how do you ''see'' an Apple Personal LaserWriter 320 in Linux?
FrancG620
as part of a ''low cost / no cost'' computing project
I was asked to get a few PCs and a few printers connected
on a network.
the setup is a PC running DebIan (Etch) Linux with SaMBa
(as the PC server) two PCs running WinXP SP2
for printing -- there is an Epson USB inkjet printer (R200)
and an Apple Personal LaserWriter 320
now the 2 PCs running Win XP and the Epson Inket
are relatively new. The PC running DebIan is 4 yrs old
and has a 1GHz processor. the Apple laser was acquired
some time ago and kept in storage until this time it was attached
to a device called Asantetalk by Asante (that device is connected
to the laser)
in doing some research for this project -- I found out that
an Apple laser *can* be connected to a PC using this device --
but all the examples I've seen has a Mac in
the network somewhere -- THERE IS NO MAC *ANYWHERE* ON THIS NETWORK
I all ready set up the server to run SaMBa so that the printers could
be shared along with files.
now while I have the Epson printer up and running -- I cant see
the Apple laser -- I have a packet-analyzer telling me the Asante
the laser is connected to is connecting to the network but the
netatalk tools (such as nbplkup) are not showing me the laser
itself...
here is where I say HELP!
(thanks!)
FN G
The Natural Philosopher
taht to make the printer work..thats appletalk or somethinmg horrid innit?
> (thanks!)
>
> FN G
terryc
> now the 2 PCs running Win XP and the Epson Inket are relatively new. The
> PC running DebIan is 4 yrs old and has a 1GHz processor. the Apple laser
> was acquired some time ago and kept in storage until this time it was
> attached to a device called Asantetalk by Asante (that device is
> connected to the laser)
I think that tech is about 20 years old.
what other I/O does it have?
serial, parallel, scsi?
> I all ready set up the server to run SaMBa so that the printers could be
> shared along with files.
>
> now while I have the Epson printer up and running -- I cant see the
> Apple laser -- I have a packet-analyzer telling me the Asante the laser
> is connected to is connecting to the network but the netatalk tools
> (such as nbplkup) are not showing me the laser itself...
What netatalk application are you running?
Do you need to turn t on in the kernel?
It has been about five years since I ran any linux-novell connectivity
and I suspect that the version of novell that your printer requires might
be the really old novell packet and not the new packet.
--
Great advances in Debian Linux; post a bug report and get spam in three
days.
Doug Freyburger
> FrancG620 wrote:
>
> > the setup is a PC running DebIan (Etch) Linux with SaMBa
> > (as the PC server) two PCs running WinXP SP2
> > for printing -- there is an Epson USB inkjet printer (R200)
> > and an Apple Personal LaserWriter 320
>
> > now the 2 PCs running Win XP and the Epson Inket
> > are relatively new. The PC running DebIan is 4 yrs old
> > and has a 1GHz processor. the Apple laser was acquired
> > some time ago and kept in storage until this time it was attached
> > to a device called Asantetalk by Asante (that device is connected
> > to the laser)
>
> taht to make the printer work..thats appletalk or somethinmg horrid innit?
It being Appletalk protocol SAMBA won't help in the least.
Wrong tool for the job. SAMBA works as a gateway to
Active Directory and that isn't AppleTalk protocol.
Years ago I loaded AppleTalk protocol EtherTalk drivers on
some Solaris boxes to be able to gateway betwen Apple
File Share devices and AppleTalk printers. AppleTalk
protocol drivers are bound to be available for some Linux
distribution to be able to access the device directly.
I suggest a hardware gateway though - Look on eBay and
see if you can find an old "GatorBox" gateway device. I
used one to bridge protocols and it was far easier than
keeping foreign device drivers up to date on Solaris hosts.
Dale Dellutri
Have yu already read the Asantetalk manual?
http://www.asante.com/products/productsLvl3/AsanteTalk.asp
-> User's manual
There's lots of info about required cabling and terminators.
If the printer has never been configured, you might need
the temporary loan of a Mac to set it up.
