Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pilchuck!dataio!uw-entropy!bones!fetrow
From: fetrow@bones.stat.washington.edu (Dave Fetrow)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga networking puzzle
Message-ID: <1458@uw-entropy.ms.washington.edu>
Date: 26 May 89 00:56:27 GMT
References: <808@helios.toronto.edu> <88G002rZ2c1g01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
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Organization: UW Statistics, Seattle
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In article <88G002rZ2c1g01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> dwl10@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) writes:
[ situation: A lab full  of PC's, Macs and an Amiga ]

>>The problem, then is how can we all live in peace and harmony sharing
>>a single (PostScript) laser printer?  .......
>>There must be a way to make everybody happy (ethernet?).  
>
>You need a little known device called an "A-B-C switch". It lets
>you switch the printer to whatever system needs it. 
{He also mentioned automatic, more expensive, switches}

 Sadly; this may be insufficient. On most Laser Printers I have dealt with
(the whole of the Apple line, TI OmniLaser) you have to pick a particular
port before starting it up (or at best, manually selecting one [and only
one] from a control panel).

 Take the Apple:
 The Macs' will insist on the AppleTalk port. The Amiga will need the
serial port. The PC's can use either (with the additions of TOPS or
similar hardware/software). You see the problem? Neither port can serve
all three at the same time.

 If you don't mind having to get up and manually changing which port
is enabled, you can get a TI OmniLaser (or any of several others) which
can change ports from a control panel (an extra benefit -- many have a
Centronics interface as well, which is easiest to use with PC's and Amigas).
Other printers (e.g. Apple) make you use small dip switches and reboot (!)
in order to change ports. This is fairly unworkable.

 I don't know of any printer that implements the optimum solution (allowing
all ports to be enabled and printing from whatever one is sending info at
the time, while blocking the other two) but perhaps they exist.
 
 I don't mean this as a scree against the LaserWriters. I love them very
much but they are a little akward to use in the environment described. If
you don't need to change ports on the fly; they are very nice indeed.



 -dave fetrow-                     fetrow@bones.biostat.washington.edu
 dfetrow@uwalocke (bitnet)         {uunet}!uw-beaver!uw-entropy!fetrow 

"It's 1989! I'm supposed to take a language with `cards' in it seriously?"