[Nobody]

Hi,

A friend of mine is planning to switch back to Macs after using Windows PCs for a few years. He has a LaserWriter Select 360 which he uses with a PC laptop, connecting via serial port.

He is planning on getting a FP iMac soon, and would like to keep using the printer. I searched around the forums and saw that you can use it with new Macs and OS X by using an AsanteTalk ethernet router/hub.

Does the Select 360 require installation of the ethernet card or should it be built in? (I've never seen the printer myself.) Is there any special installation or configuration that needs to be done before running it under Jaguar? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Ralph_Thornton]

Technical Specifications for the LaserWriter Select 360 can be found at the AppleCare database site: http://docs.info.app...l?artnum=112498
According to the specs the LaserWriter 360 has an AppleTalk port and RS-232/RS-422 serial
Centronics parallel port hich is where your friend connected the PC to the printer. The new iMac will be connected to the AppleTalk port. Mac OS 10.2 and up includes drivers for the LaserWriter 360. To connect the 360 to your FP iMac you will need an Ethernet to AppleTalk (LocalTalk) bridge. Asante makes such a bridge (Asante calls their's AsanteTalk). I believe there are others available as well.

If you have no other ethernet devices connected to your iMac you can connect the bridge directly to your iMac with an Ethernet crossover cable. The AsanteTalk bridge comes with that cable. If you have other ethernet devices connected to your iMac or if you want to network 2 or more Macs together then you'll also need an ethernet router or switch. If you're connecting to a router or switch do not use the cross over cable but use regular ethernet cables instead.

One caveate that seems to be a known problem in that it is listed in the AppleSupport boards is that when printing to any printer connected to an AsanteTalk bridge (and most likely to other Eternet to AppleTalk bridges as well) you will get a Printer Error alert after selecting Print in the Print dialog box. After a short wait, or by clicking OK in the alert box, the alert box will go away and printing will occur normally. I'm not sure why this happens but it may be related to the slow throughput of the bridge. I use an AsanteTalk bridge connected to my LaserWriter IIf and printing occured OK under OS X 10.1.5 but I get the Error alert with 10.2 and now 10.2.1.

[Nobody]

There's another problem with the Laserwriter 360...if you have the built-in fax card or have installed one. The faxing capabilities will only function with OS 8.6 or earlier. Apple has not updated the drivers for that printer in years.

[Nobody]

".... you will get a Printer Error alert after selecting Print in the Print dialog box."

No problems here with my LaserWriter 360 using 10.2.1 and an AsanteTalk adapter. I've never experienced this error.

[Nobody]

Thanks all for the help. Hopefully my friend won't have too much trouble setting it up. Now though, he's thinking of waiting to see if the all 17" iMac rumor pans out...