Printer conundrum

[Paul Talacko <talacko@yarn.demon.co.uk>]

I have a PowerMac 6500.  I also have a Texas Instruments printer (it's rubbish,
and I'll never buy another TI product again, but it has around 12,000 pages of
printing left in it, so I'll use it until the toner runs out).

The problem is this.  The printer has two ports on the back.  A parallel port
for PCs - printing works fine using this - and a Mac serial port - which works
fine if I print from a Mac using localtalk.

However, this serial port is not a proper serial port, i.e. if I send a stream
of data to the port the printer doesn't react because it wants the data in
localtalk format.  So it's not like other printers where you can switch between
localtalk and normal serial data.

The result is that I can't print from the 6500 while I'm using Linux.  Does
anyone have any ideas how I can sort this out so I can print from the 6500?

The only thing I can think of is to get an ethernet to localtalk bridge (too
expensive!!), the other thing is that you can buy a serial kit for the printer
(also too expensive).

Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks

Paul


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Paul Talacko
http://www.seditiousdiaries.com