> > How do I know which is which?
> > Don't the cables look the same?
>
> No. Localtalk cables have only 3 pins; they will not connect to the serial
> ports. The Localtalk interface will connect, but that's not the localtalk
> cable.

A little clarification is in order here. A "Mac serial cable" is one where
all the pins from one connector are wired to all the pins on the other.
This means that the two connected devices can speak via serial or via
LocalTalk.

A LocalTalk dongle is one which lets you use, typically, eiither a three
wire cable or a four wire phone cord.

Note than when it comes to connecting one device to on computer, a "Mac
serial cable" is most often what is used, even with LocalTalk.

> > So, Apple's DIN8 ports may be able to function as both RS422 and RS232
> > depending on what kind of cable I use?
>
> No. Apple DIN8 ports are RS-422.

Apple's ports can be connected directly to an RS-232 device, but that
requires a different cable. What I was describing was a way that you could
make a cable that looks to both ends (Mac and printer) as if they were
connected to RS-232, in which case (if the printer supports it) you could
just send PostScript over the serial port without worrying about LocalTalk
at all.

John