Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with AppleTalk

Do you talk AppleTalk?

al_fresco — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:53:21 -0800

MacNetworkingFilter: Setting up a print server in a small office–Ethernet, AppleTalk, wireless, oh my… Lots I'll be setting up a small office for a client. She has three printers that she'd like to print to wirelessly. Luckily, she has an old G4 tower that she's not using that can act as a print server. It all makes sense except for this one piece.

One of the printers is a GCC Elite 12/600 that she connects to via the Ethernet port, of which there is one on the tower. I've set it up before, and the printer is chosen in the Printer Setup Utility as an AppleTalk printer, not IP. Works fine when connected straight into the computer's Ethernet port.

My question is this: Will the printer still talk to the server computer properly if they are both connected to two different ports on a NetGear WGR614 wireless router? The AppleTalk data doesn't have to be transmitted across the wireless connection, because the client computers will connect to the printer through Printer Sharing, but I'm not sure if the printer will work the same as if it was connected directly to the computer. Make sense?

If the above won't work, do I need a different type of Ethernet hub to be able to connect the printer to the computer, and the computer to the router? Please advise. Let me know if you need more information, and I may try to post a link to a schematic. Thanks!

Mac doesn't see printer over wifi

adamrice — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 17:43:06 -0800

I have an iBook and an old Lexmark laser printer with an Axis print server. The computer has historically talked to the printer via Appletalk over my Ethernet network. Now I'm trying to go wireless. I recently hooked up the iBook via wifi. Now, the iBook can apparently see the printer (when I click "add printer" in Printer Setup, the iBook finds the printer [or to be more precise, the print server]), but when I actually attempt to print to it, I get "printer not responding."

Interestingly, if I have the iBook plugged into the hardwired network and communicating wirelessly, I get the same problem. But if I turn off the airport card and just communicate over the wires, it works fine. I've turned on Appletalk in both the Airport and Ethernet port setups.

Can an old Mac actually ignore network security?

caution live frogs — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 10:41:31 -0800

MacCruftFilter: a guy i know told me yesterday that he discovered he had the ability to wander around the network using an old macintosh SE (linked through a newer one, as it's too old to connect directly). the funny thing was that in browsing appletalk he realized he could look at and open files - not just specifically shared files, but any files - on any networked mac on campus (he didn't say if he meant OS X too, or only OS 9 or older). he figures the new macs don't recognize the old one as even existing, and the old one is too old to recognize the security setup on the new ones - so they ignore each other and he's free to open someone else's files. he didn't try creating or deleting anything, though. so here's the question: can any mac people tell me if is he right about why this works, and, if not, is this just a fluke? am i potentially opening a can of mac-security worms by even asking this?