[comp.sys.mac.hardware] Summary: IBM AT & MAC ==> IINTX

whiteaj@clutx.clarkson.edu (Andrew White) (08/07/90)

Thanks to everyone for the many responses about hooking up my Mac SE
to the LaserWriter IINTX.

There are two, possibly three, ways to hook up a Mac/IBM PC/IINTX 
together.  One is to use LocalTalk for the Mac hookup and buy a 
LocalTalk card for the IBM and two or three LocalTalk boxes and the
corresponding cables.  This is what your IINTX manual tells you to do.
You could also use a LocalTalk substitute, like PhoneNet.

Second, you can hook your IBM up via the RS-232 port to a COM port
and switch dipswitch #2 back and forth.

Third, you *may* (haven't tried this) be able to modify the mac print
driver to bypass LocalTalk and custom make a wire from the Mac 8-pin
connector to the connector on the IINTX and use an A/B switching
device.

However, the IINTX manual has a very obscure sentence on p.125 (I think)
which says that the dipswitches are SOFTWARE CONTROLLABLE through
a PostScript program, e.g. I should be able to run a batch file on
the IBM which sets the switch, prints my file, and resets the switch.\
No connector boxes, no fancy wiring, no LocalTalk boxes.  However,
(gotcha!) the manual never mentions *how* to change the switches by
software.  

Any ideas on how to do this?


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