently on ebay there is another Personal LaserWriter that has a dead PSU - an NT. Unlike the NTR, the NT is PostScript level 1, so probably has a higher chance of working with LaserTalk than the NTR. If someone here can confirm this, then I would probably end up contacting the seller to ask if they would be willing to send me just the I/O board (the seller is trying to give the printer away for free, so they may be willing to send me the board). That's why I am asking to see if the NT works with LaserTalk!

And as for why I am looking for advice as to how to use the "preview framebuffer" feature of LaserTalk: I tested LaserTalk briefly today with my LaserWriter II but couldn't figure out how to access that feature.
 
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