[LASERWRITER]
The Apple LaswerWriters found in public clusters are connected to the Novell PC Server via the Print Monitors. The cluster LaserWriters in each zone are hidden and do not appear in the Chooser. Instead, print jobs are sent to print queues created by the Print Server in the WEB Services AppleTalk Zone (the queues look like printers). All LaserWriter printing is sent through the Print Server, which redirects the job to the appropriate Print Monitor.

The Print Monitors display the print queue for the cluster LaswerWriter. Once each job has been sent to the printer (and redirected to the PrintMonitor), it must be "Continued" from the PrintMonitor. This allows users to finish sending their job to the printer while standing in front of the printer, hopefully preventing them from printing someone else's job, and allowing them time to insert their printing card to pay for the printout.

The LaserWriter printer driver is part of the MacOS, and is installed with the rest of the system software. In order for a Macintosh to print successfully to a LaserWriter, both must be properly connected to the network, and the computer must boot with the latest version of the "LaserWriter" printer driver. The driver is a "Chooser Extension", and should be in the Extensions folder within the Macintosh System Folder. This file dists to public cluster Macintoshes, and for student room connections can be installed using the current System Software Installer.

Here are the fixes to some of the common LaserWriter-related printing probelms:

Related Links:

Cannot Open Printer / Unable to Print / Error Printing:

 Although background printing is built into the MacOS, printing in the Background is incompatible with our Print Server system; the Mac can't find the qued printer and printing fails (probably because the printers in WEB Services are not actually printers, but print ques). Even though the problem is with the Macintosh's print settings, most applications report an error involving the printer:
ApplicationError Message
SimpleText"SimpleText is unable to print this document. Please make sure you've selected a printer"
Microsoft WordCannot open printer. Use the Chooser command on the • menu to select another printer"
Microsoft Excel"Error printing on LaserWriter"
Background printing is turned on and off in the Chooser. Cluster computers that have just run RevRDist should always have background printing turned off (and greyed out), but it is possible for them to loose this setting and turn background printing on. By default, background printing is on, so If the computer looses its printing settings, it will set them back to the default. If you encounter strange errors when printing to a LaserWriter, always make sure the printer is turned on and properly connected to the network, and that background printing is turned off in the Chooser:
[Chooser]

"Setting up" a Printer Fails

 Next to the "Background Printing" radio buttons in the Chooser, there is a "Setup..." button. If you select this button and attempt to set up the printer, the Macintosh will report an error after about a minute, "The setup for your printer could not be completed (the printer may be busy). Click "Setup" to try again, or "Cancel" to return to the Chooser without changes." This is another incompatibility between the Macintosh's printing architecture and our Print Queue system, and can be ignored. The latest version of the LaserWriter driver includes the ability to "set up" a printer, allowing the print dialogue box to contain additional options specific to a particular model of printer. If the printer is not "set up", the driver will use a generic printer description to print, and use a generic print dialogue box. This is exactly what we want.

The LaserWriter 8 driver that only dists to the Desktop Publishing Stations features an improved "Setup" interface that works correctly when printing to the PrintShop.

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