From: Aron Roberts (aron@socrates.berkeley.edu)
Date: Thu Jun 12 2003 - 13:20:02 PDT
Hi Michael,
At 12:39 -0700 2003-06-12, Michael Rimar wrote:
>I can't seem to find an adapter than will allow me to use an old
>LaserWriter 600 (has a serial connection: a nine pin rectangular
>connection) with a current Mac with USB. I only seem to see
>adapters using a (later?) version of serial with a round 8 pin
>connection.
Some advice about connecting old LaserWriters to new Macs can be found at:
http://www.mrbarrett.com/askdamien/printing.html
If this printer happens to be a LaserWriter *Pro* 600 or another
printer with a LocalTalk port, it can be connected to an Ethernet
network via the Farallon EtherWave Printer Adapter mentioned in the
above article, or a comparable device, such as Asante's Micro
AsantePrint. You'll also need a pair of old LocalTalk adapters to
connect the printer to the LocalTalk-to-Ethernet adapter, and an
Ethernet cable to connect the adapter to your network.
These products occasionally show up on eBay and at vendors which
sell older computer equipment. As an example, there's a
current-as-of-this-writing auction for an older Asante adapter of
this type, which predated the Micro AsantePrint
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2735479761&category=25436
and another for an EtherWave Printer Adapter
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2735355734&category=4608a hr This approach allows you to print from both Mac OS X and Mac OS
This approach allows you to print from both Mac OS X and Mac OS
8/9, as well as to share the printer on an Ethernet network.
Another option is the Griffin gPort, a family of modem slot cards
for various newer Mac models which add serial ports that support both
serial and LocalTalk printing under Mac OS 9:
<http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/gport/index.html>. (Check
Griffin's site for OS X compatibility.)
Aron Roberts
Workstation Software Support Group
P.S. You might check Apple's Knowledge Base for the specifications or
manual for the exact model of LaserWriter you have, so that you can
determine whether the printer does serial and/or LocalTalk printing:
<http://search.info.apple.com/?btnG=Search&as_q=laserwriter+600+specifications&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=lang_en&kword=&type---------------------------------------------------
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