The March winds have been unsurpassed at depositing Macintosh parts at my
feet. Last week, at my new job, a new co-worker gave me a pair of AAUI
10BaseT transceivers; the show at Dayton disgorged a Quadra 660AV; and the
university surplus turned out to be a gold mine. For $5 each, I picked up
a 15" Mac monitor, two LC IIIs, two IIsis, an external 170Mb disk, and an Apple
external 80Mb disk. I got for free from the cable bin, some LocalTalk cables,
three LocalTalk dongles, one PhoneNet dongle (w/terminator) and three data-
center-grade AUI cables, including a DEC-branded one (perfect for my VAX8200)
Most of these accessories I've been looking for with some intensity of late.
In amongst the bits were Ethernet cards all around. I picked up the IIsis,
not for themselves, but because ISTR that the IIsi PDS slot is compatible
with the PDS slot on the SE/30. If so, then I can finally stick that SE/30
on my network without using up my one and only SCSI<->Ethernet dongle. A
surprise in the lot was inside one of the LC IIIs - an Apple IIe card. It
stood out because of the DB44? connector on the back, rather than the expected
RJ-45. I have heard of the Apple IIe compatibility card, but where can I find
a cable for this connector, which I presume is for attaching an external drive
to? I haven't gotten home yet, so I have no idea if there is software on the
Mac's drive to control it, but I hope there is.
Finally, now that I have an abundance of Ethernet-capable Macs, I want to turn
to a long-standing project - turning a Mac into an Ethernet<->LocalTalk print
server. I don't care if I have to sacrifice one of my larger Macs and run
a variety of UNIX, but what I want is to be able to print from other machines,
UNIX, Windoze, Amiga, etc., over whatever protocol I can manage to universally
support, and print to this HP Deskwriter 660 that is sitting here, lonely.
Additionally, I could drive an HP LaserJet 4/ML over the LocalTalk port from
the same print server. Are there any packages for the Mac that will let me
share the printer with non-Apple-based machines? Is there something like
CAP (Columbua AppleTalk Protocol?) for Windoze? (I've used it with Linux)
I am not a Mac newbie, but my experience with Mac printers is limited to "plug
it in, load a driver and go". I've never had to mess with them much, because
they are, in my experience, fairly well behaved. I will go RTFM once I know
where the FM is (and any software to go with it).
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text
Received on Tue Mar 27 2001 - 12:27:05 BST