LaserWriter 4/600 PS = printing on OSX 10.3.9

Was this printer previously working correctly under Mac OS 9? Your previous post did not indicate whether you had gotten it working there.

If it was working under Mac OS 9, you should be able to use:

System Preferences > Print & Fax > (Set Up Printers)

It is an AppleTalk printer, so choose AppleTalk from the top box, and Local AppleTalk Zone from the box below. In under a quarter of a minute the name of your printer should appear. If not, you may need to turn on Appletalk on your Ethernet port.

If it works under OS 9, just try the procedure I suggested above starting with System Preferences to set it up. Once it notices the printer is there, it will be configured and you will be able to print to it by choosing Print from the File Menu, in any Mac OS X Application.

Once it works in Mac OS X, it will also print in Classic. You will have to select it using the Chooser, then choose Print in an OS 9 Application. You can no longer print directly from the OS 9 Finder, since Classic does not run the OS 9 Finder -- it uses the Mac OS X Finder exclusively.

I run a LaserWriter 4/600 PS printer with a Farallon EtherMac iPrint LT and it is shared on a network with a Mac running 8.1, Macs running 10.3.9, and 10.3.9 Macs using Classic. It should continue to work in later versions, including 10.4.8 etc.

I have followed all the instructions to a T to connect my Laser writer 4/600 to my G5 Mac. However, when I go to add a printer in Mac Os 10.4.10 - nothing shows up. It does not show up under the Classic chooser either. I am wondering what to do next.

I have an asante talk adapter and I have tried both straight and cross over ethernet cables.

I am also running airport extreme and wonder if there is a way to have such a configuration run through airport.

Thanks to anyone with ideas about how to solve this problem

In a network where you have another Router/Gateway, such as a LinkSys, you can run into an unexpected problem with printing via Airport base station. If your Airport Base station is set up to pass out a new set of "private" Ethernet Addresses, you will establish a new subnet which cannot communicate with the other devices (wired Ethernet getting their addresses from the LinkSys).

To remedy this, tell the Airport Base Station not to give out a new range of addresses, but to pass through the ones from the LinkSys. A recipe, but no real explanation, is in this article:

166648- Connecting AppleTalk printers to the base station

To understand what might be happening, look at the IP addresses of each computer. If the LinkSys is using 192.168.0.1, and Ethernet-wired devices are using 192.168.0.x and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, they can communicate only with devices that use the same high three octets in their address. If the Airport Base station passes out 10.10.0.y numbers with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, it cannot talk to the LinkSys at all.

If any Mac has an Address of 169.254.xxx.yyy, it is talking only to itself.

Grant,

I too would love to use my LaserWriter 4/600PS. I just bought a new imac. Do you have any recommendations for cables? Can I cable it directly from the back of the imac to the printer or must I cable it through my Ethernet Broadband router? The back of the router has two ethernet ports available. My keyboard has a USB available.

Thank you,

Julian

julianharold,

The specifications for your printer can be found here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112505

That printer only has a LocalTalk port. You need a Farallon adapter to convert to ethernet. If you are near a university that offers surplus sales, you might be able to find a printer with an ethernet port for less than the price of the adapter. Also check recyclers who offer used macintosh equipment. They can set you up with multiple options.

Ji˜m

Jim (Appaloosa Mac Man) has it right. You will need a protocol converter to convert your new iMac (using AppleTalk-over-Ethernet) to what that printer talks (AppleTalk/LocalTalk). If you choose that route, the advantage of running it through a Router or Switch is that ALL your Macs can print to it.

You may have heard that AppleTalk for File Sharing is not supported in Mac OS 10.4 -- but never fear, AppleTalk for Printing is still supported.

The LaserWriter 4/600 PS is a very nice printer as long as you don't regularly go crazy with Adobe Illustrator documents, which can be too complicated for it. It doesn't take up much space, and just sits quietly with the fan off, until you send it a document. Then it prints, cools itself down, and takes a nap again.

Thank you Jim and Grant,

I have found a second hand Farallon adaptor the "Farallon Ethermac iPrint Ethernet Adapter SL" and before I buy it I hope one of you might be able to confirm that I have the right one. There seem to be any number of Farallon cables/adaptors out there so I need some guidance.

