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Apple IIGS
#77: Print Manager & AppleTalk Configuration Files 1 of 4
Apple II
Technical Notes
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Apple IIGS
#77: Print Manager & AppleTalk Configuration Files
Written by: Jim Luther January 1990
This Technical Note describes the Print Manager user configuration file Printer.Setup and the
AppleTalk user configuration file ATInit. This Note also describes a limitation of the Print
Manager call PrGetUserName, which is a result of the way configuration information is
stored in the Printer.Setup file.
Printer.Setup and ATInit
What Are the Printer.Setup and ATInit Files?
The Print Manager user configuration file Printer.Setup, which is found in the System:Drivers
directory of the Apple IIGS boot disk, is used by the Print Manager tool set to keep the name of
the printer driver and port driver you’ve selected between system boots. In addition, if you’ve
selected a network printer, Printer.Setup contains the selected printer’s network address and your
machine’s User Name. The file format of Printer.Setup has not been published because revisions
have been made, and may be made again, to the Apple IIGS System Software, which can change
Printer.Setup’s file format.
The AppleTalk user configuration file ATInit, which is found in the System:System.Setup
directory of the Apple IIGS boot disk, is used to keep the default AppleShare startup application,
the default AppleShare prefix, the default AppleTalk User Name, and the default AppleTalk
printer entity name (the network printer entity used by AppleTalk’s Remote Print Manager)
between system boots. The file format of the ATInit file was published incorrectly in the
AppleShare Programmer’s Guide for the Apple IIGS. The correct file format for ATInit will be
discussed later in this Note.
It is important to remember that the Print Manager tool set uses the information from the
Printer.Setup file only, and that AppleTalk and AppleShare use the information contained in the
ATInit file only. It is also important to note that the Print Manger tool set, which is used to print
QuickDraw II graphics, and AppleTalk’s Remote Print Manager (RPM), which is used to print
ASCII data to network printers, are not the same thing even though both contain the words “Print
Manager.”