Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!uw-june!uw-entropy!dataio!suvax1!spector
From: spector@suvax1.UUCP (Mitchell Spector)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Chooser Strangeness
Summary: Another reason for switching from ImageWriter to LaserWriter
Keywords: features and bugs
Message-ID: <888@suvax1.UUCP>
Date: 7 Jan 88 00:24:08 GMT
References: <2470@im4u.UUCP> <696@entropy.ms.washington.edu>
Organization: Seattle University, Seattle, WA.
Lines: 59

In article <696@entropy.ms.washington.edu>, king@entropy.ms.washington.edu
(Jim King) writes:

> In article <2470@im4u.UUCP>, suhler@im4u.UUCP (Paul A. Suhler) writes:

> > I'd talked to an Apple engineer about how the Chooser refuses to
> > turn on AppleTalk after the ImageWriter has been used without a
> > reboot in between....
 
> > He said that the Chooser does not re-initialize the serial port;
> > that's only done at reboot or startup time.  He said that Apple
> > intended for you to use only one kind of device on the serial
> > port in between reboots.
> > 
> > Hey, Apple, this is a bug!  I have a modem on the modem port,
> > an IW on the printer port, and I like to be able to hop into
> > LW to create PostScript files for uploading.  Any chance of a fix?

> > Paul Suhler        suhler@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU   512-474-9517/471-3903

> Yes it is a bug and an annoying one, but creating a PostScript file
> is done in an absurd manner anyway.  Maybe this is a good time to
> propose a more user-friendly method for generating Postscript files.  
> [Proposed new method for generating Postscript files.] 

> uucpnet address:   uw-beaver!uw-entropy!king
> Internet (arpanet) address:    king@entropy.ms.washington.edu
> Bitnet address: 
> king%entropy.ms.washington.edu@beaver.cs.washington.edu

> James King
> Dept of Math
> Univ of Washington
> Seattle, WA 98195

   Here's another (perhaps more common) reason for needing to switch from
ImageWriter to LaserWriter after the ImageWriter has been used, without
having to reboot.

   A lot of people use Microsoft Word to write a document for printing on a
LaserWriter, although the computer they're working on has only an ImageWriter.
If you use the Chooser to select LaserWriter, Word will then format your
document on the screen as it will appear when printed on the LaserWriter.
(Formatting differs on the two printers.  For example, page breaks appear in
different locations.)

   The way Chooser is currently set up, you have to reboot before doing this
if you've used the ImageWriter for anything at all since the last boot.
Moreover, if you print a draft on the ImageWriter, you have to reboot if you
want to continue editing using LaserWriter formatting.  (Of course, you could
put your ImageWriter on the modem port if you don't have a modem.  But if you
have both an ImageWriter and a modem, you're out of luck.)

   This is an annoying bug which I hope Apple will fix.
-- 
Mitchell Spector                                        |"Give me a
Dept. of Computer Science & Software Eng., Seattle Univ.|     ticket to
Path:    ...!uw-beaver!uw-entropy!dataio!suvax1!spector |             Mars!!"
  or:   dataio!suvax1!spector@entropy.ms.washington.edu | -- Zippy the Pinhead