Post #237,573
12/10/05 3:18:35 PM
|
cabling juju comma ethernet comma macintosh
Rambling question follows:
What we seem to have here is a confluence of technologies that are variously too old and too new to play well with others in the particular sandbox I've arranged, coupled with my own incapacity (probably of a piece with my existing spatial-relations processing deficit) to grasp the Zen of cabling, and of course a massive dollop of simple technical ignorance.
So, I've got this printer, a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 6MP, and it's a real workhorse. Only problem is that it wants to talk to my desktop Mac (a B&W G3 with a G4 processor transplant and a gig of—alas!—apparently non-spec RAM to which "Panther" proved violently allergic, running OS 10.2.8) via a serial port. Nichto problemo, you'd think, because providentially the B&W is tricked out with a serial port out where the modem port would ordinarily be, and this would be end-of-story back in the palmy days of OS 9, when that arrangement (with, you know, the "Appletalk" thingums strung out between the two devices) worked just fine. OS X, unfortunately, does not provide for serial port anything. If you want to print, you send that data out the ethernet port like a good Christian.
Fortunately, sometime back I acquired on eBay a magic box (from a mfr now deceased) yclept "Dayna EtherPrint-T," which sits between the devices, talking to the Mac via an ethernet cable and to the LaserJet via the Appletalk thingums. Unfortunately, among the configurations I have attempted to date, the printer will print only when the "EtherPrint-T" is connected directly to the Mac's single ethernet port via a crossover cable. Attempts to interpose a hub (with crossover and patch cables) have all come a cropper.
My moderately nightmarish home network was configured by a mad Russian teenager (our own laid-back Jvlivs Caesar's energetic kid brother), and so far as I can determine the wires run as follows:
Phone company line in --> ADSL "modem" (hereafter "ADSL box")
ADSL box --> "Linksys" 4-port router
Linksys port 1 --> to downstairs office, where it connects to a Wintel box
Linksys port 2 --> to upstairs garrett, where it connects to old Mac OS 9 machine (which can't handle it: direct connection to ADSL box, yes; via Linksys, no). This line can obviously be repurposed.
Linksys port 3 --> to "Airport Express" wireless jobbie
Linksys port 4 --> formerly to B&W's internet port; presently to "NetGear DS108" 8-port hub
NetGear --> B&W
So at the moment I have the NetGear hub on top of my computer in the vain hope that I can make it yield some added functionality, even though at the moment it's merely adding to the rats' nest of wires at the rear of my desk. I have attempted to connect the hub to the "EtherPrint-T" using a crossover cable (no apparent information passes between computer and printer) and a patch cable (no apparent information, et cetera, but the LED above the EtherPrint's ethernet in port blinks vigorously).
As it stands, if I need to print (writing a letter, say, or comping an illustration) I have to sever my online umbilical, and substitute for it a crossover cable running between the B&W and the EtherPrint. If I need to print something from the internet I send the "Print" command and the job will queue up and be sent to the printer the next time a physical connection is established. Obviously, then, it's more in the way of an inconvenience than anything else, but if there's something blindingly obvious that I'm overlooking here, some means of having simultaneous access to printer and to net, well, I'd be grateful to learn of it.
cordially,
Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
|
Post #237,574
12/10/05 3:51:49 PM
|
it sounds like your serial to IP BW thingy has lost its
rightness unless connected via crossover cable to your ethernet port.
Easy choice involves opening wallet and horking out around 150.00 for a jetdirect adapter but assume after recent festivities you are as tapped as the rest of us.
Can you "hang" the printer off of the elderly MacOS in the garret and have it act as a print server?
for various versions of hang, you can go about 200ft with a serial line.
gluck,
thanx,
bill
"the reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is that they think conspiracy means everyone is on the same program. Thats not how it works. Everybody has a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebodies wife" Gus Vitelli
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
|
Post #237,876
12/13/05 11:03:41 AM
|
I used to use this as recently as 4 years ago.
It was working perfectly, when I left.
It was always just ... plug it in and it works.
I always had a dedicated appletalk port on these machines, you know the roundy one.
I also had an ethernet port as well. I could print to the printer(s) in more than one way. Through the Appletalk setup or through the Network to a different computer that was "sharing" the printer out, that printed to the printer through the Appletalk setup.
If it is not working, it is broke. (master of stating the obvious, I know)
The only problem I had was on the newer MACs we had gotten just before I left, they had no Appletalk port. But we rectified that by just printing to one that did have the Appletalk port.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwetheyFreedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0;
0 rows returned.
|
Post #237,954
12/13/05 7:43:01 PM
|
and yet, and yet
"If it is not working, it is broke." But it is working, my magic box. It takes data streaming out of the ethernet port, does its alchemy, and sends the transmuted bits to the printer, which then lays down the toner as directed. It simply will not, for some reason, perform this trick if the signal passes through a hub on its way from the computer to the EtherPrint-T. A puzzlement.
bewilderedly,
Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
|
Post #237,959
12/13/05 8:32:14 PM
|
Maybe replace the hub with a switch?
Perhaps the hub has simply given up the ghost. Can you try an inexpensive 10/100 switch? Hubs and switches [link|http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/hubsw.htm|operate differently] and maybe a switch will work better.
Maybe [link|http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817111009|this D-Link] box - $19 + $4.5 - $10 rebate. I've got one (possibly an earlier vintage) that works fine with my Athlon64 and our Powermac G5 and a Buffalo 802.11g wireless jobbie. They've got some switches that are free after rebate.
HTH. Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
|
Post #238,031
12/14/05 2:50:30 PM
|
hub good, switch bad claims some newsgroup
Somewhere in my researches I recall reading a description of a similar setup (using a product similar to my EtherPrint-T black box) that warned that a hub and not a switch must be used at this point in the chain. Alas, I can't recall details of the explanation. BTW, the hub has clearly not given up the ghost, since it's still sitting between the B&W and the outside world, passing information back and forth without apparent incident.
