Netatalk issues

[jimcoyle1]

Rather confused here about Netatalk. I have installed it to my Ubuntu
system via apt-get. Some instructions I found (which might be
outdated) for integrating AppleTalk-only printers into the system
states that after installing Netatalk, by issuing the command nbplkup
I should be able to see my Apple Talk printers. Here is what I get
instead:

james-desktop:AFPServer 65280.16:128
james-desktop:netatalk 65280.16:4
james-desktop:Workstation 65280.16:4

As you can see, the printer does not appear, although it seems that
netatalk is operating. I'm on a Mac using Parallels software to run
Ubuntu. My printer is an old Laserwriter 4/600 PS which uses a
LocalTalk-Ethernet bridge.

What am I missing here? Is netatalk not working? Or is using the
nbplkup command obsolete for the latest version of Netatalk?

Thanks.

[Rod Smith]

In article <1183439711.5...@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com>,

jimcoyle1 <james...@mac.com> writes:
>
> Rather confused here about Netatalk. I have installed it to my Ubuntu
> system via apt-get. Some instructions I found (which might be
> outdated) for integrating AppleTalk-only printers into the system
> states that after installing Netatalk, by issuing the command nbplkup
> I should be able to see my Apple Talk printers. Here is what I get
> instead:
>
> james-desktop:AFPServer 65280.16:128
> james-desktop:netatalk 65280.16:4
> james-desktop:Workstation 65280.16:4
>
> As you can see, the printer does not appear, although it seems that
> netatalk is operating. I'm on a Mac using Parallels software to run
> Ubuntu. My printer is an old Laserwriter 4/600 PS which uses a
> LocalTalk-Ethernet bridge.

First, the way you're running Linux (in a virtualized environment) may
throw a monkey wrench into the equation. I don't know anything about how
Parallels handles networking; it might or might not even pass AppleTalk
traffic. If it does pass AppleTalk traffic, you SHOULD be able to get it
working; however, the task you want to accomplish is becoming fairly
obscure....

I don't know much about the nbplkup command. If you know the network name
of your printer, though, the most basic way to print to it from Linux is
to use the pap command:

pap -p PrinterName file.ps

This command prints file.ps (a PostScript file) to the printer called
PrinterName. You can also use papstatus to get some basic information on a
printer's status:

papstatus -p PrinterName

If you can get pap working, you should be able to integrate it into your
native Linux printing system (which probably uses CUPS); however, I've
never looked into getting CUPS to talk to an AppleTalk printer -- or if I
have, I don't recall what I discovered about it. Perhaps doing a Web
search on "AppleTalk CUPS" would provide some help. I have set up the
older LPD printing system to talk to an AppleTalk printer, but few new
Linux systems use LPD any more. Alternatively, if your needs are limited,
you could just use pap to print PostScript files directly.

--
Rod Smith, rods...@rodsbooks.com
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking