Services for Macintosh

Setup of Printing Devices for Network Printing

The following list shows the three scenarios for printing on a network:

Windows clients send print requests to printers representing printing devices attached to a computer that is running Windows 2000 Server.
Macintosh clients send print requests to printers representing printing devices on an AppleTalk network.
Macintosh and Windows 2000 clients send print requests to printers representing printing devices attached to a computer that is running Windows 2000 Server (for example, to a non-PostScript printing device such as the HP DeskJet 500) and to printing devices on an AppleTalk network (for example, a PostScript printing device such as the Apple LaserWriter).

Printing in these scenarios happens as follows. Windows 2000 users specify printers on a computer that is running Windows 2000 Server and send print jobs to them as usual, whether the printing device is attached to the server itself or located elsewhere on the network. Similarly, Macintosh users can use the Chooser interface for connecting to printers that are set up for AppleTalk printing devices and those available to a computer that is running Windows 2000 Server.

With Services for Macintosh, installing and setting up printing devices and creating printers is no different than the process you use with Windows 2000 Server with one exception: the print server and the file server must appear in the same zone. All Windows 2000 print queues are automatically shared out for Macintosh computers. However, consider the following performance issues as part of your planning.

In Windows 2000 networks, printing devices traditionally have attached to a server through serial or parallel ports, whereas printing devices that are used on Macintosh networks have been attached to the network by using a LocalTalk connection. With Services for Macintosh, you can either attach a printing device to a computer that is running Windows 2000 Server or put it on the AppleTalk network. Either way, both types of clients can send print jobs to the printing device. (For AppleTalk, the printer must be a PostScript printer that uses the LaserWriter driver.)

To obtain fastest performance, attach printing devices to the network rather than to a port. The following attachment options are listed in order from slowest to fastest:

The printing device is connected to a serial port attached to the computer that is running Windows 2000 Server. (Some older models of the Apple LaserWriter can be attached only to a serial port, not to a parallel port.)
The printing device is connected to a parallel port attached to the computer that is running Windows 2000 Server.
The printing device is connected to the AppleTalk network through LocalTalk, which is the typical Macintosh network attachment.
The printing device is connected to AppleTalk through the token ring or Ethernet media.

Printing devices with built-in Ethernet interfaces offer the best performance. These printing devices attach directly to the network and do not have to be physically close to the computer that is running Windows 2000 Server. In addition, they print at faster network transmission speeds than printers that rely on parallel or serial connections.