First post here! I'm completely new to 68k. Don't ask me why I wanted to do this, I'm too young to have any nostalgia for it, I just like to mess with old computers. Anyway, I recently bought a Powerbook 540c running OS 8.1 and a working Stylewriter II printer. What I'm trying to do is share the printer on a network so that I can print from it using either my 2018 MBP or a 2005 iBook (OS 10.4) more realistically. I currently have the printer connected to the Powerbook by serial port and I can print from it. However, I've been unable to find any 68k compatible software that will open modern file formats so the only thing that works so far is to convert a file on my modern computer to a JPEG, open it in JPEGView 3.0, and print it from there. I also have the Powerbook connected to my iBook via an Ethernet adapter and my router. That's how I've been getting software onto the Powerbook.
As I understand it the OS8.1 printer sharing protocol isn't compatible with OSX and I will need to do some kind of workaround. I've found a lot of topics on the internet about using a modern printer with a 68k Mac, but none about going the other way. Has anyone done it that can walk me through?
I would also appreciate any tips on converting a .pages file from present day into a format that the 540c can read and print.
Final question: while messing around with this my system has been locking up a lot. If I try to open too large a jpeg file everything will just freeze. Cmd+opt+esc opens the force quit dialogue and that freezes too. The only thing I can do from there is pull the power. Is this normal behavior for OS 8.1? I haven't done a fresh install yet for lack of installation floppies.
As I understand it the OS8.1 printer sharing protocol isn't compatible with OSX and I will need to do some kind of workaround. I've found a lot of topics on the internet about using a modern printer with a 68k Mac, but none about going the other way. Has anyone done it that can walk me through?
I would also appreciate any tips on converting a .pages file from present day into a format that the 540c can read and print.
Final question: while messing around with this my system has been locking up a lot. If I try to open too large a jpeg file everything will just freeze. Cmd+opt+esc opens the force quit dialogue and that freezes too. The only thing I can do from there is pull the power. Is this normal behavior for OS 8.1? I haven't done a fresh install yet for lack of installation floppies.
