lgy%pupthy%princeton.CSNET@RELAY.CS.NET (Larry Yaffe) (09/05/86)
To: princeton!laser-lovers@washington.arpa
Subject: Info on Apple LaserWriter for TeX?
Newsgroups: mod.computers.laser-printers
I am considering purchasing an Apple LaserWriter to be attached to
a Ridge computer (a UNIX machine). The primary use of the printer would
be for TeX output. I am trying to find out how the printer could or should
be hooked up to our system. Specifically,
1) It would certainly be preferable to have high speed data
data transmission to the printer. I understand that it does
not have a parallel port (such as Centronics) but that it
can be hooked up on Apple's AppleTalk network. I have heard
that Ethernet to AppleTalk conversion boxes are available.
Does someone have information on hooking up LaserWriters
as Ethernet nodes - what hardware/software is required,
what price, how is access controlled, how well does it work ?
2) What DVI-to-PostScript drivers are available ? How
intelligent are they about choosing when to download
fonts vs sending bitmaps of individual characters ?
3) Is there any advantage in getting the LaserWriter Plus
over the basic LaserWriter. As I understand it, the
Plus option simply gives you additional builtin fonts.
However, for printing TeX output I would expect that host-
resident fonts would normally be downloaded and used
and hence the builtin fonts would be largely irrelavant.
4) Can the LaserWriter return accounting information, such as
the number of pages printed in a given job, to the host ?
Does this depend on whether the printer is connected via
RS-232 or Ethernet ?
Please mail replies to me. Thanks.
Larry Yaffe
Physics Dept.
Princeton Univ.
PO 708, NJ 08544
609-452-4371
{ihnp4, priceton, astrovax}!pupthy!lgy