On Tue, 29 Dec 1998, Marc Coevoet wrote:

> It is an Apple Select 310 postscript laser printer connected with a serial
> cable,
> ie an appletalk lookalike cable plugged to the printer port.
> (It can be used with a parallel connection.)

Sounds good, but two quick questions. I assume the "It" which can be
used with a parallel connection is the printer, and the LocalTalk
lookalike cable is a serial cable, not two Localtalk trancievers w/ a
cable between them? I assume the answer is yes to both questions, but want
to make sure as none of this will work if not. :-)

> I have tried to launch lpd, after editing /etc/printcap with something like:
> 
> lp:\
> 	:sd=/var/spool/lpd:lp=/dev/tty01:mx#0:
> 
> 
> but it doesn't work.  The laser seems to receive something (the light
> starts blinking,
> but goes out after a while).  It probably has to do with the serial
> connection...
> 
> Needless to say it works under macos.

Ok, I think we're headed in the right direction.

I pulled the developer note off of the Apple web site, at:

http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/hardware/Developer_Notes/Printers/LaserWriter_Select_310.pdf

and it says you need to operate w/ DTR flow control, and by default run at
57600 baud.

Add:

br#57600:ms=crtscts

to your printcap entry, and see if that helps. Also, under MacOS, you can
try using a terminal emulator to talk to the printer directly at 57600,
and see what happens.

Don't forget it's postscript, so you need to feed postscript test files.
Then enscript package can turn text into ps quite nicely.

Take care,

Bill