Alles Voor Internet / Tout Pour Internet/alles voor internet.iso/MacInternet™/Info/printing-on-ethernet.txt

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-18 | 12.4 KB | [TEXT/UNIX]

From: [e-mail] (David Hartmann)
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 14:01:57 -0800
Subject: ethernet-printing-report.txt

Recently I posted a question about how to connect localtalk printers
(like our old Apple LaserWriter) to ethernet, so our macs on ethernet
could print to it.

A number of people replied with extremely helpful suggestions.  Their
suggestions and my own research is summarized below.  The actual mail
messages follow the summary.

A huge thanks to everyone who replied!
David Hartmann
[e-mail]


Warning
-------

I may be totally wrong about things. I've done my best to get facts
straight, but I've made no effort to find every last possible
solutions. These are the solutions I found in the last week.  If there
are other I'd like to hear about them, but no fair being offended that
I didn't discover them myself!


Hardware Solutions
------------------

A number of products are available that connect one or more localtalk
devices to ethernet.  Those localtalk devices (LaserWriters, for
example), are then available to Macs on the ethernet.  No special
software is needed on the ethernet Macs: just look in the Chooser and
the printer(s) will show up.  They are easy to set up: plug everything
in and make a configuration or two at most.

These are some of the products available:

EtherPrint, EtherPrint Plus, EtherPrint 3 - allow 1 to 4 localtalk
devices. Dayna Communications.

AsantePrint - Allows 2 localtalk devices. Asante.

EtherWrite - Allows 6 localtalk devices. Compatible Systems.

NOTE: some full-fledged hardware routers (e.g. GatorBox by Cayman)
offer the option of routing printers. This may be the way to go if you
need a router anyway.


Software Solutions
------------------

Several software packages provide the same functionality as the
hardware options.  Each requires a Mac that is connected to BOTH the
localtalk devices and the ethernet.  Each claims to run in the
background, but I have no way of estimating the performace decrease
each causes.  Some of the products also route other protocols (other
than appletalk), like TCP/IP and Novell IPX.

Again, here are the products I uncovered:

Liaison - Routes appletalk. Routes other protocols?  Farallon.

LaserBridge - Routes appletalk for up to 5 localtalk devices. Sonic Systems.

Apple Internet Router - Routes appletalk for ?? devices (a user
reports it only routes one, Apple's literature says "LaserWriters").
Also routes a wide range of other protocols. Apple Computer.


Printing from UNIX machines to Localtalk Printers
-------------------------------------------------

Once you have a localtalk printer connected to ethernet, it often
would be nice to be able to print to it from UNIX workstations also on
the ethernet.  To do so usually requires third-party software, though
NeXT workstations "support" printing to localtalk postscript printers
on ethernet.  The word support is in quotation marks because the
appletalk software currently provided in Release 3 of the OS is buggy.
Rumor has it that NeXT will fix it before too long.

If you have a Sun, Silicon Graphics, or Hewlett Packard, you can use a
product called K-Spool, by Xinet.  K-Spool lets your workstation print
to a localtalk printer that is connected to the ethernet.  It also
lets your workstation serve as a spooler for Macs on the ethernet as
well. No software is needed on the macs - just use the Chooser.

If you have a NeXT and want it to handle spooling of Mac print jobs,
you can use a product called uShare (or uPrint?) by IPT.  It also does
a ton of other things.


The Mail
--------

Message #63 (44 lines)
>From [e-mail]  Wed Jan  6 12:21:32 1993
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 12:58:55 -0700
From: Mark Peterson <[e-mail]>
To: davidh
Subject: Re: Ethernet Printing (Q)
Dear David,

        From what I understand, you can use a NeXT as a spooler for both the
Macs and the other NeXT machines.  However, I am not totally sure how this is
done.

