laserwriter 12/640 PS drivers

christophe
welcome to Discussion
You will find the driver at:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30154
Hope someone else will help you with installation.

The LaserWriter 8 driver is often installed automatically, unless you remove it or disable it.

For the physical connection, that document says you can use Ethernet, but do not forget to turn on AppleTalk over Ethernet. Use of Ethernet will allow you to print from any Mac connected to your Ethernet. If you do not use Ethernet for anything else in your office, you could use AppleTalk/LocalTalk, but you would have to wire each station for LocalTalk.

If the driver is in the Extensions Folder inside the System Folder (a restart is not required) it will appear in the box on the left side of the Chooser. Selecting the LaserWriter 8 Icon in the left box of the Chooser should give you a list of all attached LaserWriters in the box on the right side. If your LaserWriter is cabled correctly, powered on and available, it will appear.

Selecting the new LaserWriter in the box on the right side will produce a dialog inviting you to either manually specify its features, or configure it automatically. Automatically is fairly fast and very easy.

The downloadable driver is version 7.1.2-perhaps doesn't work with OS 9. Cable:should be serial,LocalTalk,Ethernet.
You may look at (4) in description:the version you need is available only accompanied with OS 9. I'll look on my OS 9 CD for that.

Addendum:
Found Laserwriter 8 in my Chooser(OS9) and Laserwriter 12/600 profile and LW12/640 script on installation CD(OS9).

The printer is connected with an old parallel cable, which looks a little funny. Unfortunately nobody seems to sell these cable anymore, so I hope that the problem dosen't come from a rotten parallel cable.

The Mac you described does not have a parallel port of any description. The DB-25 port on the back of the Mac is a SCSI port, and attempting to use it with a parallel cable may keep your Mac from booting, or cause more serious damage.

For one-off use at home, AppleTalk/LocalTalk cabling is inferior, but can be a possibility. In an office environment, this printer should be hooked up with an Ethernet cable -- and if you do this, the printer can be used by every Mac and PC on your local network.

The fastest non-Ethernet connection and fullest support is obtained by connecting the circular Mini-DIN-8 "LocalTalk" [two-way arrows] port on the printer with the Mini-DIN-8 "Printer" port on the Platinum/Beige G3, and turning on AppleTalk over that port in the AppleTalk Control Panel. This gives a LocalTalk transfer rate of about 240,000 bits/sec, and allows full PostScript support.

To support multiple Macs and/or multiple printers, PhoneNet wiring such as Farallon PhoneNet boxes and regular telephone wire up to about 8 stations and 5,000 feet can be used. These are readily available on the used market very cheaply. US$5 should buy you a bag of three to 10 interface boxes and some telephone cords. Here are some examples from eBay[US]:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=Phonenet

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thanks for that wishes!
Rainer