I'm having difficulty connecting my G3 400/Pismo (firewire) powerbook and Laserwriter 4/600 PS -- the port in the back that I thought was a serial printer port is actually something for projection and s-video. When I go to select the LW in the "Desktop Printer" utility, it does not appear as an option.

I have read that I might need an Asante Talk Bridge because the powerbook, while it has firewire, does not have a port for AppleTalk printers -- is this right? Where can I get one and will I need LocalTalk adapters?

Help??!! I love my LW 4/600 PS.

G :o

Hello,

I am sorry for being gone so long.

Your problem is that you have two different technology levels at your location: the Prismo laptop is newer (USB/Firewire) and the LW is older (LocalTalk).

AppleTalk is a software protocol suite; LocalTalk is the "hardware" that was Apple's networking back in the day.

The Apple Laserwriter 4/600 has a single port on it -- LocalTalk. In order to get it to work with your laptop, you have a couple options, of which I am only familiar with the last one:

** Purchase a USB --> LocalTalk adapter. They exist. I do not know if they will do what you want though. Not tested.

** Purcase the Asante Bridge. This will convert ethernet signals to Localtalk. A print server. These did work fine, but I have no personal experience with it.

** Find an old Mac on eBay, or with from a friend, that has both Ethernet and LocalTalk Ports on it. An old PowerMac 7100 would have these ports, or a 7200, or the Powerbook 500 series. You may need to find the Ethernet Dongle, but those things should be around for low cost. You can then tell that mac-in-the-middle to be a printserver for the printer. This solution also becomes handy if you have older SCSI hardware, like a scanner, or external hard drives like the ZIP drives or SyQuest EZ-Drives around. Be aware that this older Mac may need some tender loving care, and that you will need to have software from the day around, such as System 7 or 8 in order to drive it.

If it was me, I would be looking at a laptop-in-the-middle, so that I also had access to SCSI materials. Using VNC, you can even use the B/W Powerbook 520 and remote control it to a color monitor / modern computer, and it would work nice.

CHristian

Thanks. I plan to purchase the Asante Bridge. Originally, I used the LW with a beige G3 (had both ethernet and localtalk). I have since upgraded to the G5 iMac with a different type of printer but still want to use the LW because it has excellent print quality -- better than most that are priced for the standard consumer. So, I thought connecting to the Pismo would be a good idea -- thanks, again.