Printer Daemon Idea

[LC_575]

One of the biggest problems in sharing a modern-day printer with classic Mac is bridging the gap between Appleshare and Windows Networking. Currently, only my iMac has any printing, because it's the only Mac I have with a copy of DAVE new enough to net chat with Windows Vista. An older copy of DAVE would be needed for my other Macs, but that would break the setup. Here's my idea:

Any classic Mac not capable of running DAVE could simply print to PostScript files, which would be placed in a shared folder located on whatever Mac that acts as your AppleShare to NetBIOS bridge. A daemon program could simply check this folder every x number of seconds, say 10, and whatever PostScript files that are found are immediately send to a DAVE desktop postscript printer. It would bridge the gap caused by the inability of the Mac OS to "re-share" DAVE desktop printers to other Macs networked via AppleShare.

Could this be done in HyperCard?

 

[techfury90]

Here's another idea: if your Vista edition supports it (I can't remember if its a by-edition thing), you could set up a LPD server on Vista.

 

[LC_575]

Well, what if LPD doesn't work? Or you simply want to avoid it.

 

[Nathan]

Add an additional linux computer and install netatalk (http://netatalk.sourceforge.net/) hook the printer to that and use it to share the printer to everything on the network.