karl@es56.UUCP (Karl Rowley) (04/22/89)
Now that the ST has a Postscript emulator, what about a box to connect it to Appletalk? The Mega ST and laser printer make a decent postscript device, but they have to be fed through the parallel or serial port. This cannot really compete with other printers that can be connected directly to Appletalk. Appletalk is a standard, and there are plenty of installations. The cabling for it is dirt cheap. Appletalk connectivity for the ST would make the system a lot more attractive to business. Karl Rowley Evans and Sutherland Computer Division Mountain View, Ca., USA escd!karl@decwrl.dec.com ...!decwrl!escd!karl
billsey@agora.UUCP (Bill Seymour) (04/24/89)
From article <8904212229.AA22257@es56.escd.uucp:, by karl@es56.UUCP (Karl Rowley):
:
: Now that the ST has a Postscript emulator, what about a box to connect
: it to Appletalk? The Mega ST and laser printer make a decent postscript
: device, but they have to be fed through the parallel or serial port.
: This cannot really compete with other printers that can be connected
: directly to Appletalk.
We're talking about doing an Appletalk card as a plug in option
on our ST Processor Accelerator. The question I have is, how many people
out there are interested in this type of option, and how much would you
be willing to pay for it? Remember that there is a lot of software that
would need to be written to access it from the ST directly... We could
possibly do it with support only through one of the Mac emulators also.
IT's a bit tough to figure out how to actually fit it inside there...
The accelerator board is going to be tough enough. We want to make them
to fit into as many versions of the machine as possible.
: Appletalk is a standard, and there are plenty of installations. The
: cabling for it is dirt cheap. Appletalk connectivity for the ST would
: make the system a lot more attractive to business.
Plus it is a natural for those people who're using the Mac
emulators... It's definately worth the look!
: Karl Rowley
: Evans and Sutherland Computer Division
: Mountain View, Ca., USA
: escd!karl@decwrl.dec.com
: ...!decwrl!escd!karl
--
-Bill Seymour ...tektronix!reed!percival!agora!billsey
...tektronix!sequent.UUCP!blowpig!billsey
Creative Microsystems Northwest Amiga Group At Home Sometimes
(503) 691-2552 (503) 656-7393 BBS (503) 640-0842hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) (04/28/89)
In article <8904212229.AA22257@es56.escd.uucp> karl@es56.UUCP (Karl Rowley) writes: > >Now that the ST has a Postscript emulator, what about a box to connect >it to Appletalk? The Mega ST and laser printer make a decent postscript >device, but they have to be fed through the parallel or serial port. >This cannot really compete with other printers that can be connected >directly to Appletalk. I presume by Appletalk you mean Localtalk, not something else like Ethertalk. Localtalk runs at 230.4kbps. According to the Mac hardware references, the serial port is driven in async mode at this speed (using a Zilog 8530 Serial Communications Controller). The ST's serial port controller, the Motorola 68901 MFP, is only rated for 62.5kbps in async mode. The clock signals fed to it in the ST limit the maximum async rate to 61.4kbps. Using the internal clock in synchronous mode gives you speeds of 153.6 and 307.2kbps. I'm not sure that trying to run in synchronous mode will help you much here, either. Perhaps it could be done, but you'll need to install your own crystal to get the timing right. The ST currently uses a 2.4576MHz crystal, you would probably want to use a 3.672MHz crystal, like the Mac uses. Of course doing so will screw up normal use of the serial port - beyond 4800bps, the speeds are no longer an exact match. (e.g., instead of 9600bps you'll get 9587. Probably a small enough discrepancy that it won't cause problems, but you never know. Also, there seems to be another discrepancy regarding speeds - with a clock rate of 3.672MHz, the closest they can get to 230.4kbps is 229.5k. But, I guess that works too...) -- -=- PrayerMail: Send 100Mbits to holyghost@father.son[127.0.0.1] and You Too can have a Personal Electronic Relationship with God!
jaap@wn2.sci.kun.nl (Jaap Bril) (05/01/89)
From article <621@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu>, by hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu): > In article <8904212229.AA22257@es56.escd.uucp> karl@es56.UUCP (Karl Rowley) writes: >> >>Now that the ST has a Postscript emulator Where do I get this emulator? -- *Jaap Bril * jaap@sci.kun.nl * *computer&communicatie zaken * mcvax!kunivv1!jaap * *faculteit wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen * * *KU Nijmegen, The Netherlands * *