[388] in Resnet-Forum
RE: (try again) network printing for PCs in a primary MAC world
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew Potter, ISC DCO&TS (475-699)
Wed Oct 19 10:24:46 1994
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 09:50:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Andrew Potter, ISC DCO&TS (475-6994)" <AWPSYS@ritvax.isc.rit.edu>
To: dane@rescomp.stamford.edu
Cc: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU, AWPSYS@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Sorry about that last message. It got away from me before I could edit
my response in.
We also run a lot of Appleshare printers. As such they are only visible
to systems visible to systems running Appletalk.
In my opinion the best way to share printers in this way is to run appleshare
on a multiuser system (Unix or VMS). Here at RIT we run DEC Pathworks for
MAC server on VMS. This allows us to create normal VMS print queues
for all the for appleshare printers. Then using TCP/IP, you offer those
print queues as normal printers supporting either (or both) the BSD LPD
PCNFS printer protocols.
Most PC tcp/ip packages (Lan Workplace for DOS) supports these standard TCP/IP
protocols. In sites which have already purchased the edu site licences for
LANWP, no additional software needs to be purchased.
If a print server system is configured to do nothing but printing, there is
no reason a single workstation couldn't be set up to do this for an entire
campus.
We have chosen VMS, Pathworks for Mac and TGV Multinet (TCP/IP for VMS) because
we prefer the print job control that the VMS print queues offer. This could
be done for essentially zero software cost by using a unix workstation and
installing CAP (Columbia Appletalk Protocol).
One real advantage to setting up a setup such as this is that the printers
are not visible to all TCP/IP systems supporting LPD or PCNFS, not just PCs.
- Andrew Potter
- Rochester Institute of Technology
