Subject: Info-Mac Digest V18 #106 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Info-Mac-Digest" --Info-Mac-Digest Info-Mac Digest Mon, 06 Aug 01 Volume 18 : Issue 106 Today's Topics: [A] serial/usb question Info-Mac Digest V18 #105 Info-Mac Digest V18 #105 printing extended characters on Tektronix printers serial/usb question serial/usb question serial/usb question The Info-Mac Network is a volunteer organization that publishes the Info-Mac Digest and operates the Info-Mac Archive, a large network of FTP sites containing gigabytes of freely distributable Macintosh software. Working with the Info-Mac Digest: * To submit articles to the digest, email . * To subscribe, send email to with the words subscribe info-mac in the message. * To unsubscribe, send email to with the words unsubscribe info-mac in the message. * To change your address, unsubscribe from the old address, then subscribe from the new address. * Please send administrative queries to . 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America Online donated the main Info-Mac machine . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Info-Mac Digest V18 #106" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 21:16:50 -0400 From: Saint John To: digest@info-mac.org Subject: [A] serial/usb question At 10:12 -0400 8/3/01, miriams@mindspring.com wrote: >Is there any way (adapter?) for a seral port printer to work with a usb port? > >I have a beige G3 with serial port burned out. Someone is suggesting I put a usb card in and buy a new printer. But I have a perfectly good Laserwriter Select 360 and an epson stylus pro xl. Are both of the serial ports burned out, or just one? The easiest thing to do would be to merely swap the cable from one port to the other. I don't know about the beige G3, but most Macs that have serial ports at all have a modem port and a printer port. You can try changing to the other port and see whether that works. Of course, you'll have to use the Chooser to change the selected port for either of the printers. You can also use AppleTalk, if your printers support it. This involves those PhoneNet connectors, and setting AppleTalk to "Active" in the Chooser (also selecting a port in the AppleTalk control panel). This would allow you to use both on the same port, although it's a good deal slower than straight serial. What I'm doing-- I hope-- is to use Ethernet to connect my computers, and whatever devices I have that have that interface. I also have a used Ethernet-to-LocalTalk bridge which can be hooked up on the network and used for whatever AppleTalk devices remain (like my HP DeskWriter 600). However, I'd also suggest that a USB card and serial converter might be a good thing. First, it opens you up to a world of really great devices. I like the Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (see a short review at ); I also have a Nomad IIc, a 60 Gb hard disk, a tape backup drive, and a scanner hooked up (naturally, I have a powered hub as well). This simple card allows you to stay current with the hardware that's coming out, to use IBM-PC clone hardware when it's cheaper, and will extend the life of your Mac by years. I bought the Enterex card, and am satisfied with it, but many others on TidBITS-Talk like the OrangeMicro Combo USB/Firewire card. Unfortunately, adding a USB card and a USB-to-serial convertor (Griffin Technology, , makes one) will probably be more than the cost of a new inkjet printer! If that's all you were going to use it for, it wouldn't be worth the price. Lastly, you can add a PCI card that has more serial ports. This, however, is probably the most expensive option of all, because they're outrageously pricey. +- Saint John -+ | Hard to tell the schizophrenics from the cell-phone users | +- these days. ------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 17:34:08 -0400 From: Miriam Steinberg To: Neal Subject: Info-Mac Digest V18 #105 Geez...is there such a thing? Wonder why no onelse suggested that. In any event the repair people were wrong the ports are working now, both printers running via appletalk into the printer port. Go figure Miriam Neal wrote: > On8/3/01 10:12 AM miriams wrote: > > >Is there any way (adapter?) for a seral port printer to work with a usb port? > > > >I have a beige G3 with serial port burned out. Someone is suggesting I put > >a usb card in and buy a new printer. But I have a perfectly good > >Laserwriter Select 360 and an epson stylus pro xl. > > Why not get a serial port PCI card? Just make sure it will work with an > AppleTalk (if the 360 uses AT) and your Stylus pro xl. > > Neal > > ______________________________________________ > Neal Blank > Writer/Photographer > > nealb@p3.net > http://www.p3.net/~nealb/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:20:11 -0400 From: Neal To: , Subject: Info-Mac Digest V18 #105 On8/3/01 10:12 AM miriams wrote: >Is there any way (adapter?) for a seral port printer to work with a usb port? > >I have a beige G3 with serial port burned out. Someone is suggesting I put >a usb card in and buy a new printer. But I have a perfectly good >Laserwriter Select 360 and an epson stylus pro xl. Why not get a serial port PCI card? Just make sure it will work with an AppleTalk (if the 360 uses AT) and your Stylus pro xl. Neal ______________________________________________ Neal Blank Writer/Photographer nealb@p3.net http://www.p3.net/~nealb/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 11:11:27 -0400 From: Tom Coradeschi To: Ken Laskey Subject: printing extended characters on Tektronix printers On 07/31/2001, Ken Laskey wrote: >Have you ever put a bullet into a Powerpoint presentation on the Mac >side but when your Windows folks print it out they get a yen mark? I >[...] >Switching bullets and yens I can deal with, but on our Tektronix 740 >and 750 printers (using the drivers from the Tektronix Web site), the >curly (smart) single and double quotes become unprintable. This is a >major problem when getting something written by somebody (most other >people) on Windows machines. Ken, I see the same thing when I print to our HP printers. My solution, in PowerPoint is to click on the "always download needed fonts to printer" in the print dialog. tom coradeschi <+> tcora@skylands.ibmwr.org Skylands (NJ) BMW Riders <+> ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 09:51:21 -0700 From: Ken Prager To: miriams@mindspring.com, digest@info-mac.org Subject: serial/usb question > From: miriams@mindspring.com > Subject: serial/usb question > > Is there any way (adapter?) for a seral port printer to work with a usb port? > > I have a beige G3 with serial port burned out. Someone is suggesting I put a > usb card in and buy a new printer. But I have a perfectly good Laserwriter > Select 360 and an epson stylus pro xl. > > anyhelp appreciated > Miriam > You want a Keyspan USB Twin Serial Adapter. See... ...for more info. HTH, Ken Prager ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 21:51:00 -0700 From: "Cyrus Roton" To: "The Info-Mac Network" Subject: serial/usb question miriams@mindspring.com asked: > Is there any way (adapter?) for a seral port printer to work with a usb port? > I have a beige G3 with serial port burned out. Someone is suggesting I put a > usb card in and buy a new printer. But I have a perfectly good Laserwriter > Select 360 and an epson stylus pro xl. Yes, buy a USB-to-Serial adapter. Most of the mail-order suppliers of Mac stuff offer one, and you can find them on the web. One problem, though, you may need to get new drivers to drive the printers through a USB port, unless the driver for the USB-to-Serial adapter takes care of that (some of them do). Another option is to install a PCI card having two or more serial ports. Here are some I found with a quick Sherlock search on the web; PCI-SIO-K01 Keyspan SX Pro PCI to Serial Ports Adapter $179.00 http://www.keyspan.com/products/sxpro/ http://www.synchrotech.com/product-misc/pci-serial_01.html Quadriga/S The interface PCI-card http://www.hermstedt.com/english/hardware/quadriga.html MegaWolf Romulus and Remus PCI serial port cards http://www.harmony-central.com/Newp/1999/Romulus-Remus.html Stealth Serial Port http://www.interphase.be/stealth.html ---------------------------------------- Good luck. Cyrus W. Roton MITA tech Chairman, Ridgecrest Apple User Group ---------------------------- tip: If you're almost out of typing paper, take your last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and make several "blank" copies for use in the typewriter --------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 13:48:48 -0600 From: Robert Zimmerman To: miriams@mindspring.com Subject: serial/usb question Miriam, first off, your Laserwriter can be hooked up via ethernet, and it will be much faster. There are several USB to Serial adapters I know of. Belkin makes one, as does Keyspan. I haven't tried the Belkin, but the Keyspan dual serial adapter works just fine. Another solution is the Orange Micro SCSI with Serial card, which also works well with most printers (but it doesn't support the low energy mode on G4's). At 5:09 PM -0400 7/31/01, miriams@mindspring.com allegedly wrote: Is there any way (adapter?) for a seral port printer to work with a usb port? I have a beige G3 with serial port burned out. Someone is suggesting I put a usb card in and buy a new printer. But I have a perfectly good Laserwriter Select 360 and an epson stylus pro xl. anyhelp appreciated Miriam -------------------------------- --Info-Mac-Digest-- End of Info-Mac Digest ******************************