Henry:
>Most (all?) LaserWriter's will speak serial instead of LocalTalk if 
>you connect a serial cable instead of a LocalTalk dongle to them. 

How do I know which is which?  
Don't the cables look the same?

Bill:
>Check the owner's manual. Some supported it, some did not.

Unfortunately I'm not the original owner.  
I don't have it.  
Maybe it is online though?

John:
>Find the documentation for your printer and see if it will allow non-Mac
>printers to connect to it via an RS-232 to Apple serial cable. If so, you
>should be able to initialise the port in NetBSD by updating /etc/ttys, and
>you may see something (flashing light, maybe even a page) by just catting
>a PostScript file to that serial port.

You meant "non-Mac computers to connect" right?  
All I have is Macs, though they all run BSD or Linux now.  :)  
I might have a couple DB25 serial to Apple serial cables, though.  
I didn't know what they were good for, before, but I think I am understanding now.  
So if I can find documentation (as I mentioned, I don't have any) about connecting a PC to the 4/600 with one of these cables, that would prove that the 4/600 can speak serial, right?

>Note that most direct computer to printer connections are capable of both
>serial and LocalTalk, but I'm not sure if the printer will listen to
>serial if a LocalTalk connection is sensed. You may need to make your own
>cable which looks to the printer like a regular serial connection. This
>involves converting the connection from balanced RS-422 to single ended
>RS-232 by letting TxD+ float and tying RxD+ to ground on both sides.

So, Apple's DIN8 ports may be able to function as both RS422 and RS232 depending on what kind of cable I use?  
(I would think the cables could be identical, with only the ports built differently.  *shrug*)  
That seems to be what Henry is saying above, too, and I found a page at free.fr that also backs that up.  
I'm sure I have several of these cables around.  
Is there any way to tell which way they are wired, without performing surgery on them?

>So if you can't just send serial data from NetBSD, and you don't want to
>make a cable, you can get an Ethernet to LocalTalk bridge (they work very
>well; I'm using one), or you can get something like an LC (II, III) or
>Quadra 605 as they are small and take very little power, and install the
>free LocalTalk LaserWriter Bridge software from Apple.

That's what I'm trying to avoid.  
I figured my SE/30 was small and quiet enough, and could serve other purposes as well since it would be on 24/7.  
I'm going to be bummed if I've decked out this SE/30 only to discover it can't meet my primary goal.

Tim

-- 
Tim Larson     <><   <><   <><   <><   <><     OL 4-131-2
Info. Services - Internal Medicine Clinical Systems, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. - John F. Kennedy
I apologize for the irregular wrapping and quoting.  I use MS Outlook.