[corp miler]

I have an old circa ‘94 Apple Personal LaserWriter 300 (serial/localtalk) which has been in a box for the last 6 years. It’s been used so little, it is still on the first toner cartage. I’m currently working on a newer ti Powerbook (USB or Firewire) using an Airport internet connection. Is there a way to connect this printer without too much trouble? Will my Airport connection complicate things, ie would I have to switch AppleTalk on and off, etc? Keyspan makes some USB to serial adapters for $80, but I’m not sure if this will work for what I need — kind of an expensive test too. Of course, after 6 years it may not work all together! Thanks for your help.

[tooki]

It's not a LocalTalk printer -- it's pure, non-networked RS-422 serial. There are no drivers for it on Mac OS X. Very few adapters support it, and even then the drivers might not like it.

I'd probably suggest you sell it and buy a new one. I doubt it's rotted in the box.

tooki

[corp miler]

Sort of what I thought. Too bad, it was a great little printer back in the OS8 days. Thanks.

[Dex13]

could you run a headless printer server?

A 6400 connected to the printer and send pages to the printer via ethernet w/ os 9 on the 6400.

[tooki]

Honestly, considering you can buy a new, modern USB laser printer that's 3 times as fast for $200, why bother?

tooki

[finboy]

I gotta go with tooki on this one. I have a pLW300 that I use in OS 9 with a Keyspan twin. It's essentially a HP LJ4, and I've gotten a lot of use from it.

But it will only work in Classic under OS X.