Mac OS X
Q: OS X 10.6 + Airport Express + Keyspan USB to serial adapter = Imagewriter?
At present I'm enjoying success printing to my ancient Localtalk-equipped Apple Imagewriter II from all the OS X Tiger machines in Galt's Gulch. The Imagewriter, along with my HP LaserJet 4MP are connected to my Airport network via an AsanteTalk Ethernet to Localtalk bridge, and my computers are happy with the Imagewriter driver available from the Linux Foundation.
Encouraged by my recent success using the HP LaserJet with this USB to parallel adapter connected to an Airport Express, I'm wondering if I could use this Keyspan USB to serial adapter in conjunction with another Airport Express to print to the Imagewriter. When I upgrade to Snow Leopard, I would like the Imagewriter to be available to all my computers on the network as it is now.
Everything I've read so far would indicate the adapter should work fine connected directly to a computer, but I'm not sure about the Express. I would not waste time posting a question in the Airport forum since most people have no idea what an Imagewriter is. The few who read this forum will know.
Quoting from the Linux Foundation's website:
Of course I know Appletalk is no longer supported. I would expect to remove the LocalTalk option card from the printer, and revert to its original serial-only configuration.
I know I could use an iMac to share the printer, but I don't consider that a practical option.
So has anyone tried a USB to serial adapter on the Express?
Encouraged by my recent success using the HP LaserJet with this USB to parallel adapter connected to an Airport Express, I'm wondering if I could use this Keyspan USB to serial adapter in conjunction with another Airport Express to print to the Imagewriter. When I upgrade to Snow Leopard, I would like the Imagewriter to be available to all my computers on the network as it is now.
Everything I've read so far would indicate the adapter should work fine connected directly to a computer, but I'm not sure about the Express. I would not waste time posting a question in the Airport forum since most people have no idea what an Imagewriter is. The few who read this forum will know.
Quoting from the Linux Foundation's website:
The current ImageWriter driver supports printing via AppleTalk to an AppleTalk-enabled ImageWriter II or ImageWriter LQ, and printing via a supported serial port to all three models of Apple ImageWriter.
Of course I know Appletalk is no longer supported. I would expect to remove the LocalTalk option card from the printer, and revert to its original serial-only configuration.
I know I could use an iMac to share the printer, but I don't consider that a practical option.
So has anyone tried a USB to serial adapter on the Express?
Powerbooks  iMacs  iPods  Airports  Appletalk printers , Mac OS X (10.4.11),  25 years Apple!  "alittle" is not a word  neither is "alot"
Posted on Apr 12, 2010 7:50 PM
by Grant Bennet-Alder,Solvedanswer
Desktops
You can either re-draw the diagram in mirror image, keeping the pin numbers in the same orientation, or re-draw the pin numbers, keeping the diagram in the same orientation.
The pins in Table 4 have the correct names associated with the pin numbers. I listed what Inside Macintosh says somewhere above, and it does correspond to the table 4 signal names.
RS 422/3 uses "push/pull" or "double rail" logic. Inputs to these devices will attempt to read the difference between their - and + leads as the signal.
To convert from RS422/3 to RS232, the mantra is:
"Open + on Driver,
Ground + on Receiver."
That will mean you are looking at the difference between RxD- and sGnd as your input signal, which will work fine. NOT doing that will leave you looking at the difference between RxD- and float, which may not work very well.
The pins in Table 4 have the correct names associated with the pin numbers. I listed what Inside Macintosh says somewhere above, and it does correspond to the table 4 signal names.
RS 422/3 uses "push/pull" or "double rail" logic. Inputs to these devices will attempt to read the difference between their - and + leads as the signal.
To convert from RS422/3 to RS232, the mantra is:
"Open + on Driver,
Ground + on Receiver."
That will mean you are looking at the difference between RxD- and sGnd as your input signal, which will work fine. NOT doing that will leave you looking at the difference between RxD- and float, which may not work very well.
Posted on May 13, 2010 9:53 AM



