[red rocket]

I just got a new router from my ISP, and since it’s got 4 Ethernet ports, I plugged in my iMac, Power Mac, as well as my Apple LaserWriter Select 360 via a LocalTalk to Ethernet adapter.

File sharing between the two computers works as expected, but when I print something, it takes around twelve minutes before the job goes to the printer.

That’s obviously too long, got any ideas how I might speed things up?

[mduell]

Buy a printer from this century?

My guess is your problem is an ancient printer speaking an ancient standard.

[ghporter]

LocalTalk is not considered the fastest crayon in the drawer. Add to that the fact that LocalTalk is not a standard for anyone but Apple (and your new router may not pass the traffic for that protocol very efficiently). And there's this little matter of having drivers that can manage the connection well-they're probably not any more current than the printer. In other words, you can't expect an older printer that isn't equipped with up to date drivers (are there really OS X drivers for the Select 360? That use LocalTalk?) to perform the way a brand new printer will. This is pretty much a case of your computer having to convert a relatively simple print image into something that your printer can handle, and that can take a LONG time. You can get a NEW network-ready laser printer for less than $150 if you look around a little-and it'll work today (and print right away, too).

[amazing]

For example, you can get a duplexing, network ready (refurbished) Brother HL-5250DN (laser) for $150 from amazon.com, free freight, no tax. I've seen lower refurbs, but that's a pretty good deal.

[dimmer]

Your router isn't actually routing AppleTalk., it's just switching local MAC addressed traffic to other local MAC addresses (Level two of the ISO model, if anyone cares.) If all your other networking stuff works fine, I'd suspect either the ethernet to localtalk bridge, or maybe even the printer itself. Can you take any part of what you are doing "out of the loop" and see what happens?

[red rocket]

Originally Posted by mduell

Buy a printer from this century?

My guess is your problem is an ancient printer speaking an ancient standard.

I don’t know, man. I really don’t like all that modern crap, maybe I’d buy a new one if they started selling Apple-branded printers again. The way I’m looking at it, it’d have to be either another Apple or a NeXT printer for me when I get another one, maybe a case mod with some newfangled hardware inside (has anyone done printer case mods?) Anyway, the Select 360 only has done around 10,000 pages so far, I think it’s got some life in it yet.

Originally Posted by ghporter

LocalTalk is not considered the fastest crayon in the drawer. Add to that the fact that LocalTalk is not a standard for anyone but Apple (and your new router may not pass the traffic for that protocol very efficiently). And there's this little matter of having drivers that can manage the connection well-they're probably not any more current than the printer. In other words, you can't expect an older printer that isn't equipped with up to date drivers (are there really OS X drivers for the Select 360? That use LocalTalk?) to perform the way a brand new printer will. This is pretty much a case of your computer having to convert a relatively simple print image into something that your printer can handle, and that can take a LONG time. You can get a NEW network-ready laser printer for less than $150 if you look around a little-and it'll work today (and print right away, too).

It worked well enough before that new router showed up. Out of the box, plug'n'play, actually. Router not passing the traffic efficiently sounds about right, though.

Originally Posted by amazing

For example, you can get a duplexing, network ready (refurbished) Brother HL-5250DN (laser) for $150 from amazon.com, free freight, no tax. I've seen lower refurbs, but that's a pretty good deal.

Perhaps, but…I know it’s just my opinion, and yet



doesn’t look nearly as nice as this:



Maybe it’s got something to do with the original retail price, maybe it’s that the one’s an Apple and the other isn’t, but that Brother printer is not something I’d like to have sitting in my home office. It has no style and it doesn’t exactly scream ‘quality’, either.

Originally Posted by dimmer

Your router isn't actually routing AppleTalk., it's just switching local MAC addressed traffic to other local MAC addresses (Level two of the ISO model, if anyone cares.) If all your other networking stuff works fine, I'd suspect either the ethernet to localtalk bridge, or maybe even the printer itself. Can you take any part of what you are doing "out of the loop" and see what happens?

Well, the printer and the LocalTalk to Ethernet adapter work fine. The twelve minute delay only occurs when the router’s involved, otherwise printing starts in around a minute.

I’ve tried a few different approaches, the results basically compare like this:

1. iMac -> router -> converter -> printer: +12 mins
2. iMac -> router -> vintage OS9 PM (software bridge) -> printer: +10 mins
3. iMac -> router -> vintage OS9 PM (file transfer) -> printer: +3 mins
4. iMac -> converter -> printer: +1 min

Solutions 2 and 3 actually take an additional three minutes, because the other computer has to be up and running. 4 means physically unplugging from the internet or network, but it’s fastest by a mile.

I’ll probably put up with the 12 minute delay of solution 1, since I really don’t print all that much, manually switching cables if I really need something printed quickly. Not ideal, but better than nothing, I guess.

[dimmer]

Getting a traffic dump of what the heck is going on would be most useful: if you have access to EtherPeek and can use it to capture the session we might be able to help more (does EtherCapture - the free capture only version - of EtherPeek still exist? If so, that would be great. Alternatively a tcpdump from terminal may be useful. For the latter, run "sudo tcpdump -in0" (for wired), and the same but with -in1 for Airport. Clearly, something is beggaring up your communications (MTU size? Retransmit requests being blocked?) so more info would help.

I have to agree with you about the appearance of the devices... Shame Apple cut almost all of their peripheral devices except for monitors.