Skip to content

Vintage Macs (LocalTalk)

Jump to bottom
Wells Riley edited this page Oct 26, 2026 · 7 revisions

Vintage Macs can print to your printers over AppleTalk, alongside AirPrint. The ImageWriter appears in the Chooser, and so do LaserWriters connected elsewhere. Pages print exactly as they look on the Mac.

Connections

Turn on each connection you use under AppleTalk on the settings page.

Connection For
AppleTalk Port A Mac on a LocalTalk cable
Networked Macs Macs on your network, with Ethernet or a BlueSCSI Wi-Fi adapter
Basilisk II Emulated Macs on your network
Infinite Mac Macs in a web browser, at infinitemac.org

Infinite Mac is off by default. The others are on.

Each card lists the Macs seen recently, by name.

Basilisk II. In Basilisk II's Ports settings, turn on Tunnel Mac OS networking over UDP and Tunnel AppleTalk only. Then choose EtherTalk in the Mac's Network control panel. Set Up… on the card shows the same steps.

Infinite Mac. Set Up… on the card shows a zone name. Anyone with that name can print to your printers, so keep it private. To use a zone you already have, type its name.

SheepShaver and Mini vMac aren't supported.

What you need

  • A Mac. Any Mac with a printer port, or on your network.
  • For the printer port, a cable from the Mac's printer port to AirWriter's AppleTalk port. The same Apple 8-pin cable as for the ImageWriter works.
  • For an ImageWriter, Apple's AppleTalk ImageWriter driver.
  • For a LaserWriter, Apple's LaserWriter driver, included with Mac OS.
  • TashTalk on the LocalTalk chip, for the printer port. TashTalk comes installed on assembled AirWriters. See LocalTalk Chip (TashTalk).

Installing the ImageWriter driver

Use AppleTalk ImageWriter, not the plain ImageWriter driver. The plain one only works with a printer plugged straight into the Mac.

If the driver is missing:

  1. Download Printing_Software.zip from Apple's older software downloads archive on Macintosh Repository, and unzip it.
  2. Copy AppleTalk_ImageWriter_7.0.1.sea.bin to the Mac and open it with StuffIt Expander.
  3. Double-click the .sea file to unpack AppleTalk ImageWriter.
  4. Drag AppleTalk ImageWriter onto the System Folder, then restart.

Choosing the printer

  1. Set up AppleTalk for your connection:
    • Printer port. In the AppleTalk control panel, set Connect via to Printer Port. On older systems, choose Printer Port in the Network control panel.
    • Network or emulator. Choose EtherTalk.
  2. Open the Chooser from the Apple menu.
  3. Click AppleTalk ImageWriter or LaserWriter.
  4. Set AppleTalk to Active.
  5. Click your printer's name.

Then print as usual. Each page takes a couple of minutes.

Printer not in the Chooser? Check that its name is in the list at the foot of AppleTalk on the settings page, and that the Mac's connection is on. See Troubleshooting.

Thanks to Tashtari

The AppleTalk port runs on TashTalk by Tashtari, a whole LocalTalk interface in one tiny chip. You can support Tashtari's work on Ko-fi.

This documentation is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0.

AirWriter

Clone this wiki locally