Mark
-----
>From [e-mail]  Wed Jan  6 12:25:15 1993
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 13:17:44 MST
From: [e-mail] (Stephen C. Harmony)
To: davidh
Subject: Ethernet Printing (A)

David:

We have used two methods for connecting LaserWriters to Ethernet. We have a IIcx running PhoneNet Liaison from Farallon, providing a software router
between Ethernet and LocalTalk nets connected to the Liaison Mac. It works
OK, but there are complications that make the other alternative better.
More on that later.

The other thing we use is Dayna EtherPrint devices attached to some of our
LaserWriters. The EtherPrint attaches to the LaserWriter and to the
Ethernet and sends packets to its attached printer. This works quite well.
The EtherPrint is set in a particular AppleTalk zone via software that can
run on any Mac in the network.

Before the EtherPrint came out, we had about five Liaison routers at
our site of about 100 Macs. The Liaison routers somehow set up the
AppleTalk zones such that the first Liaison that comes on line defines
the zones for the rest of the net, so we had to be careful whenever we
brought the system back up after a power failure (which are somewhat
common in the summer with thunderstorms in this New Mexico mountain
community). Now that we're down to only one Liaison router, it's the
master. If the Mac it's running on ever goes down, we lose our zones
so everybody suffers. Because of that problem, we're eventually going
to put EtherPrints on all our LaserWriters.

Steve Harmony
Los Alamos, NM
-------
Message #66 (59 lines)
>From [e-mail]  Wed Jan  6 15:03:17 1993
Date: 6 Jan 93 18:00:00 EST
From: "Lewis M. Dreblow" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Macintosh printing on ethernet (tcp/ip ?)
To: "davidh" <[e-mail]>

David,  I pulled the above query from you out of the info-mac-digest
newsgroup.  I also have been struggling with methods to print from a
macintosh to ethernet printers, specifically to LPD tcp/ip server based
printers.  I have yet to find a tcp/ip implementation for the macintosh
which has a LPR client application.

We are, however, using two pieces of software to help with the
ethernet integration of printers for macintoshes.  The Apple Internet
router software from Appl does work fine.  It allows other Mac's on an
ethernet to see (and access) appletalk connected printers on the
network.  We also use Wollongong's Mac Pathway Access LPD server with
LPR PC clients.  This allows any tcp/ip client to access an appletalk
connected printer.  The gotcha for this method, however, is the Mac
with the server software must be dedicated to this task, and it only
"serves" one chooser selected printer.

If you come up with a tcp/ip LPR client for the Macintosh, please let me
know via email.  I will give up my first born son for this capability. :)
Please also send me any summary you might prepare.

Thanks,

Lewis Dreblow, Director of Computer and Network Services,
Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio
[e-mail]
-----
Message #67 (28 lines)
>From [e-mail]  Wed Jan  6 15:23:58 1993
Date: 06 Jan 1993 15:22:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Tigger <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Ethernet Printing (Q)
To: [e-mail]
X-Vms-To: in%"[e-mail]"
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

David,

We've left our existing LaserWriters on small LocalTalk segments and
connected them to our Ethernet with Cayman Gatorboxes.  An optional
piece of software also allows the Gatorboxes to offer the LaserWriters
to any Unix machines on the Ethernet.  I believe that piece is called
GatorPrint.

I also ran across something a while back from a company that attached to
a LaserJet and allowed it to attach to the Ethernet.  Unfortunately I can't
find the info right now and can't remember the name of the company offhand.
Perhaps you can find an ad in something like Byte or PC Week.

Greg Orman
-----
Message #71 (25 lines)
>From [e-mail]  Thu Jan  7 08:56:20 1993
Date: 7 Jan 93 16:48:00 WET
From: "John Hopkins" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Printing on ethernet
To: "davidh" <davidh>


Here at the ICRF in the UK, we use Daynaprint boxes for our
laserwriters. This box converts to printer from local talk to
ethernet. There are many versions of this box, depending on the type
of network you are installing. ie RJ45, BNC and AUI.

