minich@d.cs.okstate.edu (Robert Minich) (01/13/91)
leban@cs.umass.edu (Bruce Leban) writes: |2. I have been told by a usually reliable source (MacConnection) that you | can hook a single Mac up to a single AppleTalk device (e.g, a non-SC | LaserWriter) with an ImageWriter cable, with the implication that | somehow the wires are right for a two node AppleTalk network. Is this | correct? Apple of course says to buy two AppleTalk connector kits. by daven@svc.portal.com: | Hmmm. Sounds a bit fishy to me. They might have meant that you can connect | to a LaserWriter's serial port using a ImageWriter cable. LaserWriter's | can be operated over a serial cable in this manner. I can't imagine an | ImageWriter cable would work on a Appletalk port a) because the connector | is physically different, b) because LocalTalk electrical signals are very | different from RS-232 electrical signals. It should work fine for just about any LocalTalk device. An important exception appears to be the DeskWriter, which does some snooping of some sort to guess whether it's connected to LocalTalk or serial. How does this work? Well, those little LocalTalk boxes that Apple wants to sell to you for $$$ are used to convert the raw signals coming out of the Mac to something that works for twisted pair cables. It works both ways, though, so it's like the network is a black box: Mac ---[box]+++++++++[box]--- Mac and replacing those boxes with a serial cable eliminates all the stuff between the Macs (except for a little cabling. :-) Mac ------ Mac This works fine for two LocalTalk devices (done it myself) and is much cheaper than any boxes I've seen, not to mention being easier to carry around. It just so happens that this nifty box-killing cable's description matches that of the Mac<->ImageWriter. -- |_ /| | Robert Minich | |\'o.O' | Oklahoma State University| "I'm not discouraging others from using |=(___)= | minich@d.cs.okstate.edu | their power of the pen, but mine will | U | - "Ackphtth" | continue to do the crossword." M. Ho