Asante Talk Ethernet to LocalTalk Bridge

Rating:
Summary: So easy! It even comes with its own cable!
Review: I needed a LocalTalk bridge to hook up my old LaserWriter to my network. Not only did this low cost device act as a print server, it allowed me to network a old Mac Classic with PhoneNET. I also bought a cable not expecting this thing to include one, but when I opened up the box, it came with one!

Rating:
Summary: So easy! It even comes with its own cable!
Review: I needed a LocalTalk bridge to hook up my old LaserWriter to my network. Not only did this low cost device act as a print server, it allowed me to network a old Mac Classic with PhoneNET. I also bought a cable not expecting this thing to include one, but when I opened up the box, it came with one!

Rating:
Summary: Muenster Cheese
Review: I ordered the wrong part, thought this was a mixer - Am I dumb.

Rating:
Summary: Does one thing really, really well
Review: You are probably reading this because you have an old Appletalk-only printer, and you have just upgraded to a new Mac that only has Ethernet. If so, you are in the right place. Buy the Asantetalk. It comes with all of the cables you could possibly need to connect a new Mac to an old Appletalk printer, whether directly or through an Ethernet hub, and it works very well. If anything, I think my printing speed is better from my new, faster Mac going through Ethernet/Asantetalk than it was with my old Mac printing directly via Appletalk.

A colleague of mine asked me why I would want to spend money on an Asantetalk when I could go to eBay and get a whole new printer for just about the same amount. Well, yes, my little Laserwriter 4/600PS is a cheap little printer, but it still works perfectly, so why should I just throw it out? Waste not, want not. If I got another printer, my old one would probably end up cluttering my closet. (And, should I ever get to the point where I do want to sell my old Appletalk-only printer, it will be a lot more marketable if I bundle the Asantetalk in with it!)

Long story short, your mileage may vary, but it was worth it to me to keep my existing Appletalk printer humming in today's Ethernet world. If you feel the same way, the Asantetalk is a good way to go.

The Asantetalk is quite easy to set up and use. Since it is acting just as a simple network bridge, there is no configuration needed, just plug both ends (Appletalk/Ethernet) into it and away it goes.

Another note on ease of use: If you have ever had friends with similar units, as I have, you may have seen in the past that the Asantetalk really was not happy unless all of your gear -- Appletalk items including printer, the Asantetalk itself, Ethernet hub, Mac and other Ethernet stuff -- was powered up in a specific order. This drove my friends nuts. However, I am happy to report that Asante has updated the firmware in the device so that it is much more forgiving and friendly in this regard. Current Asantetalk units are no longer fussy about power-on order. (Several times, either my printer or Ethernet hub has gotten unplugged accidentally. In every case, once I fixed whatever it was that had happened, the ONLY thing I needed to reset to get my printer to show up again was the Asantetalk, which is as it should be.)

(By the way, don't forget that most versions of Mac OS X have Appletalk capability turned OFF by default. You'll have to turn it on for your Ethernet interface to use your old Appletalk printer with the Asantetalk. Check your Mac help for how to do this if you aren't sure.)

As an added bonus, if you have OTHER Appletalk equipment that you want to connect to your modern home Ethernet network, you can use standard Localtalk cabling (e.g. Farallon-style phonenet wiring) and connect a mini-network of up to eight Appletalk devices to the Asantetalk. This is, for example, a good way to transfer files from an old Appletalk-only desktop Mac or Powerbook to a modern Mac, or let an older Mac share the newer one's Internet connection.

So, if you do have any need at all for this one-trick pony, I think you will find the Asantetalk a very worthwhile addition to your computing menagerie.