AppleTalk

[Syntho]

I admit that I’m still ignorant about many things on Mac computers. AppleTalk is one of them, mainly due to just not needing it and disabling it as per DieHard’s tweaks.

There is a chooser in OS9, within it is the AppleTalk on/off setting, and it’s also where I go to connect to my NAS (by clicking AppleShare and typing in the IP). That’s about all I know.

I’m curious about what AppleTalk was, and how it differs from AppleShare. I’m also curious about how the Chooser plays in to it.

Does AppleTalk take much system resources? That’s probably why DH recommended turning it off.

I’m about to hook up a laser printer over a network for printing on OS8.6 so I’m not sure if AppleTalk will be necessary, so that’s why I wonder about the history of it.

[GaryN]

AppleTalk was a LAN app. If you can visualize a company work area with cubicles or a classroom where all the students were equipped with 68k Macs, you can see what it was for.

[ovalking]

AppleTalk is a network communications protocol.

I've been using it for printing and file sharing since I first used a Mac Plus (over 30 years ago).
This was before the OS knew what IP was.

In the early days the Apple hardware used to create a network was known as LocalTalk. Some of my Macs still have LocalTalk cabling attached for the odd occasion I need to use my LocalTalk socket equipped and AppleTalk aware HP printer.

AppleShare is the software used for file sharing. It can run over AppleTalk or IP.

The AppleTalk switch in the Chooser is a bit of a legacy thing, from when there was no AppleTalk control panel. The control panel should really be used to turn it on and off. But why did Apple hide the switch behind an Options button? The AppleTalk control panel also lets you choose which network port it should use - but most people will only have one network port.

I frequently access other Macs using AppleTalk so leave it on all the time.

[IIO]

a short note on the chooser app.

back in OS7 i once had a hard time finding out why my midi stopped working.

it turned out that for some reason the modem port was set to appletalk - and i deleted the chooser app and deinstalled the appletalk controlpanel since i didnt need them.

similar shit could happen to you with the ethernet port on later macs.

so it is best to keep a copy of the chooser app somewhere.

[ssp3]

If I remember correctly, after clean system install, battery exchange or zapping the PRAM AppleTalk defaults to ON. One needs Chooser to turn it OFF.

[IIO]

yes, it think it was the PRAM reset.