Stephen Kenyon

Q: How to network two Macs to one printer...?

Hello! I have recently acquired an AsanteTalk bridge so my Powerbook (OS 10.4.11) can print to my Laserwriter 4/600. It does so via an ethernet router. For printing things I usually still use my beige G 3, so at present I have to unplug the one, plug in the other, and then undo. I assume this is not only annoying but will in time damage the plugs, even with care.
I have an old bit of Appletalk cabling, the plugs for which have 3 pins (plus the black locator - assume! - bit).
What I would like to do is find the adaptors/connectors/bits&pieces that would mean I could leave the plugs in place and print from either Mac as required.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.11), ...and beige G3 OS 9.2.2

Posted on Aug 21, 2010 4:58 AM

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Q: How to network two Macs to one printer...?

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  • by Stephen Kenyon,

    Stephen Kenyon Stephen Kenyon Aug 21, 2010 7:46 AM in response to Stephen Kenyon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 21, 2010 7:46 AM in response to Stephen Kenyon
    Well I must admit to feeling somewhat numb!

    Firstly, having posted this question I went to print a Really Important Thing for next week, and the last page ended up in the most monumental paper jam! The first for a long time, and by far the worst I have seen. It concertinered on the inside of the last rollers and could not be got at no matter what I did.
    So I undid the 4 screws found when you open the toner lid, and with much wrestling and panting, got the cover off. This meant there was just enough access to the paper to be able to tease it out with tweezers. Printed a couple of copies and the mess inside was cleaned out no trouble. Just one small piece of grey plastic broke off from somewhere inside and ended up on the floor.
    What is that strange black plastic gadget thing with little arms that lock into the rest of the bodywork, doing there!?
    In looking in the printer manual to see if this type of jam is covered (no chance!) I came upon the bit about printing over networks. I was sure I'd looked here before, but still...
    So I changed the Appletalk control panel to Connect via Ethernet ... and blow me down it printed perfectly happily without messing about with any techie stuff at all
    I use the ethernet connection to the laptop so rarely I think I'd forgotten about it...or thought it would be too complicated...but it was literally switch and print!
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Aug 21, 2010 5:10 PM in response to Stephen Kenyon
    Level 9 (60,904 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 21, 2010 5:10 PM in response to Stephen Kenyon
    So Stephen, you sound like you are all set with your new AppleTalk Network Printer! If not, please post any remaining problem, because I missed it.

    The AsanteTalk is bad about re-acquiring any printer that drops out for any reason. Their manual tells of the drill you need to follow (the movie version: power everything else up and let it stabilize, THEN power up the AsanteTalk).

    At Mac OS X version 10.6, AppleTalk printing is no longer supported. There is an additional set of things you can do to keep it as a Shared Printer under Mac OS X (10.5 or earlier) but these require that the 10.5 or earlier computer be ON to print.
  • by Stephen Kenyon,

    Stephen Kenyon Stephen Kenyon Aug 23, 2010 6:58 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 23, 2010 6:58 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Yes the Asante is picky and doesn't want to know you unless you turn it on after the rest of the kit. There's also a technique to unplug the appletalk and replug while the light is flashing as it turns on, if a simple restart doesn't work.
    Thanks! ...
  • by Sandra MacPherson,

    Sandra MacPherson Sandra MacPherson Dec 30, 2010 3:52 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 30, 2010 3:52 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Hi Grant,

    Regarding the last sentence of your comment: "There is an additional set of things you can do to keep it as a Shared Printer under Mac OS X (10.5 or earlier) but these require that the 10.5 or earlier computer be ON to print."

    Does this mean that if I have a macbook pro laptop running version 10.6.5, connected to airport extreme – with an older G5 running 10.5.8 connected to airport extreme – along with my Asante Talk (connected to my LSW360) connected to my Airport Extreme – I can print to my LSW via my laptop?

    I know I can print from my 10.5.8 G5 to the LSW, but I removed the monitor from that system so I could add a dual monitor set-up for my newer laptop. I print rarely and had planned to just hook up the monitor to the other printer, but that's a bit of a pain.

    I also read this on another discussion and wonder if it would apply to me.
    file:///Users/sandra/Desktop/LSWSelect/Apple%20-%20Support%20-%20Discussions%20- %20Printing%20to%20Laserwriter%20Select%20360%20....webarchive
  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 30, 2010 8:05 PM in response to Sandra MacPherson
    Level 9 (60,904 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 30, 2010 8:05 PM in response to Sandra MacPherson
    Does this mean that if I have a macbook pro laptop running version 10.6.5,
    connected to airport extreme –
    with an older G5 running 10.5.8 connected to airport extreme –
    along with my Asante Talk (connected to my LSW360) connected to my Airport Extreme –
    I can print to my LSW via my laptop?


    Ding, Ding, Ding, We have a winner!

    Using your 10.5 computer, you set it up to print to the LaserWriter via AppleTalk. If the AsanteTalk is on and evrything is working, the LaserWriter is recognized and you can print.
    Next you use System Preferences > Sharing to turn on Printer Sharing

    Then you go to your 10.6 Mac and Add a Printer... it will NOT show up as an AppleTalk Printer. It should show up as some sort of Shared Printer at the IP Address of the 10.5 computer.

    Now that I go to the end of my description, I noticed you will always need the IP Address of the 10.5 Mac to be the same, so you may want to assign it a Manual IP address that is near, but not "next in line" to your other DHCP Addresses. You can let the old Mac sleep if you use Energy Saver to "Wake on Network Access". If it is a laptop, it also need the lid to be open and the power adapter connected to wake on Network Access.

    PS: your link did not come through properly. Is this the thread you meant?

    Printing to Laserwriter Select 360
  • by Sandra MacPherson,

    Sandra MacPherson Sandra MacPherson Dec 31, 2010 2:16 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2010 2:16 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Hi again,

    Well, that certainly is a relief. At least I know I won't have to hook up my monitor cable from one system to another in order to print.

    Downside is, while I was able to print on my 10.5.8 via airport to the LSW (last week), I must've done something to bump the printer off the Appletalk network. I'm migrating from one system to another and I had two networks on my 10.6, so deleted one. That probably messed me up a bit. SO at this point, I'm on the 10.5 trying to get Appletalk to recognize the LSW.

    You helped me through that issue previously, so I'll just refer to the old notes. THEN I'll work on setting it up to the 10.6.

    Thanks again.
  • by Sandra MacPherson,

    Sandra MacPherson Sandra MacPherson Jan 2, 2011 1:08 PM in response to Stephen Kenyon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2011 1:08 PM in response to Stephen Kenyon
    Well, I got my LSW 360 connected (via Asante AppleTalk) to my 10.5.8 G5. I then went in and made it a shared printer. Went into my 10.6.5 laptop, and while I was going to connect it via Grant's instructions through the IP address under "Add a printer", it was already connected under the "Default" printer with Bonjour shared. Works just fine.

    I would've tried to connect via IP address, but I know I was playing on the 10.6 computer before all this, trying to add the printer connected via Airport Extreme. I had added the LSW under the "Default" setting and although it didn't print at that time*, it works now.

    *Didn't work at that time because I had lost the Asante AppleTalk connection to my 10.5.

    Very happy now.