The unix boxes spool their output to a Sun Sparc Station running a product
called K Spool. This then sends the unix output to any Apple laserwriter that
the Unix queue has been set to for it's default. As an aside, we can use this
system for printing from any machine running TCP/IP, so the Vax's can also
print to the same printers as can our PC's.

Hope this helps.

John Hopkins
----
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 93 20:17:36 EST
From: "Allan M. Bloom" < >
Subject: EtherNet Printing (Partial A)

David, we are in the same boat. I upgraded our LaserWriter IINT to a IIg
ethernettable printer (but budget an extra $100 or so for a transceiver
to connect the IIg's unFriendlyNet port to a standard ethernet connector)
but I couldn't see the money to upgrade our Personal LaserWriter NT. My
colleagues here convinced me to get Sonic's LaserBridge (about $100) to
link the localtalked Personal NT to the other Macs on ethernet. I've not
been disappointed. For the price of a transceiver, which I'd need anyway,
I get a software product that will let me have up to five localtalked
printers accessible to the ethertalked Macs. Granted, the host Mac must
be powered up for that localtalked printer to be seen, but that seems a
rather trivial cost.

Then you get to other-cpu stuff. I don't know. The DOS pukes (no offense)
in our office haven't done anything with ethernet. They had to hire a
stoont to install the cards so that merely having the cards didn't crash
their machines. They are currently congratulating themselves for having
overcome that hurdle and have no time to actually install, much less use,
ethernet software. I understand that the MS/DOS software includes remote
printing to any device with an IP address. That'd let the IIg be used.
I've no idea if/whether the LaserBridged Personal NT can be used by those
otherwise fine folk.

There's a for sure solution for your Mac types. I'd be interested in
learning of solutions for your other-cpu pukes (no offense).

Al Bloom, Virginia Tech
-------
    David -
    I've never used an HP IIIsi, but as far as the LW+'s are concerned,
Dayna's EtherPrint Plus will act as a router for up to four LocalTalk
printers on an Ethernet (Thick or ThinWire); if the IIIsi has a
LocalTalk port, you could do all three. This solution is completely
transparent to the Macs: when their network control panels are
configured to EtherTalk, they'd see the printers in the Chooser. Unless
the printers have more than one port (e.g., serial. parallel, &c. as
well as LocalTalk), however, this "solution" leaves you SOL for the
NeXTs and Crimson.
    Our solution is to use a single, networked printstation from Talaris
that is recognized on the Ethernet by VMS VAXes, unix machines on IP,
and Macs with EtherTalk, transparently. Talaris currently sells machines
with 17, 20 (I think), and 32-ppm engines. The annual maintenance tends
to be less than that for three snmaller machines, at least at the bottom
end of the line.
                                                Joe Gurman
--
J.B. Gurman / Solar Physics Branch / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center /
Greenbelt MD 20771 USA / [e-mail]
| Federal employees are prohibited from holding opinions under the Hatch Act.|
| Therefore, any opinions expressed herein are somebody else's.              |
-----

David,

One word. Liaison. (By Farallon Computing). It's a software
Appletalk/Ethertalk router. You'll need one running on each of the
Macs that the printers are connected to on Appletalk (5MB minimum, I
suggest). With Liaison, you create Zones. One for each of the
Appletalk Mac-to-printer connections, and one for the main Ethertalk
network. Each Mac on the Ethertalk network will be running the
"client" software, which will make all Zones available to them in the
Chooser.

The NeXTs will also see the printers in PrintManager if you have the
AppleTalk Package installed under NeXTstep 3.0. Bug city, though.

I have never heard of a SGI Crimson. What is this and can it talk
AppleTalk?

The other solution is hardware printer gateway such as Dayna
EtherPrints, but you need one for each printer and they're expensive.
($350 street price)

Good luck,

Michael

Michael Ross
Antigone Press, San Francisco, California
e-mail: [e-mail]
FAX: [phone]
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