cml@cis.ohio-state.edu (Christopher Lott) (01/07/89)
Hi, About 2 years or so ago, I hooked an Apple LW to a Sun 2/50, using the Adobe Transcript package, and it worked _great_. When I asked Sun Support about it (don't remember why I was calling, hm) they said that their laserWriter was just the Apple laserWriter with a new logo. It's a straight postScript printer, no matter the logo on the outside. Transcript just puts out straight ps code, so it should not be a problem. Some folks have posted instructions for hooking a sun to a lw; here's what I have: [[ The original message is in volume 5 number 60. I have removed all but the essentials. --wnl ]] > From: parns!harker@sun.UUCP (Robert Harker, all around good guy) > Subject: Re: sun laserwriter help > > ...do the install on > the server as if the LaserWriter was locally installed on the server. > Then when the install is complete you copy the printcap file generated for > the server to the client with the LaserWriter attached, deleting any bogus > entries for other printers. On the client you also link the device that > the Laserwriter is attached to to /dev/lw... Make sure that the server > has an entry for the > LaserWriter that is remote printer entry, not a local printer entry, ie: > > lw|ps|postscript|PostScript:\ > :lp=:\ > :rm=client:\ > :rp=lw:\ > :sd=/usr/spool/lw: cml -- cml@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Computer Science Department, OSU 614-292-6546 or: ...!{att,pyramid,killer}!osu-cis!cml <standard disclaimers>
chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) (01/07/89)
Absolutely identical, except for the little logo sticker on the front. We currently use a LaserWriter II NTX purchased from Apple and it has worked flawlessly from Day One. We are using TranScript 1.0, but I cannot imagine 2.0 not working. We used to have just a LaserWriter, and when I wanted to upgrade it to a Plus, our Sun sales rep said to just buy the upgrade from our local Apple dealer, since Sun charged too much for it! Chuck Musciano Advanced Technology Department Harris Corporation (407) 727-6131 ARPA: chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com [[ "This isn't a cat license. This is a dog license with the word `dog' scratched out and `cat' written in in crayon." --Monty Python ]]
roy@uunet.uu.net (Roy Smith) (01/07/89)
pyramid.com!leadsv!hart@cs.utexas.edu (Howard Hart) writes: > will Transcript work with [a generic Apple LaserWriter], or does Transcript > search for some Sun Laserwriter proprietary prom or set of fonts first. To the best of my knowledge, a Sun LaserWriter is just the Apple product with a new logo slapped on the side. We have 4 Apple LaserWriters (actually, one of them is a LW-Plus). Over the years, we've had them hooked up on serial lines using Transcript's pscomm driver and on Appletalk using CAP's papif driver talking through a kbox. We have driven them with both a 4.3BSD Vax and SunOS-3.X suns. I havn't seen any problems at all with any of the various configurations. Roy Smith, System Administrator Public Health Research Institute {allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers}!phri!roy -or- phri!roy@uunet.uu.net
brent@tis.llnl.gov (Brent Chapman) (01/11/89)
> We recently acquired an Apple Laserwriter through various means (the > majority of which were legal :-) which we would like to use with our > Sun's. The next question is, will Transcript work with it, or does > Transcript search for some Sun Laserwriter proprietary prom or set of > fonts first.... We have been using a pair of Apple "LaserWriter Plus" printers on our Suns with TranScript for almost two years now, with absolutely no problems. I'm pretty sure the "Sun LaserWriter" is just an Apple LaserWriter with a Sun logo; it _might_ be an Apple LaserWriter Plus, but I'm certain there are no PROM differences or anything like that between the Sun and whichever Apple it is. It's really a moot point, anyway, since TranScript is written by Adobe (the folks who bring us PostScript) and should work just fine with _any_ PostScript printer (although LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus are by far the most common). Also be aware that Sun's 2.0 version of TranScript is pretty buggy (the print filters do not deal at _all_ well with unexpected errors, and tend to do nasty things like overflow internal error message buffers, randomly scribbling on other state variables, thus causing the filters to hang), but supposedly Sun started shipping a new version of TranScript last week (although my call to 800-USA-4SUN hasn't been returned yet, so I don't know for sure). -Brent -- Brent Chapman Capital Market Technology, Inc. Computer Operations Manager 1995 University Ave., Suite 390 brent@capmkt.com Berkeley, CA 94704 {cogsci,lll-tis,uunet}!capmkt!brent Phone: 415/540-6400
hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) (01/11/89)
As far as we can tell, there is no difference between an Apple and Sun Laserwriter except the nameplate (and I think if you peel off the Sun nameplate you'll find an apple under it). We have used Adobe's Transcript with a Sun Laserwriter. We do have to treat the Sun Laserwriter specially, but that's because it has older ROM's than any of our Apple Laserwriters, and so it's missing some newer fonts and other features. However the ROM's are equivalent to some old Apple version.
galvin-peter@cs.yale.edu (Peter Baer Galvin) (01/12/89)
We have a couple of Laserwriter II NTX printers connected to Sun servers through serial lines and being driven by Sun's Transcript software...so yes, it does work. The only problem we've seen is that when more than one file is in the queue to be printed some requests sometimes get lost (leave the queue without printing). I haven't had time to track it down yet... --Peter Peter Baer Galvin (203)432-1254 Senior Systems Programmer, Yale Univ. C.S. galvin-peter@cs.yale.edu 51 Prospect St, P.O.Box 2158, Yale Station ucbvax!decvax!yale!galvin-peter New Haven, Ct 06457 galvin-peter@yalecs.bitnet
weiser.pa@xerox.com (01/18/89)
>From Chuck Musciano: "Absolutely identical, except for the little logo
sticker on the front."
Well, this was certainly true in the early days, but there is now at least
one other difference: when I access my (this year) bought from Sun
Laserwriter from my Macintosh, the Mac says its name is "Sun Laserwriter",
while presumably a bought from Apple Laserwriter would not say this. A
slight rom change by sun, I presume.
-markbrent@uunet.uu.net (Brent Chapman) (01/25/89)
> ...when I access my (this year) bought from Sun > Laserwriter from my Macintosh, the Mac says its name is "Sun Laserwriter", > while presumably a bought from Apple Laserwriter would not say this. A > slight rom change by sun, I presume. Nope. The LaserWriter name is one of the user-settable parameters in the LW EEPROM. There is shellscript called "setprintername" in the "etc" directory of the TranScript distribution that sets the name to whatever you want. Part of the Sun's TranScript installation script sets the name of the printer to "Sun LaserWriter". I, for example, have renamed my two LW's to "CMT Programmer Printer" and "CMT Office Printer". -Brent -- Brent Chapman Capital Market Technology, Inc. Computer Operations Manager 1995 University Ave., Suite 390 brent@capmkt.com Berkeley, CA 94704 {cogsci,lll-tis,uunet}!capmkt!brent Phone: 415/540-6400
gfr@cobra.mitre.org (Glenn Roberts) (01/25/89)
Note that it is easy to change the name of your laserwriter (stored in EEROM. The Transcript package comes with a Unix script and little postscript program to do this. Looks like the postscript command is: "newname" setprintername. - Glenn Roberts, MITRE gfr@cobra.mitre.org