I'm following the same procedure but I cannot do one (probably) simple thing: how do I extract the installer files?
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Network laser printer for old / modern Macs?
- Thread starter Byte Knight
- Start date
I had to install LaserWriter 8.6 on another one of my old Macs running OS 8.1 and then copy the files over. The files are available in the Uploads/LW_8.6 folder on my server (see my signature for the server address).
The LPR method should work with your old Macs - not sure about the PC's since I don't have any. Just make sure you get the Laserwriter 8.6 extension installed and use the Generic PPD.
It depends on what the printer understands. My Brother MFC printer has the post script emulator BR-Script so that worked fine. My color brother (Hl-3045cn) doesn't so that only works with my Netatalk server and CUPS running on an intel chip to translate the postscript into the proprietary Brother command language.
Brothers spec sheets are pretty good at noting what your printer understands. Another version of my color printer (HL-3075CW) does support postscript.
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It worked for me in the end - I have a Brother MFC-L2730DW.
I didn't think it could print so well.
JPG file opened on QuickTime with a SE/30.
I didn't think it could print so well.
JPG file opened on QuickTime with a SE/30.
Nice print quality! Getting my old Macs to print over the network onto a modern laser printer ranks up there with getting netatalk (via A2SERVER) up and serving all of my old / modern Macs.
Bumping this up because....... I got System 7.1 and its stock LaserWriter 7 driver to print to netatalk's PAP server! I bet this works with older revisions, but I don't have an older Mac to test with at the moment. The problem is a really fussy driver. When printing starts, the driver does two things:
-Checks if Laser Prep has been uploaded.
-Runs a query to see a list of installed fonts.
For the first check, the netatalk PAP server responses with "unknown", which the driver just assumes the prep file isn't there and prepends it to the print job before sending. The second check is the one its choking on. By default, netatalk's PAP server just sends back the terminating character of "*" instead of a font list. Turns out whoever worked on the PAP code in netatalk only tested the thing with LaserWriter 8, nothing older. They didn't bother to implement the "%%?BeginFontListQuery" function that Apple documented in "Inside AppleTalk" for print spoolers. Now Apple isn't completely blameless, they could have done a better job of writing a printer driver!
So my solution was to hard code the default font list from the original LaserWriter in response to the driver's query. That was enough to convince it to work and the driver doesn't even bother to check the printer's capabilities, so it will even print in full color!
To clarify, if you are running System 6.0.x, just use the LaserWriter 7 driver. It is fully compatible and even shipped with System 6.0.8. It correctly supports Postscript Level 2 and color. It also doesn't require Laser Prep to be loaded into the printer, something that was a problem back in the day!
Nice job! I'd love to be able to print to my Canon MG6200 color inkjet printer but I can't get Netatalk PAP to work for the life of me...
So this got me wanting to print with my SE/30, even though I really have no need to. I've got all the files (finally, it wanted quite a few more files than what you had listed at your fileserver?), and I even updated my 7.5.3 to 7.5.5 thinking that may have been an issue. I got the desktop printer on my desktop (and it verified there was a printer at the address I typed in), but no joy. Then I looked at the printer itself and saw that I had two out of ink warnings. I ordered new ink, so hopefully when I revisit this in a few days I will be able to say I have it working.
J White
J White
File Not Found error
fnfErrOSStatus — Apple API Errors
Look up Apple API error codes, for Mac OS X, iOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS
www.osstatus.com
My Laserjet 4+m works across the board.
Most of the old Laserwriters can be made to work as well, by adding the relevant PPD file to OSX. It’s just a few lines of text; the real magic seems to be worked by postscript.
Most of the old Laserwriters can be made to work as well, by adding the relevant PPD file to OSX. It’s just a few lines of text; the real magic seems to be worked by postscript.
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