And the installation guide has phone numbers for Asante tech
support:
-> Installation Guide
--
Dale Dellutri <ddelQ...@panQQQix.com> (lose the Q's)
The Natural Philosopher
> The Natural Philosopher <t...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> FrancG620 wrote:
>>
>>> the setup is a PC running DebIan (Etch) Linux with SaMBa
>>> (as the PC server) two PCs running WinXP SP2
>>> for printing -- there is an Epson USB inkjet printer (R200)
>>> and an Apple Personal LaserWriter 320
>>> now the 2 PCs running Win XP and the Epson Inket
>>> are relatively new. The PC running DebIan is 4 yrs old
>>> and has a 1GHz processor. the Apple laser was acquired
>>> some time ago and kept in storage until this time it was attached
>>> to a device called Asantetalk by Asante (that device is connected
>>> to the laser)
>> tempted to say pickup up an old G4 mac on Ebay and use
>> taht to make the printer work..thats appletalk or somethinmg horrid innit?
>
> It being Appletalk protocol SAMBA won't help in the least.
> Wrong tool for the job. SAMBA works as a gateway to
> Active Directory and that isn't AppleTalk protocol.
I never said it did. Yse Netatalk. That talks apple file share at
least..not sure it does appletalk, which was a nasty high speed serial
thing. That's where the box the OP is talking about comes in. Makes
applatetalk talk appleshare on thernet.
Or use a mac to do the same. Sahre teh printer via CUPS but rtalk to it
using its native applseshit.
>
> Years ago I loaded AppleTalk protocol EtherTalk drivers on
> some Solaris boxes to be able to gateway betwen Apple
> File Share devices and AppleTalk printers. AppleTalk
> protocol drivers are bound to be available for some Linux
> distribution to be able to access the device directly.
>
Its called netatalk.
I have it. It works well. Its huge and very slow to boot though.
> I suggest a hardware gateway though - Look on eBay and
> see if you can find an old "GatorBox" gateway device. I
> used one to bridge protocols and it was far easier than
> keeping foreign device drivers up to date on Solaris hosts.
Yep Gatorbox. Or use scrap G3/G4 oer best of all, throw the laserwriter
in the bin and get a cheap second hand HP laserjet 4/5/6 at peanut
prices, with postcript and a network interface already.
Greg Russell
FrancG620 <FNGo...@Yahoo.com> typed:
> I all ready set up the server to run SaMBa so that the printers could
> be shared along with files.
>
> now while I have the Epson printer up and running -- I cant see
> the Apple laser -- I have a packet-analyzer telling me the Asante
> the laser is connected to is connecting to the network but the
> netatalk tools (such as nbplkup) are not showing me the laser
> itself...
You need something to communicate appletalk over tcp/ip ... perhaps
something from
http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=linux+appletalk
Golden California Girls
The Apple printer communicates with the AppleTalk or LocalTalk protocol. You
will need software that knows that protocol to use the printer. Mac's used to
have it built in but it was depreciated long ago ...
The Natural Philosopher
Deprecated. Not depreciated. Actually Macs still talk appletalk.
Localtalk not, IIRC.
Doug Freyburger
>
Network protocol stack comment -
Localtalk is serial line hardware at level 1 of the ISO model.
This hardware only has legacy use now. It's old enough that
many don't remember it.
Ethertalk is hardware at level 1 of the ISO model that is
in current use, though I suspect it technically means 10 MB
ethernet that gets less current each year.
Appletalk is a networking protocol at level 3 of the ISO model
that is gradually dropping out of current use. It can run on
any level 1 hardware that has level 2 support ported to it.
I don't recall if localtalk used RS-232 or RS-422 but the same
physical GBIC daughter cards are used for both gigabit
ethernet (current) and FCIP SAN (now going obsolete) shows
that the physical hardware does not determine the software
protocol.
Saying that an old Apple printer uses both localtalk and
appletalk contains no contradiction and shouldn't trigger
any confusion. The OP already has a hardware device that
moves localtalk hardware signals to ethertalk hardware
signals and back again.
As fun as it is to wrangle old hardware into working it is
much less expensive to buy a cheap new printer.