Posted 2024-10-12 | Back to blog index
After missing out on all the printing fun during MARCHintosh, I've been keeping an eye out for a suitable printer for myself that has native AppleTalk support and works on old Macs. At long last, here it is, a Brother HL-5070DN from 2003!
It is now available on GlobalTalk in the BaroNet zone for anyone to print on! Be sure to select A4 paper size!
There is a PPD available in the Blackbird share if you need it, but I've also successfully printed from SimpleText using the LaserWriter 8 Generic PPD in System 7.5.5, so hopefully compatibility is good.
Officially, this printer only supports System 8.5-9.2, but I suspect that only really applies to connecting via USB.
Remember the paper size is A4. No PC LOAD LETTER here plz.
The printer mostly works, except there is something unhappy in the bottom paper tray, 90% of the time I use it the paper jams, so I'm using the front tray which has a smaller paper capacity. Any idea what could be going wrong? Old rubber rollers?
Printing directly with `lp` on the command line with CUPS, it refuses to use the working, loaded MP tray and forces a jam, hopefully that's only a CUPS problem and won't happen with AppleTalk printing.
Also couldn't resist playing around with printing from some Newton OS 1 & 2 devices as well, really neat that it works so well! This would have been such a dream to use on a school or office LAN back in the day!
This is the first time I've had the AsanteTalk actually work, I tried using it once for some file sharing and newton sync and it didn't work at all, I was unsure if it was broken or not. Looks like it works well for printers at least!
The first attempt at Newton printing didn't actually go so well… the default font on this Newton is a Japanese Mincho font, and printing just gave me an “invalidfont” PostScript error… switching the font to Geneva fixed it!
A little Newton printing video
And the eMate!
Woke up to a printout from @danieltufvesson! Neat!!
