>Harbourmaster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Even though this is not actually a powerbook question, it does >>concern the portable stylewriter printer. I purchased one off ebay , >>after being told that the cable is a regular serial cable. Well that was >>wrong, does anyone know where I can find a replacement cable or how to > >build a serial to parallel cable? > >The cable you seek is for a product called PowerPrint which allows you to use >a Mac with a 'Windblows' printer. (the Portable Stylwriter is in >reality an HP 340) >If you have the cable and the software you can print to literally >thousands of printers, >quite handy for a traveling powerbook user
Actually, the original Portable StyleWriter was an only slightly Applified version of the original Canon portable inkjet printer (as the original desktop StyleWriter was a repackaged version of the original Canon desktop inkjet). All Apple StyleWriter printers were Canon printers modifed for the Mac market (except the last two models, 4100 & 6500, which were HP desktop models). The Portable StyleWriter was unique in that Apple didn't bother to replace the PC parallel port with a standard Mac serial port (as was done with all other StyleWriters), but instead included a special version of GDT Softworks' PowerPrinter software + parallel to serial cable--though it was not identified as such: the driver software looked like another Apple driver and the cable was just "the cable." The full PowerPrint package, as Harbourmaster says, allows printing from a Mac to any number of PC printers, including the Canon inkjet that is repackaged as the Portable StyleWriter. (I briefly had one of the Canon portables--which was the same platinum color as the Mac--with the PowerPrint package to match my Mac Portable ten years ago.) The driver software for the Portable StyleWriter can be gotten from Apple's download site, but I don't know if Apple supplies the cables. GDT Softworks has since changed its name to Infowave, and then offloaded its PowerPrint solutions into another company called Strydent (http://www.strydent.com/); might be able to get the cable there, though it'd probably be in platinum rather than the cool PowerBook-matching granite color of the original PSW cable. The Portable StyleWriter was a fairly primitive printer, slow and (since it was really a PC printer) complicated to use, requiring manual feed one sheet at a time (unless you got the optional sheet feeder, which made it a desktop printer). So I really don't recommend it, though I did recently get one for a client who put it in his truck with a PB 170 to print out invoices (he's a plumber--and Sanskrit scholar). If you didn't get the manual with yours, I've made up a basic instruction document in SimpleText format that I can send you (contact off-list). Andrew Main -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
