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Judy

Q: LaserWriter 8500 needs new IP address

I have the Apple LaserWriter 8500 Printer. It still works beautifully.

I need to change its IP address.
I have looked at many pertinent messages in the forums. I am still confused after reading these messages and info in the LaserWriter 8500 Manual .

The printer is on my network at 192.168.123.201.
This address was set by me many years ago using the printer utility.
Although I still have the original CD, the software won't run on my Intel Mac.

I need to change the address of the printer to be on a new network that will be set up using Time Capsule. I think those addresses may be in the range 10.0.xxx.xxx but I am not sure.

I think the printer address could be changed by using Terminal and Telnet (from reading the manual) but I do not know how nor what address to choose.

The manual has directions while using old PCs, but these directions would probably work using the Unix available on the Mac. There are several variations of the directions which also contribute to my confusion, since I do not really know Unix although I can understand it a bit.

Computers running on the new network will pick up their own address using DHCP. But the printer needs to be assigned an address. Do I have to change the address while still on the old network, or can the printer be accessed directly somehow?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MBP 15 CD, MBP C2D 17; TiBook, G4 MP500; iMac Grape, Orange, Classic II, PB180C, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 60G iPod Photo, 4G nano, 8G iPhone, 1G shuffle

Posted on Feb 12, 2009 5:10 PM

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Q: LaserWriter 8500 needs new IP address

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Feb 13, 2009 5:40 PM in response to Judy
    Level 9 (61,292 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 13, 2009 5:40 PM in response to Judy
    The information you need is in that manual, in chapter 4. Ignore the early stuff where it asks you to make entries in UNIX files and tables. That will not help.

    The instructions you want start on page 103, under the heading, "Using telnet and the TCP/IP Printer Configuration Utility" You use telnet to talk to the printer and its built-in Configuration Utility will send you old-fashioned text-based menus and allow you to enter single-digits to make choices off those menus it sends you.

    I recommend that you use it now to read out the page count and change some trivial parameters now. Then you will not be queasy about changing the IP address "for real" later.

    From the example at the top of page 90, it clearly shows the 'printerIPname' means the name that prints out as the printer's name on the startup page, or the name you use to send files to the printer. Most of these printers with multiple ports maintain unique names for each access network, so the term 'printer_IP-name' is used to differentiate it from, say, its 'LocalTalk_name" and any other names it may have -- it is not some sort of magical UNIX stuff.

    It may also respond to its numeric IP address.

    Telnet is available in Terminal.
  • by Judy,

    Judy Judy Feb 13, 2009 8:16 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 4 (2,259 points)
    Safari
    Feb 13, 2009 8:16 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Should I connect the Mac to the printer directly with ethernet, or change the address while I am still on the old network. Or on the new network? Or is any of those ways ok?
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Feb 14, 2009 1:20 PM in response to Judy
    Level 9 (61,292 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 14, 2009 1:20 PM in response to Judy
    You don't need to restrict the cabling, since you will establish a private session with the printer and a Mac. You should talk to it in its working configuration, before you change anything, or else you will have changed five things and it won't work and you will have no idea which of the five things you changed is the problem.

    Start a session with it now, before you change anything, and read out the page count and turn on the start-up test page, and adjust the lightness/darkness a little. Then shut that down, cycle the printer power and connect to it again and assure yourself that the changes "stuck".

    When you have your new network set up, and have a Mac happy on it, then switch the printer and telnet a Mac to it on its old address, then change it to its new address. That should yield about the smallest number of changes at once, so that if something goes wrong, you can find and fix the one thing you just changed.
  • by Judy,

    Judy Judy Feb 14, 2009 1:26 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 4 (2,259 points)
    Safari
    Feb 14, 2009 1:26 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Thanks for making everything so clear. I am going to try it over the weekend.