LaserWriter: Direct Printing over Mixed Ethernet



I have a Novell Ethernet network (spread over four floors) with 30 IBM PCs. I
want to connect 20 Macintosh IIs. To date, I have tested two Macintosh
directly connected to the Ethernet network (version 2.15c, Mac VAP 1.1). Both
of the connected Macintoshes have InterLAN NIA310 MacConnect cards running the
NIA310 driver, Rev. AA, version 1.0.

I would like to connect my LaserWriters to the Macintoshes and not to the
Novell Server, because the Server is on another floor. I need a solution that
lets Macintosh users connect directly to Ethernet and print to any LaserWriter
linked through any Macintosh II AppleTalk printer port--without requiring the
user to disconnect from Ethernet and connect to AppleTalk.

1) Can I use an Apple Internet Router?

2) If yes, can I use the InterLAN card, or do I need the EtherTalk NB
Card?

3) Can I use, for example, the GatorBox or FastPath as another solution?

Netware for Macintosh (which is included with ELS Netware Level II 2.15,
Advanced Netware 2.15, and SFT Netware 2.15) lets DOS, OS/2, and Macintosh
users share Apple LaserWriters and Apple ImageWriters. Macintosh users have
the option of printing directly to the printer or through the Netware print
queue.

Because as Apple LaserWriters and Apple ImageWriters can be connected to the
network only through their built-in LocalTalk connectors, you must use one of
the routers that supports connections between LocalTalk- and EtherTalk-based
networks. The Apple Internet Router, the GatorBox, or the FastPath can be used
for this purpose.

You should be able to use the same InterLAN cards, if you can successfully
connect to the Netware server over EtherTalk with these cards.


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012