Appreciate it.

Julian

The iPrint SL is the one adapter that will NOT work for you. It works only with Serial StyleWriters.

The one you want is the Farallon Ethermac iPrint LT. Same shape, different guts.

A lot of the devices in the EtherWave series will also do the job IF they have the MiniDIN-8 cord in addition to the Ethernet jacks. The plain EtherWave is just an Ethernet repeater, sometimes with AAUI cord.

Message was edited by: Grant Bennet-Alder

julianharold,

Keep looking. You are bound to find option A or option B to solve your dilema.

Here is a source for many options in your area. All major metropolitan areas should have resources this good.

http://www.computerhope.com/disposal.htm

Ji˜m

I have a LaserWriter 4/600 PS and was hoping this discussion could help me be able to use it now that I've upgraded from System 9.2.2 to 10.4.9. I've tried some of the suggestions from previous posts, but nothing seems to work. My setup is that the LaserWriter is connected to an Asanti Talk box. That is connected to the Ethernet port on the back of my PowerMac G4. (At least I assume this is Ethernet. It uses brackets with three dots as the symbol.)

This is what I tried:
1. System Preferences, Print &Fax, click on box with plus sign.
2. Printer Browser window, Protocol says: Line Printer Daemon-LPD.
3. Bottom box says: Print Using, scroll list to: Apple.
4. Scroll Model to: Apple LaserWriter 4/600 PS v2014.107
5. Dialog box appears: An error has occurred while trying to add selected printer

And that's it. Any suggestions or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Michelle

m25michelle-

The defaults in those boxes are not helpful in this case. That is not an LPR/LPD printer.

In the Add-a-Printer pane, select AppleTalk and one of Local Zone or No Zones (depending on software version). Your printer should be discovered in under a quarter minute if all is well. If not, here is a list of what might be wrong:

• AppleTalk not turned on for your Ethernet port

• no IP Address assigned to your Ethernet port. You can choose Using DHCP or just make one up and enter manually -- 192.168.0.200 is good.

• The AsantéTalk is not very good about re-acquiring devices that drop out for any reason. The approved method for getting them back is to cycle the power, and when the printer has done its self-test and is ready, turn the AsantéTalk on LAST.

Grant,

Thanks for getting back to me, but I am not having any luck here. There is no Appletalk option in the add a printer pane. What is there are six boxes:

1. Protocol: which has the options of Line Printer Daemon, HP Jet Direct Socket, or Internet Printing Protocol.
2. Address: blank
3. Queue: blank
4. Name: blank
5. Location: blank
6. Print Using: with a select box for numerous printers including Apple, which then gives you a list of possible printers to use, where I choose LaswerWriter 4/600 PS, which then gives me a dialog box that says it fails to connect.

Back in the System Preferences screen I click on Network and can then click on Appletalk. When I do that, it tells me that this will disable Appletalk on Ethernet Slot 4, which is where I am connected to the Internet for my DSL line. I do that anyway just to see what happens and it still does not find my printer. It is very frustrating and I don't seem to be getting anywhere.

Thanks again for any help anyone can be to get me going with my printer.

Michelle

m25michelle-

in the System Preferences screen I click on Network and can then click on Appletalk. When I do that, it tells me that this will disable Appletalk on Ethernet Slot 4, which is where I am connected to the Internet for my DSL line.

You do not need a separate Ethernet port on your computer for the printer. If you have a Multi-port Router or Switch, you can plug the printer in there.

Ethernet is a highway, over which you can send TCP/IP packets for the Internet, AppleTalk packets for printers and older File Sharing, or both at once -- they do not interfere with each other. AppleTalk packets are not passed onto the Internet.

When you have Appletalk enabled on an Ethernet port, and the light for the port turns green in:
System Preferences > Network > Show: Network Status

then you should also be able to select AppleTalk in the:
System Preferences > Print and Fax > Set up Printers > Add-a-Printer box, but it may be on an Other... sub-list.

If not, you may have to quit the Printer Utility (Add-a-Printer box) and select it all again to re-launch Printer Utility.