In my original post I asserted, incorrectly, that the B&W's serial out was useless under OS X. I misspoke; additional research on another matter has jogged my memory and I amend that to say that OS X will not print through a serial connection under any circumstances. To my delight, however, last night I finally got the B&W and my Newton Messagepad 130 (one of the prize exhibits here at the burgeoning Harrison Street Museum of Senescent Technology) to shake hands with one another via that channel.
I'm still inclined to believe that the individual components, the various boxes, cables and ports, are all sound, and that something in the configuration thereof has eluded me. I thought the nature of the misconfiguration might be obvious to the old hands from my account; since it is not I will press on in some dedicated Mac fora and report my findings, should findings there be, back here.
cordially,
Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
|
Post #238,033
12/14/05 3:06:27 PM
|
Hub good - Switch bad?
A switch is actually a fast multi-port bridge. It learns who's on each port so it can bridge traffic appropriately. If a switch doesn't work that may be because it can't get a good MAC address from your device, and that might cause problems with other equipment too.
A hub, on the other hand is a completely stupid device. It just ties a bunch of ports together so any traffic on any port appears on all ports.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
|
Post #238,034
12/14/05 3:08:02 PM
|
Maybe this will help.
[link|http://www.asante.com/downloads/guides/ATALK_Trouble_TD.pdf|AsanteTalk Troubleshooting Guide] (8 page .pdf). It is a [link|http://www.asante.com/products/productsLvl3/AsanteTalk.asp|Ethernet to Localtalk Bridge] and sounds similar to your Dayna EtherPrint-T. It's apparently still available for ~ $90. The paperwork says it'll work with a hub or a switch. It says it is very particular about the order in which things are turned on...
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
|
Post #238,730
12/21/05 12:51:07 AM
|
Have you tried printer sharing?
A strategy wherein you connect the printer directly to the device that can handle it - the B&W G3, turn on printer sharing over Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous) on the B&W, then it publishes the printer as shared and handles its print queue.
I'm doing this to share a dedicated usb printer on my wireless lan (something else you might consider - eliminate all the cables once and for all).
Worth a shot.
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
|
Post #238,737
12/21/05 8:36:21 AM
|
As I understand it, that won't work.
There are 3 problems that Rand faces: 1) OS X won't print to the serial port, 2) there's only 1 Ethernet port, 3) the HP 6MP printer has a serial (or Centronics) interface.
But that reminds me of our arrangement. We have a Canon i550 inkjet and a Lexmark E324 laser printer that both our Athlon64 and our PowerMac G5 (10.2.8) print to just fine. Both the printers have Centronic and USB interfaces. The Athlon64 uses the Centronics interface on the i550, the PowerMac uses the USB interface on the i550. The Athon64 uses the USB interface on the Lexmark and the G5 prints to it via printer sharing by the Athlon64 (running Win2k). (We can also print to the printers via our PowerBook and PC laptops as both the printers are shared on the network.)
If there were some way to get a USB port on the B&W G3/G4 box to talk to the printer, I think that might be a way to go. Then sharing the printer via the Ethernet port might work. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be such a box, and there are probably driver issues.
It might be cheaper and less aggravating (and less expensive - power wise) to buy an inexpensive laser printer to replace the HP 6MP. My Lexmark E234 was < $150 and has worked very well. A similar [link|http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16828106218|E240] is $150 + $15 shipping at newegg (but I imagine you'd have to throw in tax too). Unfortunately, you'll be giving up PostScript. :-(
Another option is to hang the 6MP off a cheap, networked, Linux networked box. It apparently works perfectly with Linux.
HTH a bit.
Cheers,
Scott.
|
Post #238,772
12/21/05 12:20:45 PM
|
Or...
Add an airport card to the G3, replace the switch with a WAP, wire the G3 directly to the printer and configur its wireless interface to talk to the WAP - then share the printer.
OTOH, I agree that printers (Color even!) are now dirt cheap. I got a nice Epson Stylus C88 for < $80 and it has been solid for over a year. Individual color carts are fairly reasonably priced and last a fairly long time. Probably cheaper than solving the network problem.
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
|
Post #238,012
12/14/05 12:05:35 PM
|
Hey, Leave CRC out of this!
If you want to print, you send that data out the ethernet port like a good Christian. If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were taking potshots at our Favorite Finn! ;-) jb4
shrub●bish (Am., from shrub + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf. BULLSHIT
|
Post #238,215
12/15/05 9:26:12 PM
|
OT, but not exactly.
CRC is a native German who (somehow) is a Swedish citizen and only lives in Finland.
Alex
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell
|
Post #238,247
12/16/05 1:19:40 AM
|
Arrogant, depressed and drunk.
In that order.
*flees for the hills*
Peter
[link|http://www.no2id.net/|Don't Let The Terrorists Win]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
|
Post #238,286
12/16/05 10:27:32 AM
|
Well of course
1. Arrogant because he simply knows he's better than what passes for an average human today.
2. Depressed because none of them seem to recognize his superiority.
3. Drunk because that's the only way to deal with 1 and 2.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
|
Post #238,394
12/16/05 10:23:04 PM
|
Have we met before?
-----------------------------------------
No new taxes.
--George H. W. Bush
We don't torture.
--George W. Bush
|
Post #238,396
12/16/05 10:31:07 PM
|
s/depressed/constipated/g all that fish potatoes and vodka
"the reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is that they think conspiracy means everyone is on the same program. Thats not how it works. Everybody has a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebodies wife" Gus Vitelli
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
|
