Re: Network printing from BASIC

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

<dalthoff@capital.edu> wrote:

> In article <35155E1C.8554D403@ark.com>,
>   Hoser <deh1@ark.com> wrote:
> >
> > I have AppleWorks version 2.0 that came with the IIGS and it would be
> > cool to get it to print directly to the laser printer.
> 
> WITHOUT GS/OS--
> You need to use the "Chooser II" from the ProDOS system disk (I'm unsure of
> the exact name and such...) to download IWEM into the LaserWriter.  Once you
> have selected that printer, you can print to it as though it were an
> ImageWriter connected to Slot 7.

You need more than that.  Chooser.II just provides a user interface for
selecting a printer.  The IIgs firmware does not have a full AppleTalk
protocol stack - just enough to do a network boot on a ROM 1 (more on a
ROM 3, but it is still not complete).  In addition, Chooser.II depends
on the ProDOS AppleTalk call mechanism, which is hooked in via the
appropriate ATINIT file or by GS/OS.

The standard method is to boot GS/OS with the necessary drivers
installed, which provides full AppleTalk support for ProDOS-8.

On a IIe with an Apple II Workstation Card, all the required software
comes with the card.  The ATINIT file simply links ProDOS into the card
firmware (which provides all the protocols required).

This is insufficient on the IIgs.  If you want to be able to use a
networked printer on a IIgs without booting GS/OS, you need a special
ATINIT file that includes the missing AppleTalk protocols.  This version
of ATINIT never appears to have been distributed as a separate product,
or as part of the system software.  I have seen it included with
Publish-It! (I forget which version), so I suspect it is something that
Apple were licensing to software vendors.

Note that this method doesn't give you file server access - you will
still have to boot via GS/OS for that.

The catch: there appears to be no legal way of getting this ATINIT file
short of getting hold of Publish-It!.  (I'm not even sure whether it was
written by Apple or by whoever wrote Publish-It!.)

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand