Printer Setup Utility: AppleTalk or TCP/IP?

Question

Printer Setup Utility: AppleTalk or TCP/IP?

How does one tell by inspecting Printer Setup Utility whether a printer is using AppleTalk or TCP/IP?

PowerBook Pismo 500 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Jul 14, 2006 12:46 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 14, 2006 1:47 PM in response to George Machen

It would only use Appletalk if the printer only had an Appletalk port. It would only use TCP/IP if the printer was connected via Ethernet.

Since Appletalk printers cannot be used on the Pismo and are not supported by OS X, then your printer is likely either connected by Ethernet or USB or Firewire.

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Answer 2

Jul 14, 2006 4:27 PM in response to Kappy

Oh, all right. I didn't mean legacy AppleTalk proper. I should have said, AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol)/PAP over TCP/IP.

And I'm not talking about my Pismo. I'm talking about the Macs at work that need to print to an Artwork Systems Nexus print server on a Windoze box that is an AFP/PAP printer.

I still need to know how to glean from Printer Setup Utility whether a printer is, in it's own words, an "AppleTalk printer" or an IP printer.

PowerBook Pismo 500 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 14, 2006 4:59 PM in response to George Machen

When you configure the printer in the Printer Setup Utility you would select which protocol that particular printer was using. If you install a printer driver for an Ethernet printer, then you would select the IP Printer. As far as I'm aware the Printer Setup Utility will list detected printers in the Default Browser when you click on the Add icon. The browser lists the detected printer and the connection type. If you are connecting to an IP printer, then you would select the IP Printer icon (next to the Default Browser icon), then select the particular IP protocol (in most cases this is LPD Line Printer.)

I'm not sure if this is what you are trying to figure out.

Tiger (OS X 10.4.x) no longer supports AFP. You may find the following KB articles relevant:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301183
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303882

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Answer 4

Jul 14, 2006 5:16 PM in response to Kappy

Yeah, I already know all the stuff in those two articles.

And everything Kappy describes pertains to *adding" a printer within Printer Setup Utility.

But I still need to know how to glean from Printer Setup Utility whether an existing printer was added as an "AppleTalk PAP printer" or as an IP printer.

By the way, it is not the case that, "Tiger (OS X 10.4.x) no longer supports AFP." Rather, it no longer supports AFP-over-legacy-AppleTalk. It does support AFP-over-TCP/IP.

PowerBook Pismo 500 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 14, 2006 5:46 PM in response to George Machen

If you open Printer Setup Utility and click on Add to open the Default Browser it should list available printers and connection type. As far as I know that's the only information the PSU provides.

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Answer 6

Jul 14, 2006 5:57 PM in response to Kappy

Alas, I fear you're right. I've been tearing my hair out, seeking hidden "option-click" thingies, to no avail. The Show Info for an existing printer seems not to give a clue as to whether it orginally was added as an AFP/PAP-over-TCP/IP printer, or as an IP printer. (Some printers will go both ways.)

I guess the only way to know for sure is - ugh!- delete the printer, then add it back the way one wishes, making sure this time to specify in one's custom printername which kind it is.

Sigh!

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 14, 2006 11:49 PM in response to George Machen

Open a Terminal session and try the lpstat -t command. It should indicate if a printer is on tcp or not.

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Answer 8

Jul 15, 2006 5:45 AM in response to Kappy

Yeah, but wouldn't both AFP/PAP-over-TCP/IP printers and IP printers be listed under lpstat -t, inasmuch as they both stream across TCP/IP?

Application
Presentation
Session
Transport
Network
Data link
Physical

That's the theoretical network design OSI model. I don't remember off the top of my head, but AFP/PAP resides somewhere between Application and Transport, way above and transparent to TCP/IP.

PowerBook Pismo 500 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Answer 9

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 15, 2006 10:03 AM in response to George Machen

Yes, probably they will. I'm not that experienced with Unix. I did some hunting yesterday to try and find what Unix commands there were that might provide info on printers. There weren't that many and only lpstat seemed to provide any info on the protocol.

I'm sorry I'm not much help, George. You might try searching versiontracker.com and macupdate.com to see if someone has written a utility that may provide what you need. I don't know where it would be in OS X other than the PSU and NetInfo Manager. Obviously the Unix commands don't provide the desired information. I'm assuming that the printers are not accessible in some other way where the information could be obtained.

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