Re: [NTLK] Print Pack

on 28/09/06 04:28, Martin Joseph at NT@stillnewt.org wrote:

> On Sep 27, 2006, at 10:20 PM, Andrei Chichak wrote:
>
>> On 9/27/2006 9:25:39 PM, Colin Pate (pate.colin@gmail.com) wrote:
>>> Is it possible to make a serial to parallel connector cable, like the
>>> print
>>> pack? And if so, where are instructions on doing so?
>>
>> No, I don't think so. The print pack thingies (as well as the GDT
>> powerprint thingies) converted Appletalk into parallel.
> <snip>
>
> Really? I don't think that's right? Isn't it just a straight up
> serial to parallel convertor with a buffer in it? I don't think
> these devices did "appletalk"?

There is definitely some software involved because when you would first plug
the print pack to your Newton, it would automatically download some printer
driver packages, so there is definitely some intelligence in there.

-Laurent.

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Laurent Daudelin   AIM/iChat: LaurentDaudelin    <http://nemesys.dyndns.org>
Logiciels Nemesys Software               mailto:laurent.daudelin@verizon.net
luser: /loo'zr/ n. [common] A user; esp. one who is also a loser. (luser and
loser are pronounced identically.) This word was coined around 1975 at MIT.
Under ITS, when you first walked up to a terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z
to get the computer's attention, it printed out some status information,
including how many people were already using the computer; it might print
"14 users", for example. Someone thought it would be a great joke to patch
the system to print "14 losers" instead. There ensued a great controversy,
as some of the users didn't particularly want to be called losers to their
faces every time they used the computer. For a while several hackers
struggled covertly, each changing the message behind the back of the others;
any time you logged into the computer it was even money whether it would say
"users" or "losers". Finally, someone tried the compromise "lusers", and it
stuck. Later one of the ITS machines supported `luser' as a request-for-help
command. ITS died the death in mid-1990, except as a museum piece; the usage
lives on, however, and the term `luser' is often seen in program comments
and on Usenet.
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