Personal LaserWriter 320, LaserWriter 4/600: No Support from MS-DOS

The Personal LaserWriter 320 and LaserWriter 4/600 were designed to meet the needs of home and small office customers, so cross-platform support was not included or intended. Including this type of support would have added unnecessary complexity and cost to the printer. Customers who are looking for a printer to support both Macintosh and DOS/Windows computers need to look at our other printers that provide this type of support.

Since the Personal LaserWriter 320 does not have PCL4 capability or Diablo 630 ECS emulation, customers with PCs who wish to print using the Personal LaserWriter 320, need to use AppleTalk as the Protocol, and PostScript as the page description language. Products such as CopsTalk by Thursby Software Systems, Inc., and PCMacLAN for Windows by Miramar Systems, Inc., provide the AppleTalk stack. Microsoft ships PostScript print drivers with their operating systems.

In addition to necessary software, the printer must be connected to the network. Ethernet is generally the network of choice, and a bridge device is required to connect the LocalTalk printer to an Ethernet network. Bridge products include iPrint adaptor by Farallon Communications, Inc., and AsantePrint by Asante Technologies, Inc.

At this point, printing from Windows 95/98 via the Ethernet network should be possible.

Note: Mention of a particular product does not represent an endorsement, either expressed or implied, by Apple Computer, Inc.