gelinasm@merrimack.edu (09/08/90)
Hello netters,
My company recently relinquished their lease on several DEC
LN03 laserprinters, choosing to instead connect their MicroVAX IIs
to an existing Apple LaserWriter. They wish to be able to keep both
the Macintoshes and the MicroVAXes connected at the same time. They
are presently using a Buffalo serial driver to send the MicroVAX
printouts through the 9600 baud setting, but must switch to Appletalk
and reboot the printer if a Mac user wants to print something.
Is there any way to have both Macs and MicroVAX IIs connected to
just the Appletalk line or just the serial line? They would prefer to
keep the present equipment if possible. Thanks.
Reply via email or net (email preferred). Will summarize if
anyone else is interested.
P.S. On a related subject, is anyone familiar with CA-Disspla v11
on the VAX? It has a Postscript interpreter used to convert
plots to PS before printing them. It fails to notify the printer
when a file is completed printing, and plots are having to be
resent due to being ignored by the printer. (It seems printing
a second document frees the printer from its 'processing' mode,
so every other plot is getting lost. Any suggestions, fixes,
or other advice on solving this problem is most welcome.
--
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Mark Gelinas |
Merrimack College | USENET: samsung!hubdub!GELINASMgpw@cbnewsc.att.com (george.p.wilkin) (09/10/90)
From article <19982.26e7d86f@merrimack.edu>, by gelinasm@merrimack.edu: > > Hello netters, > > My company recently relinquished their lease on several DEC > LN03 laserprinters, choosing to instead connect their MicroVAX IIs > to an existing Apple LaserWriter. They wish to be able to keep both > the Macintoshes and the MicroVAXes connected at the same time. They > are presently using a Buffalo serial driver to send the MicroVAX > printouts through the 9600 baud setting, but must switch to Appletalk > and reboot the printer if a Mac user wants to print something. > Is there any way to have both Macs and MicroVAX IIs connected to > just the Appletalk line or just the serial line? They would prefer to > keep the present equipment if possible. Thanks. > There is a company that makes a bridge adapter for localtalk(appletalk). Although they talk about MS-DOS there is NO reason this will not work on UNIX or VMS systems that I can see. Extended Systems 6123 Meeker Ave Boise, Idaho 83704 ph 208-322-7575 fax 208-377-1906 Product name: BridgePort Description: Allows both PCs and Macs to share a printer. The box supports serial and parallel communication(serial two-way). Serial speeds upto 19.2K inbound to the box and 57.6K from the box are supported. I want to try one of these to KILL (destroy crush) our TOPS network which has been the WORST piece of #$%$%%^, I am talking about the DOS version, I have ever seen. Hopefully the product will allow some independance from silly software solutions to a hardware problem(again for MS-DOS only). If anyone has tried it or knows more please post your results. thanks -- George Wilkin AT&T Network Systems,(IH MAIN BL) 2000 N. Naperville Rd. Rm IH4A154 Naperville, IL. 60566-7033 att!ihlpf!gpw work ph# (708) 979-4317
glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid) (09/13/90)
In article <1990Sep10.130349.14214@cbnewsc.att.com> gpw@cbnewsc.att.com (george.p.wilkin) writes: >There is a company that makes a bridge adapter for localtalk(appletalk). >Although they talk about MS-DOS there is NO reason this will not work on UNIX >or VMS systems that I can see. > >Extended Systems >6123 Meeker Ave >Boise, Idaho 83704 >ph 208-322-7575 >fax 208-377-1906 > >Product name: BridgePort > >Description: Allows both PCs and Macs to share a printer. The box >supports serial and parallel communication(serial two-way). Serial >speeds upto 19.2K inbound to the box and 57.6K from the box are supported. I just ordered one of these boxes, which should get to me in a couple of weeks. I'll report back on my findings. It sounds like the right sort of solution. The salesman seemed to think that it would work fine to share a printer between a Mac network and a NeXT box, which is the situation that I have. To add a little to the description, there are three ports on the "inbound" side and two ports on the "outbound" side. It looks something like this, as I understand it: +---------+ +----+ | | NeXT--> RS232 serial ->| |-> RS232 serial ->| PS | --> parallel ----->| | | printer |-->pages Macs--> AppleTalk ---->| |-> parallel ----->| | +----+ | | +---------+ So the printer is always hooked up to the box, not the network, either through the serial or parallel port (serial up to 57.6Kbaud). You can have your NeXT box hooked up to the front end serial port (at a lower baud rate, apparently), and your Mac network hooked up to the AppleTalk connector. I'm not sure how it decides whom to pay attention to, but I'll find out. The product costs $495, which is pretty reasonable if it works like it's supposed to. Glenn -- Glenn Reid RightBrain Software glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us PostScript/NeXT developers ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn 415-851-1785