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Printers
Your printers are listed under Printers on the settings page. To check whether a printer works with AirWriter, see Supported Printers.
| Printer | Connection | AirPrint | Vintage Macs |
|---|---|---|---|
| ImageWriter II | Printer port | Yes | Yes |
| ImageWriter LQ | Printer port | Yes | Yes |
| ImageWriter | Printer port | Yes | Yes |
| PostScript LaserWriter | AppleTalk | Yes | Yes |
| ImageWriter with a LocalTalk card | AppleTalk | No | Yes |
Connect the printer and switch it on. It shows up in Printers and on your phones and computers, ready to print.
If it doesn't show up, press Look for Printers. For an original ImageWriter, or a printer that's switched off, press Add a Printer… and choose its model.
| Notice | What to do |
|---|---|
| Found a printer | Nothing. It's ready to print. |
| Unrecognized printer on the printer port | Choose its model. |
| A different ImageWriter on the printer port | Press Use for the new printer. |
| LaserWriter not responding | Wait a few minutes, or press Share Anyway. |
| More than 4 printers | Turn off Share over AirPrint on a printer you don't use. |
Press a printer to open its settings.
- Status. Ready, Printing, Needs attention, Offline, The last job failed, Busy with another job or Unrecognized.
- Ribbon. Color or Black. Color pages print in gray on a black ribbon.
- Name. The name in print dialogs and the Chooser, up to 32 characters. Leave it blank for the printer's own name.
- Model. ImageWriter II, ImageWriter LQ, ImageWriter or Something else.
- Share over AirPrint. Shows the printer on your phones and computers.
- Start page. LaserWriter only. Prints the LaserWriter's start page each time it's switched on.
- Halftone. How photos and grays print. See Halftone.
- Print Test Page. See Test pages.
- Test Cable… Checks a printer cable. See Test a cable.
- Remove Printer… Removes the printer from the list.
You can share up to 4 printers at once, 1 on the printer port and 3 on AppleTalk. The AirPrint switch turns all sharing on or off.
Vintage Macs see every printer, shared or not. See Vintage Macs (LocalTalk).
A printer that's switched off stays in the list as offline until you remove it.
| Halftone | Best for |
|---|---|
| Atkinson | Most pages. Keeps small text readable. The default. |
| Floyd-Steinberg | Photos, with the smoothest gradients. |
| Blue noise | Photos and flat tints, with even grain. |
| Ordered | Small text. Shows a fine weave in flat grays. |
| Threshold | Line art and logos, in plain black and white. |
The sample under the setting shows how a page will print. A new halftone applies from the next page.
Print Test Page prints a page with the printer's fonts, the halftones, a ruler and one-inch squares. If the squares measure an inch, the printer prints true to size.
The Test Button on AirWriter prints the same page on the ImageWriter.
Any PostScript LaserWriter works, including the LaserWriter, LaserWriter Plus, II NT, NTX, IIf and IIg, and the Personal LaserWriter NT and NTR.
Connect it to AirWriter's AppleTalk port with LocalTalk cabling, or put it on your network with Ethernet or a LocalTalk-to-Ethernet bridge such as an AsantéTalk. For a LaserWriter on your network, turn on Networked Macs under AppleTalk.
Pages print in black and white at 300 dpi, on the paper in the LaserWriter's tray. A full-page photo takes a couple of minutes, so a strong Wi-Fi signal helps.
Share Anyway shares a LaserWriter that isn't responding, set to US Letter at 300 dpi.
These work with vintage Macs only. See Vintage Macs (LocalTalk).
This documentation is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0.