LaserWriter 16/600 PS - Parallel and LocalTalk Simultaneous?

[Scott Baret]

First, my apologies for the use of the word "simultaneous" without the morpheme "-ly", as is expected in the prescriptive grammar of Standard English. I ran out of room to write it.

Now, on to the real question.

A few weeks ago I had thought about ways to utilize my LW 4/600 PS with an IBM PS/2. However, I have now decided to de-mothball the LW 16/600 that has been in my closet for over a year and put it back into service since it has a parallel port. I'd assume this would work fine on WordPerfect 5.1 using one of the LaserWriter drivers but if not, let me know. (If it won't work, I will really regret trading that LaserWriter Plus for my Mac 128K four years ago).

A bigger question involves my Mac Classics. I recently set up my Classics again and am hoping to use this printer with both the trio of Classics and the PS/2 (which are all in the same general location). The PS/2 will be connected via parallel port and will be the only non-Mac connected to the printer. Will I be able to run the LocalTalk connector alongside the parallel connector (that is, with both plugged in at the same time) without causing a problem and/or disabling the printer? (I do not intend to print from the IBM at the same time I'm printing from the Macs, so the printer wouldn't be getting any "mixed signals", it would just have an assortment of cables that more or less resembled the contents of a nice bowl of minestrone soup connected to it).

 

[Unknown_K]

Probably depends on how much of the buffer is used when they new print job shows up.

 

[alk]

Um, the 16/600 also has ethernet. Why bother with parallel and LocalTalk when you can use IP/LPD? I use a 16/600 that I picked up to do just this. It's a great workhorse printer, and every computer in the house (wireless or wired) can print to it.

Pick up a cheap AAUI transceiver on eBay and call it a day.

Wait, did you say IBM PS/2?? I guess ethernet is out. ;-) Nevermind.

Peace,

Drew

 

[Unknown_K]

Um, the 16/600 also has ethernet. Why bother with parallel and LocalTalk when you can use IP/LPD? I use a 16/600 that I picked up to do just this. It's a great workhorse printer, and every computer in the house (wireless or wired) can print to it.
Pick up a cheap AAUI transceiver on eBay and call it a day.

Wait, did you say IBM PS/2?? I guess ethernet is out. ;-) Nevermind.

Peace,

Drew

Why is that? All My IBM PS/2's have ethernet.

 

[Scott Baret]

Don't forget that I'm using Mac Classics, which don't have Ethernet built in nor have easy expansion routes for Ethernet (had I been using SEs or LCs this would not have been an issue). I am aware that solutions do exist but since I already have the LocalTalk boxes I'm not sure if I want to invest any more into the network at this time (especially because I just bought a replacement analog board for one of the Classics and invested $45 in Word 5.1 for them).

The PS/2 in question is a Model 30 286. I have an Ethernet card I could stick into it and I do have the correct adaptor for the LaserWriter so perhaps I could run the PS/2 from Ethernet and the rest from LocalTalk?

 

[beachycove]

I have the similar but earlier LWPro630, in which all ports (including simultaneous Appletalk over ethernet and localtalk) are indeed active at the same time. I haven't tried with a parallel connection, but the specs for the LWP630 say it will do that, too, i.e., all ports at once.

It should be the same for the LW16/600. These were professional quality printers, the 16/600 was a big step up from and the replacement for the LWPro630, and I can't see such features having been abandoned, especially as interoperability with DOS/ Windows was a major marketing theme of the time.

Does yours have the fax card?

 

[shred]

IIRC beachycove is right. The printer should auto-switch between localtalk and parallel without any problems. They also switch between PCL and PostScript transparently, so you are all set.

 

[equill]

First, my apologies for the use of the word "simultaneous" without the morpheme "-ly", as is expected in the prescriptive grammar of Standard English. I ran out of room to write it ...

Just as there are more ways to kill a cat than simply choking it with butter, you could have saved yourself the heartburn of succumbing to the Germanic use of adjectives as adverbs that is rife, in some dialects of English, by altering the syntax to 'Simultaneous Parallel and LocalTalk?'.

With respect to your larger problem, if your LT network is already functional, there is also the use of the scarce—but still sometimes available—LT/EN adapter to be considered.

de

 

[register]

Use the Apple LaserWriter utility application to check for the printer's port setup and change it on demand. The several ports and protocols supported by the machine can be switched on and off. Also you might want to load fonts into the printer storage or a SCSI disk attached to the printer to cut down the latency time due to font data transfer .