Specifications

Apple II Technical Notes
4 of 4 #77: Print Manager & AppleTalk Configuration Files
Network Booting and Printer.Setup
When Apple IIGS computers are booted over an AppleShare network, they all share a single copy
of the Printer.Setup file. That means all machines must use the same printer and port driver
selections that are stored in the Printer.Setup file. If all machines are expected to be able to print
using the Print Manager tool set, then the printer and port selection stored in Printer.Setup must
be something that all can use. The only two options are:
• A single shared network printer for all machines (i.e., a LaserWriter, an
AppleTalk ImageWriter, or an AppleTalk ImageWriter LQ). In situations where
many machines are booted over a single file server, this may cause the workload
on the single shared printer to be unacceptable.
• A direct-connect printer on each machine. The limitations of this solution are that
the printers must be of the same type (all ImageWriters, all ImageWriter LQs, or
all Epsons) and all machines must use the same printer port (either printer or
modem).
The server administrator should set the default printer selection, which will be used by all
machines, by using one of the Control Panel NDA’s printer CDevs. Then, the access privileges
to the server’s System:Drivers directory should be set to “Bulletin Board” (i.e., Everyone See
Folders, Everyone See Files, Owner Make Changes) so other machines cannot change the printer
and port selection.
Using User Names
The User Name We Use
You may have noticed that you see your AppleTalk User Name in the Control Panel’s
AppleShare and printer CDevs. AppleShare allows a machine’s User Name to be up to 31
characters long. The CDevs read the User Name from the ATInit file. The AppleShare and
printer CDevs also store the complete User Name back into the ATInit file.
PrGetUserName (Almost)
The Printer.Setup file sets aside 15 characters for the User Name so the printer CDevs store only
the first 15 characters of the User Name in the Printer.Setup file. This limitation is leftover from
early Print Manager implementations of the PrChoosePrinter call, which limited the User
Name length to 15 characters.
Since the Print Manager gets the User Name it uses from the Printer.Setup file, the User Name
returned by the Print Manager call PrGetUserName will be truncated to 15 characters if the
complete AppleTalk User Name is 16 characters or longer.
Where to Get the Complete User Name