frankc@skat.usc.edu (Frank H. Callaham III) (02/10/89)
Anyone out there have ANY info on LaserShare (I think 2.0) from Apple?? Anything at all would be appreciated - good - bad - ugly... We want to use it in two labs here at school, one has 45 macs and the other has 25. Both have 2 LaserWriter II NT's. Any info appreciated, frankc@skat.usc.edu The big question is .... can it handle a major load. Thankx again...
mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus) (02/10/89)
In article <15283@oberon.USC.EDU>, frankc@skat.usc.edu (Frank H. Callaham III) writes: > > Anyone out there have ANY info on LaserShare (I think 2.0) > from Apple?? > > Anything at all would be appreciated - good - bad - ugly... > > We want to use it in two labs here at school, one has 45 macs > and the other has 25. Both have 2 LaserWriter II NT's. > > > Any info appreciated, > frankc@skat.usc.edu > > The big question is .... can it handle a major load. > > Thankx again... Well, the product has been renamed to the 'AppleShare Print Server'. It is designed either to run in the background on an AppleShare Filer Server or as a stand-alone application on a separate station (you can even use a Mac 512E for this purpose, as long as it has a hard disk to spool onto). This product works very nicely. Here at Ball State they use it to trap print jobs for inspection, and if they see that the same person is trying to sneak by 20 copies of the same document, they delete the print job. This is a very effective way of limiting laser usage in a public lab; anyone wanting to print to the laser must have the lab assistant's permission (which he will give if you are not abusing the printer). The Print Server will handle LaserWriters of any kind, as well as ImageWriters with the AppleTalk Option boards installed. If you are running the print server under AppleShare, you will probably only be able to spool two printers, unless your server has more than one meg of memory (the documentation explains this fully). If you are running the Print Server stand-alone, the number of printers that can be spooled is larger (although I don't know the exact number). Can it handle a major load? Yes, it does a very good job. The only limit to its load is the amount of hard disk space available to spool documents tempor- arily. It works transparently to the end-user (through the normal Chooser icons), so getting used to it is no problem. In fact, it can cut the individual's printing times (actually the time that the machine is tied up) in half, sometimes even faster. I am biased, but I set up this product on all of our file servers here before I started with Apple... Michael Niehaus Apple Student Rep Ball State University UUCP: ..!{pur-ee,iuvax}!bsu-cs!mithomas AppleLink: ST0374
tjh+atalk.errors@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (02/11/89)
> Anyone out there have ANY info on LaserShare (I think 2.0) > from Apple?? > > Anything at all would be appreciated - good - bad - ugly... > > We want to use it in two labs here at school, one has 45 macs > and the other has 25. Both have 2 LaserWriter II NT's. Here at NMSU Computer Center we have a Student Mac Lab of about 25 Macs. We have AppleShare running on two servers behind the desk, one of which is also running LaserShare. LaserShare seems to run fine, and can queue up a large number of jobs (especially with slow printers like the LaserWriter Plus). The spooler does a good job so far. The only problems we've seen so far is that it consistently flushes PICT jobs (MacDraw, CricketDraw,...) with rotated text. (Has to do with postscript record size) To deal with this, you can specify Bypass mode (which introduces "cutting" in line problems...). BTW, LaserShare will also flush any jobs with a Laserwriter driver older than it is using. General Disclaimer: "Im just a student/programmer/engineer trying to learn a thing or two..." Patrick Gaughan Programmer of Gor pgaughan@nmsu New Mexico State University
wezel@bio.vu.nl (Jos C. van Wezel) (02/14/89)
In article <5629@bsu-cs.UUCP> mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus) writes: >designed either to run in the background on an AppleShare Filer Server or >as a stand-alone application on a separate station (you can even use a >Mac 512E for this purpose, as long as it has a hard disk to spool onto). > >The Print Server will handle LaserWriters of any kind, as well as ImageWriters >with the AppleTalk Option boards installed. If you are running the print server >under AppleShare, you will probably only be able to spool two printers, unless >your server has more than one meg of memory (the documentation explains this >fully). If you are running the Print Server stand-alone, the number of printers Great but... why is Europe still lagging behind in software updates (more than 6-8 mnths), for Appleshare File Server v1.2 or this new Print Server. We need this too Apple -)
geo@lance.hss.bu.oz (George Bray) (02/15/89)
in article <5629@bsu-cs.UUCP>, mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus) says: > with the AppleTalk Option boards installed.If you are running the print server > under AppleShare, you will probably only be able to spool two printers, unless > your server has more than one meg of memory (the documentation explains this A nice server for ten to twelve people who want AppleShare with Print Server as well as QuickMail is the SE40 with 2Mb RAM. The print server crashes sometimes on a 1Mb machine. > icons), so getting used to it is no problem. In fact, it can cut the > individual's printing times (actually the time that the machine is tied up) > in half, sometimes even faster. Also, it works when people use PageMaker and it's Aldus Prep. But it doesn't have password protection. Or should it be Zone Protection? -- George Bray Phone: 075-95-1111 Byte Technologies MacNet: GEO Fax: 075-39-8447 at Bond University Internet: geo@lance.hss.bu.oz.au AppleLink: AUST0121 Private Mail Bag 10, Gold Coast Mail Centre, Queensland, 4217. AUSTRALIA
milburn@ux3.lbl.gov (John Milburn) (02/16/89)
AppleShare Print Server 2.0 does have one major problem. AppleShare 2.0 allows for concurrent applications as well as background applications. An example of a (reasonably) well behaved background application is CE's QuickMail MailCenter server. It sits there in the background and just works. AppleShare Print Server 2.0, on the other hand, is a concurrent application, which means that while it is running you will have to access to administer your file server or mailcenter. The ability to administer the file server while online was the major feature enhancement of AppleShare 2.0, and the print spooler designed (**rather patched**)to work with it effectively circumvents this capability. Other than this and the problems with long PostScript records, it does work quite well. Mine is spooling to two LaserWriters from fifty macs. John Milburn - Advanced Light Source - Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory JEMilburn@lbl.gov
uh@bsiao.UUCP (Uul Haanstra) (02/17/89)
In article <5629@bsu-cs.UUCP> mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus) writes: >The Print Server will handle LaserWriters of any kind, as well as ImageWriters >with the AppleTalk Option boards installed... WHEN IS APPLE GOING TO RELEASE IT IN EUROPE ???!!!??? I read all about it in Apple Link, almost a year ago now. And it still has not been released over here. I feel that Apple is letting down it's European users, especially those with networks that consist of more than a handful of Macs. -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Uul Haanstra, Postbank N.V. Amsterdam ...!mcvax!bsiao!uh Pb 21009 1000 EX AMSTERDAM +31-20 584 3312