
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.