Macintosh 128k Printer

[performa550]

Hi guys,

I was wondering what printers would work with my original macintosh. Is the ImageWriter the only printer that would work with it or are there others?

Thanks,

Brandon

 

[Elfen]

Any printer with a serial port will work on the Mac. But you would need the printer op-codes to give it graphics printing. I had an old 20in Epson that worked well with my Atari ST, Commodore 64, Atari 800 and eventually a Mac IIci. The key is those op-codes (escape characters that defines printing mode before printing). I believe it was "Standard" or "Null" Printer to access it.

Later on printer drivers were developed.

 

[performa550]

So, basically any Apple printer would work with it theoretically? I mean there are a few that are SCSI or Parallel but the majority are serial. 

 

[Mac128]

Most Apple printers will work with the 128K as long as it's supported by System 2.0/Finder 4.1. The LaserWriter 7 driver from System 6.0.8 is compatible all the way back, so there's a benchmark by which to guess which printers should work. Most were not serial protocol, per se, but rather AppleTalk networking over the serial port, which is why the 128K is so forward compatible. However, if you're running pre-System 2.0/4.1, you'll be limited to the ImageWriter, I believe.

You can also print to a postscript file using the LaserWriter 7 driver and print it on a modern Mac.

 

[james_w]

The Imagewriter II should work as well, but you'll need a DB-9 to DIN 8 cable and the correct driver.

 

[QuicksilverMac2001]

I tested my 128k with the LaserWriter Installation Disk (a copy I had made) with a LaserWriter II NT and NTX using the for the time stock 2MB of RAM and it works perfectly (even would print if my printer would actually pull the paper in from the tray. LaserWriter 7.0 compatible printers using PostScript Level 2 however are out of the question. If a II NT or II NTX can not b had, then the ImageWriter will work, but I had to test this myself and a LaserWriter original or II with PostScript Level 1 will work.

I had an issue and it was resolved by hooking the 128k up to the LaserWriter II, so I know it works. There's @ least one on eBay right now, but you would need to buy a paper tray and ensure safe delivery (original packing materials or Instapak Foam Packing really help with that.) It DOES come with a toner cartridge though.

(System 2.0 Finder 4.1 will install the LaserWriter driver and fonts on System 1.1 Finder 1.1g, and there were no errors in the 128k, just errors in the printer being unable to understand the print job that was sent.)

I am so glad to be able to contribute something on my birthday, since the poster was in need of it and I had experience on that subject.

 

[olePigeon]

I'd love to get my hands on an original LaserWriter.

 

[ScutBoy]

I'd love to get my hands on an original LaserWriter.

I have an original LaserWriter I saved a couple of years ago. It needs some attention, but I hadn't seen one for a long time before, nor have I seen one since.

I think one could argue that the LaserWriter kept the Mac platform from sinking into irrelevancy in the late 80's. So many businesses took advantage of the "cheap" DTP  that the LaserWriter made possible. I know the ad agency I worked for in that time period bought 5-6 Macs, a LaserWriter and all the Localtalk hardware and wiring to connect them together just to be able to do internal layout and proofing, and we weren't alone.

 

[Paralel]

Well, that's an area that Macs had locked up for a long time, wasn't it, reasonable DTP?

The 3 things Macs were always known to me for, Education, DTP, & Graphics work that didn't need to go to the point of proprietary hardware.

If it wasn't for those 3 things, Macs would most likely have ended on the huge pile of 80's hardware platforms that never went anywhere.

Steve Jobs patented Reality Distortion Machine certainly helped though...

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Yes, and Steve not being there from 1985 to 1997 is clearly irrelevant.

 

[Paralel]

Yes, and Steve not being there from 1985 to 1997 is clearly irrelevant.

You ask the general public, or even just people responsible for purchasing Macs during that time period, I can almost guarantee most of them would say "Steve Jobs left? I had no idea"

 

[QuicksilverMac2001]

I got the 128k to not only recognize the LaserWriter IINTX, but actually print a document using a real & true PostScript font. It doesn't have the memory to print every character, but it was trying to print that test document at 24 point Symbol and I wanted to show that it works. To save space on my account, I sat there and compressed the scans on my main Internet Mac so that way any computer should get to read them. Even the manual feed alert page prints once the printer is back used to printing.

It's a case of the impossible happening every day with these old Macs. Like I said last, just make sure you have the first revision IINTX logic board and a second revision 128k logic board so that it's a real & true Skinny Mac (the 512k-era ROMs really help it understand AppleTalk and the LaserWriter 1.x driver works with it.

128k Special Printouts.zip

 

[QuicksilverMac2001]

I just found out that even with a Phase II AppleTalk router, as long as the 128k and printer are connected to the zone created by the Mac router's printer port, it can even see the printer on a Phase II AppleTalk network. The 128k was downstream of the printer, but since the printer was in the AppleTalk zone created by the printer port, a 128k even has a rudimentary understanding of zones! It received & also sent name requests to and from an AppleTalk Phase II router and really showed up.

I feel like that moment in Jurassic Park when Alan Grant & Ellie Satler are together looking at the brachiosaur and they're saying in turn "You can totally tear up the rule book on it. This thing doesn't have a cold-blooded bone in it's body, it's a totally warm-bodied creature" and Ellie replies "This thing makes us not know (insert G-rated replacement for a certain cuss word here" in reply. I thought it was amazing the 128k worked with the printer at all. Then it printed. Now it can even be on the LocalTalk Printer Port zone of a Phase II network.

If miracles will never cease, how can the world ever go away? Drastic example backed up by tested theories, that were found to exceed expectations.

Have certain people see if a GatorBox works as well as my Macintosh IIci router, which proudly serves up 7 zones to any device that it I say can talk to. My IIci runs stock System 7.1 (I bought the disks for it but one was bad when I got it) and the Apple Internet Router of v. 3.0.1 to facilitate zone creation and now the impossible!

I can't wait to see if there's any more I discover.