> As an alternative to DEC LPS, one other possibility I'm considering for
> a perfect PostScript printer would be an original Apple LaserWriter.
> But since I'm NULL in apples, I need some help.
I don't know about *all* LaserWriters, but I can talk about the ones I've
had experience with. By the way, here's Apple's spec page on all their LWs:
http://www.info.apple.com/support/applespec.legacy/laser.html
It might fill in the gaps in my memory (I'm too lazy to check all of them
^_^).
> 1. Are all LaserWriters 100% pure PostScript printers, speaking nothing
> but PS? I know the very original one was, but I'm not sure about whatever
> happened later and whatever they make now.
No. There are some of the Personal LW and Select series that speak Apple's
proprietary QuickDraw (like the irritating Select 300, a printer which I
hardly like to speak the name of). However, the vast majority speak PS and
pretty much only PS.
> 2. Were there any LaserWriters made with duplex printing capability? If
> so, what's the earliest duplex LaserWriter?
The 12/640 PS, one of the last in the line, is duplex. I don't know about
any others. My 16/600 (tip of the hat to Mike Ford) is not, and the 8500
(1997 -- last one?) is not.
> 3. The original LaserWriter had a serial port. But given the assault on
> serial ports coming from all directions, I don't expect the current ones
> to have one, or do they? When was the last LaserWriter made with a serial
> port? Was there ever a LaserWriter new enough to support duplex printing
> but old enough to have a serial port?
I think they all have a mini-DIN-8, but not all are serial. The 8500 (1997),
according to Apple's spec page, is LocalTalk but not necessarily serial.
Some of the Select series are serial (the 310 will speak PS over a serial
line, so maybe this is a good choice for you even though I despise this
particular line from personal (mal)experience).
> 4. Are LaserWriter serial ports standard EIA-232 DB25 or something Apple
> proprietary? If the latter, what kind of adapter would I need to make?
They are not DB25, they're Apple "standard" mini-DIN-8, and most of them
are RS-422, I think.
My 16/600 has a LocalTalk serial, Ethernet and Centronics-style parallel.
I send it print jobs from a Mac IIci running NetBSD, netatalk (not -asun),
and txt2ps. The servers connect to the IIci over TCP/IP and send it an ASCII
print job, and it in turn spools it to the 16/600 over EtherTalk Phase 2.
--
---------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap Systems Ltd * So. Calif., USA * ckaiser_at_floodgap.com
-- All science is either physics or stamp collecting. -- Ernest Rutherford ----
Received on Wed Jun 09 2004 - 18:54:51 BST