mmcintos@pollux.UVic.CA (Mark McIntosh) (11/28/90)
Forgive me if I made the wrong choice of groups, but I thought the
audience might be correct. I also suppose "there was just a discussion
of this last week" - it always happens, doesn't it :-). I follow the
Appletalk group, but not the IBM groups ... sorry.
I am looking for opinions on how to get an IBM PC to print on an
Apple Laserwriter Plus on Localtalk. A person here has proposed
obtaining a TOPS Flashcard for the PC and TOPS for DOS software. I am
not familiar enough with the DOS environment to judge the merits of
this suggestion. I hope someone on the net can tell me their
experiences. How widely useable would TOPS for DOS printing
capabilities be across popular word processing programs?
So... please let me know your opinions on TOPS for DOS. How would
you set up a PC so it could use an Apple Laserwriter on Localtalk?
Also, would the same apply for a PS/2?
Thanks,
Mark J. McIntosh <mmcintos@sirius.UVic.CA>
____________________________________________________________________________
University of Victoria, Faculty of Engineering - Dean's Office
Box 3055, Victoria, BC, CANADA \ "...the mystery of life isn't a problem to
V8W 3P6 (604) 721-8612 \ solve but a reality to experience."
UUCP: ...!{uw-beaver,ubc-vision}!uvicctr!sirius!mmcintos \ from Dunesteve@antares.anu.oz.au (Steven Ball) (12/10/90)
mmcintos@pollux.UVic.CA (Mark McIntosh) writes: >Forgive me if I made the wrong choice of groups, but I thought the >audience might be correct. I also suppose "there was just a discussion >of this last week" - it always happens, doesn't it :-). I follow the >Appletalk group, but not the IBM groups ... sorry. > I am looking for opinions on how to get an IBM PC to print on an >Apple Laserwriter Plus on Localtalk. A person here has proposed >obtaining a TOPS Flashcard for the PC and TOPS for DOS software. I am >not familiar enough with the DOS environment to judge the merits of >this suggestion. I hope someone on the net can tell me their >experiences. How widely useable would TOPS for DOS printing >capabilities be across popular word processing programs? > So... please let me know your opinions on TOPS for DOS. How would >you set up a PC so it could use an Apple Laserwriter on Localtalk? >Also, would the same apply for a PS/2? >Thanks, >Mark J. McIntosh <mmcintos@sirius.UVic.CA> >____________________________________________________________________________ >University of Victoria, Faculty of Engineering - Dean's Office >Box 3055, Victoria, BC, CANADA \ "...the mystery of life isn't a problem to >V8W 3P6 (604) 721-8612 \ solve but a reality to experience." >UUCP: ...!{uw-beaver,ubc-vision}!uvicctr!sirius!mmcintos \ from Dune The major problem with TOPS is its hunger for memory. I can only just make it print with no problems with Word 5.0 (configure TOPS.DAT to the minimum values). If you want Windows, forget it! Hopefully TOPS will be Windows v3.0 compatible soon... if this overcomes its memory problems then it will be a fine product - as long as you buy lots of extended memory. TOPS allows LPT1, LPT2, etc to be connected to the LaserWriter, same as AppleShare/PC - so there's no difference in functionality as far as printing goes. This means that any application simply sends its output to the appropriate port and the printing s/w intercepts it and sends it to the network printer. NB. TOPS includes a built-in spooler, AppleShare/PC doesn't. If you're using Windows and AppleShare/PC you will probably have to switch off its spooler. The major advantages of TOPS are: o It's a distributed file-sharing system - no need to spend mega-bucks on a dedicated file-server. o It's very nice for sharing files with Macs. o It has InBox e-mail bundled with it. Conclusions: If you already have, or are planning to install, an AppleShare file server (whether this is a Mac or a Unix box) then the choice is clear - buy an Apple LocalTalk card + AppleShare/PC. If you only ever want your PC to print then get an AppleTalk card as above. Now, if you want your PC and Macs to share files then you've got some serious thinking to do :-) Macs and PCs are pretty useless without a hard disk and these days they are usually sold with one anyway. You could run them diskless (ie from floppies) but the problem is squeezing a usable system + network s/w onto a single floppy disk. This is where TOPS is really useful. Instead of buying a large fileserver AND local hard disks for all your Macs/PCs you can use TOPS to make all of your local hard disks (or some subset) available to the other machines. Works real well for Macs, since there's no memory limitations. But for PCs all this neat functionality consumes memory and this is where DOS is a pain (see above). Final solution: don't buy PCs! (MS-DOS: just say no!) As far as PS/2s go I know there are Localtalk cards for them but apart from that I have no information. -- Steven Ball, Department of Computer Science, ANU E-mail: steve@anucsd.anu.edu.au Ph. (06) 2495147 Snail-mail: GPO Box 4, CANBERRA CITY ACT 2600, AUSTRALIA He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!
mireley@horus.cem.msu.EDU (John Mireley) (12/10/90)
From article <steve.660783101@antares>, by steve@antares.anu.oz.au (Steven Ball): > The major problem with TOPS is its hunger for memory. I can only just make > it print with no problems with Word 5.0 (configure TOPS.DAT to the minimum > values). If you want Windows, forget it! > Hopefully TOPS will be Windows v3.0 compatible soon... if this overcomes its > memory problems then it will be a fine product - as long as you buy lots of > extended memory. > I won't argue that tops isn't a memory hog but it will work with Win 3.0 for printing only. We have been using it with Win 3.0 and WfW for a month now. It will not run enhanced mode with our 386, but the installation instructions spell that out. Will the Apple printer drive work with Win 3.0 enhanced mode? John Mireley