Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!bsu-cs!mithomas
From: mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: LaserShare 2.0
Message-ID: <5629@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 10 Feb 89 15:33:37 GMT
References: <15283@oberon.USC.EDU>
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 51

In article <15283@oberon.USC.EDU>, frankc@skat.usc.edu (Frank H. Callaham III) writes:
> 
> 	Anyone out there have ANY info on LaserShare (I think 2.0)
> 	from Apple??
> 
> 	Anything at all would be appreciated - good - bad - ugly...
> 
> 	We want to use it in two labs here at school, one has 45 macs 
> 	and the other has 25.  Both have 2 LaserWriter II NT's.
> 
> 
> Any info appreciated,
> frankc@skat.usc.edu
> 
> The big question is ....  can it handle a major load.
> 
> Thankx again...

Well, the product has been renamed to the 'AppleShare Print Server'.  It is
designed either to run in the background on an AppleShare Filer Server or
as a stand-alone application on a separate station (you can even use a
Mac 512E for this purpose, as long as it has a hard disk to spool onto).
This product works very nicely.  Here at Ball State they use it to trap
print jobs for inspection, and if they see that the same person is trying
to sneak by 20 copies of the same document, they delete the print job.  This
is a very effective way of limiting laser usage in a public lab; anyone wanting
to print to the laser must have the lab assistant's permission (which he will
give if you are not abusing the printer).

The Print Server will handle LaserWriters of any kind, as well as ImageWriters
with the AppleTalk Option boards installed.  If you are running the print server
under AppleShare, you will probably only be able to spool two printers, unless
your server has more than one meg of memory (the documentation explains this
fully).  If you are running the Print Server stand-alone, the number of printers
that can be spooled is larger (although I don't know the exact number).

Can it handle a major load?  Yes, it does a very good job.  The only limit to
its load is the amount of hard disk space available to spool documents tempor-
arily.  It works transparently to the end-user (through the normal Chooser
icons), so getting used to it is no problem.  In fact, it can cut the
individual's printing times (actually the time that the machine is tied up)
in half, sometimes even faster.

I am biased, but I set up this product on all of our file servers here before
I started with Apple...

Michael Niehaus
Apple Student Rep
Ball State University
UUCP: ..!{pur-ee,iuvax}!bsu-cs!mithomas
AppleLink: ST0374