Stylewriter won't print in Classic

If memory serves, the Stylewriter hooks up using one of the Apple din 9 cables (serial hookup) into the round printer port on the computer.

Those ports on the computer are disabled because of.... well it's a long sad story. Something to do with the timming of the communications, the controller chips, etc. that made the ports unreliable for printing in the X environment. They can work since the modem is also a serial port and is allowed to work.

I have a stack of peripherals that use the Apple serial hookups and can't use them in X. Well, that is not entirely true. Apparently the linux crowd has come up with drivers that will allow use of the serial ports but they are slow. The link below shows how to do it for a 2400 but the process is the same. Unfortunately you will have to manually add CUPS, ghostscript, etc. but it is laid out in the article.

http://www.mcgillis.org/~matthew/printing.html

And here's another page or two about it:
http://n.ethz.ch/student/walthec/stylewriter/
http://webpages.charter.net/mbroughtn/serial_printing.html

Greg,

Not to hijack a topic, but did you see my topic on ip printing woes?

I was hoping that you would have a clue on what to do.

Fred,

I can appreciate your concerns. Panther made working with older apple printers easier with the necessary files already in the system but you still have to work with the connection issues.

The other option is to make your beige dual boot and print it in 9.

Not very convenient but it is a cheap alternative till you get the usb printer.

Fred,

Installing a StyleWriter in OS X is actually pretty easy. If you looked at the mcgillis.org page, I'm sure you had nightmares. I realize that my page on serial printing that Greg also mentions can be a tough read. I tried to cover all serial printers that I know about. That is a lot of information to put on one page.

To get your StyleWriter working, all you need to do is to install ESP Ghostscript. This is just a simple package type installer. Then download the StyleWriter software that Greg mentions. Again, there is a typical package installer. Following the directions, you will then run two AppleScripts that will set up your printer for you.

It just simply works.

Matt

Matt,

Doesn't he also need CUPS?

He is on 10.0 which does not have cups. It came in 10.2

Carl,

Well, I goofed again. I apologize for not seeing that he is running OS 10.0. The necessary steps I outlined are for 10.2 and higher. The StyleWriter page does have an installer that will work in 10.1.5, but no mention of 10.0. OS 10.1.5 uses the Unix Line Printer Daemon. I'm not sure what OS 10.0 used.

Matt

I goof all the time :~(

He could still install cups and the update to 10.1.5 is free but......

Making it work would be much easier if he went to Jag.

Carl,
< I goof all the time :~(

In a public forum?
<He could still install cups

True, but that would require him to compile the source code. I don't see how it would be hooked into the OS 10.0 or 10.1.5 Printing Services however.
<Making it work would be much easier if he went to Jag.

True. For some, however, I can see where that is not a viable option. Judging from the install of StyleWriters where CUPS is present, I'm sure the software for OS 10.1.5 would be quite easy to install also.

The bigger problem might be finding a new USB printer that will work with OS 10.0 as compared with Jaguar and later.

Matt

Fred,

Glad to hear you have it working. I wish all serial printers were that easy to get working. And a jump from 10.0 to 10.2.8!! You will really notice the difference. Jaguar is so much better and faster than 10.0 or 10.1.5.

As for the serial ports in OS X, Carl pretty much said it all in his first reply to you. They mostly just aren't seen by the system. The one exception I noted on my B&W G3 in OS 10.3.x was the Keyspan USA28x USB to serial adapter. It's predecessor, the Keyspan USA28 acts differently and doesn't show the serial ports in OS X. I'm not sure if using the USA28x model is a universal solution or not. I can't remember whether I traced back to see if the USA28x also worked in OS 10.2.8. In any event, it is probably cost prohibitive. The adapter is about US$70. You would also need to add a USB card to your computer.

There is a work around. You could use PrintToPDF to make a PDF in Classic and then print in OS X.

Matt