GS and Laserprinters: A Saga

[slandry@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu]

	Some time ago I started in to connect a Hewlett-Packard 
LaserjetII+ printer to my II GS. Apple dealers were uniformly 
discouraging (despite the fact that Gregg Keizer in "A+" for April 1992 
states uneqivocally that it can be done), and HP folks were intrigued but 
unhelpful. I got a Vitesse Harmonie driver disk which advertises that it
driver the HP LaserjetII, but does not specify the II+ ( which Keizer's 
article does.)

	I used a "Q" analogue to the old Grapler+ parallel interface card 
and succeeded in establishing handshaking with the printer. However I 
could only get the default type face and font (Courier 12-point), 
and I had problems with certain Appleworks commands (notably 
Underline Begin) transmitting false code for unwanted characters 
and line feeds. By use of special codes, I was able to correct most 
of this, but I still could not understand why I could not call up any 
of the screens that would let me set type parameters, or why the 
command "Print" under "File" on the Finder was perpetually  dimmed.

	Vitesse was not helpful, but perusal of their manual implied 
that I needed to be in a GSOS based applicaton, and of course, even the
latest version of Appleworks (5, which I was using) is in Prodos 8. It was 
then I noticed on the desktop that comes up on System 6.1 an ikon labeled, 
"AWGS Install" When I clicked it, I got a telephone number from 
which to obtain the 1.1 version of Appleworks GS *which up to that 
point I had never heard of*!

	To make a long story short, everything now works like a charm, 
but I am left with a feeling of bafflement. If Quality makes and 
sells Appleworks GS, why does it only advertise Appleworks 5?  And if 
Vitesse sells a driver that requires this version, why does its maunals 
carefully conceal this fact? 

	The Harmonie Drivers and Appleworks GS make a great combination, 
and puts laser  printing within reach of us Apple 2GS stiffs. Why do both 
of these companies work so hard to conceal the good news?



Stuart Landry <slandry@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu>
 
"An adulterous generation shall seek the sign, but the sign shall not be 
given unto them."  -Matthew.