From: bschmidt@bnr.ca (Ben Schmidt)
Subject: Re: Once again: mixed network
Followup-To: comp.periphs.printers,comp.protocols.appletalk,comp.sys.mac.comm
Organization: Bell-Northern Research
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 18:29:31 GMT

In article <1992Sep13.100738.9403@email.tuwien.ac.at>, Peter Purgathofer
<purgi@iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at> wrote:
> We are trying to incorporate some macs, 2 PCs, an HP LaserJet III and 1
> NeXT into one network. We have mostly ethernet cards, although some macs
> have only LocalTalk.
> 
> Our most urgent problem is printing. We need to be able to print to the
> LaserJet from all machines. To accomplish this, we purchased an
> EtherNet-Box for the printer, called EtherPrint (Dayna). It works
> perfectly with the macs, but the NeXT (and the PCs) fails to see the
> printer. This might mainly be because the box doesnt seem to speak TCP/IP. 
                                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Not only the EtherPrint, but also the LaserJet III behind it.  :^)

Bottom line is you've got to teach some of your devices to speak
either lpr (UNIX line printer remote protocol) or PAP (AppleTalk 
printer access protocol)  The UNIX box speaks native lpr. The Macs, 
the LaserJet, an your EtherPrint speak native PAP. The PC speaks 
natively nothing. You've got a large number of permutations possible
that can get you to your goal as shown by the table below:

              Some UNIX/MAC/PC shared printing options
------------------------------------------------------------------
                     UNIX     Mac    Mac+lpr      PC+ATalk  PC+lpr
------------------------------------------------------------------    
Printer               --      PAP      --          PAP     --
                     

UNIX + Printer       direct   --       lpr         --      lpr


UNIX+ATalk                    
(ushare, others)     direct   PAP      lpr         PAP     lpr
+ Printer             


Printer +            lpr      PAP      lpr         PAP     lpr
Compatible             
Systems lpr          
adaptor

Printer +            lpr      --       lpr         --      lpr
lpr adaptor
-----------------------------------------------------------------

"--"   ==> no communication for printing possible

"lpr"  ==> communication via lpr printing protocols

"PAP"  ==> communication via AppleTalk's PAP printing protocol


For PC's to speak PAP, contact Farallon
For PC's to speak lpr, there are many vendors, two of which are
FTP Sofware Inc, and I believe Wollongong.

For Mac's to speak lpr, there is an application (not a Chooser RDEV)
called "lpr v1.2" by Peter DiCamillo of Brown University. As well
InterCon is working on a commercial solution which *is* accessed
through the Chooser.

For your LaserJet IIIsi printer (which I assume has the AppleTalk option),
Compatible Systems makes or is advertising that they will make a box 
similar to Dayna's EtherPrint, but it *also* converts lpr to PAP.  As well
there are a number of boxes which convert "lpr" to direct serial or
parallel
attachment -- one of them is made by a company called "Micom" I believe.

For your NEXT to speak PAP, there are many vendors of AppleTalk-for-UNIX
products:  IPT ushare, Helios, Pacer, Mt.Xinu, Alisa, Locus, as well as the
non-commercial CAP.  But not all are available for all platforms, operating
systems, or support AppleTalk Phase 2 (which I assume you're using.). Ask 
first (or in the case of CAP, read the docs) to ensure that the product
you're considering runs on your particular UNIX workstation.

So you can see, there are no shortage of printing solutons for your Mac,
UNIX
PC environment. The *right* one for you depends on your budget, time, and 
abilities.

--
Ben Schmidt, P.Eng.      Bell-Northern Research,  /* standard              
Networking Applications  POB 3511, Stn C, Ottawa   disclaimers
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