> Hi all...
> Another mailing list I'm on is for managers of Mac labs, & someone was
> recently inquiring about using an old Mac as a print server running
> MacLinux or NetBSD. I let him know kinda where the status of each project
> was.... Anyway...he's trying to use the Mac (it'll be a IIci, IIcx, or
> IIsi) to serve a Phaser IIIPxi (tabloid) printer on an Ethernet/PhoneNet
> network. I explained that Ethernet and Serial are supported, but that
> LocalTalk/PhoneNet is not. He wrote back:
> 
> >Does this mean that NetBSD has no support for Appletalk over the
> >serial printer (Appletalk) port on the back of the IIci? How do
> >you print from NetBSD if there's no support? If so, then
> >this idea won't work at all as the Phaser printer only has Phonenet,
> >parallel and maybe RS232 connections on the back. I envisioned
> >NetBSD letting the mac act as a Ethertalk/IP router to the
> >printer located on a private Phonenet segment. Is this not possible?

No. It's not. We don't support LocalTalk yet. It's on my to-do list, and
moving up. But getting a job & finishing my dissertation are up there
too. :-)

> Yes, it does mean that NetbSD has NO support for AppleTalk over the serial
> port. It can do serial over the serial port, & it can do AppleTalk, or any
> other supported protocol, over the Ethernet, but not LocalTalk/PhoneNet.

According to the original messge, they've got a GaterBox. Keep it
around.

> Background:
> The department has a heavily-used but ancient Tektronix Phaser
> IIIPxi tabloid-sized printer on an even more heavily-used and
> ancient PhoneNet network. All the users are on an ethernet network -
> most on macs running AppleTalk, a few on SGI workstations via TCP/IP.
> Connectivity between the PhoneNet and Ethernet networks is provided
> by an ancient GatorBox running GatorShare (PhoneNet-to-EtherTalk
> routing) and GatorPrint (lpd print server for LaserWriters).
> The printer is located in a PhoneNet zone which is 3 Appletalk router
> hops away from the GatorBox. Printer usage is generally light
> *until* a conference / grant deadline approaches.
> 
> 
> Problem:
> Not speed - surprisingly. The major problem is that printing is first
> come, first served. Thus there's no way for rush jobs to be printed
> if a number of lower-priority jobs are queued up. And there's no way
> of telling who's queued up for the next job. This is a big department
> spread over 3 floors of two buildings, so calling around isn't a
> solution. Resetting the printer will cause the macs to canc*l jobs
> in the queue, but the unix boxes will simply restart/requeue
> any jobs that were in progress.
> 
> So it seems that a print server/spooler is in order - a box
> which can connect to the printer and the ethernet network and
> allow the owner of the printer to schedule/canc*l/hold print jobs
> and identify where they are comming from for billing purposes.
> 
> My current brainstorm is to install a unix variant (either NetBSD
> or Linux68k) and Netatalk or CAP to provide print services for
> this printer on the network to the SGI users (via lpd) and to
> Mac users (via CAP/Netatalk). This also gives me the ability to
> install SAMBA if we ever get any Windows 95 users who also may
> want to use this printer.

Sounds reasonable. And it'll work now if you add one little trick from
WindowsNT. WindowsNT services for Appletalk has the ability/annoying habit
of "capturing" printers. If you did that here, you'd be ok.

What you can do (what NT does) is send a little snippet of PostScript
to the printer. This code changes the printer from advertizing itself
as a "LaserWriter" to something else. Something like "LazerWriter"
would work. Now all of the LaserWriter drivers can't find the printer.

Then what you do is make a printer queue on the UNIX box with the name of
the printer. You make this queue use NetAtalk/CAP for output (in addition
to input), and have the target device have the right device spec as above.

When the LaserWriter drivers ant to print, they'll find the print queue
on the IIsi. And you'll be able to move thigns around as you wish. :-)

Take care,

Bill