Question : Can I share the Epson printer that is connected to my PowerPC running OS8.6 on my network so I can use it from my iMac ?

Answer : If your Epson-printer is a USB-printer, and your iMac is on OSX (preferably 10.3 Panther), then you would be better of to plug the printer into your iMac and share it to your network and your old PowerPC-Mac from there…

If you have a iMac with OSX 10.3, you will also have an installer-CD of OS9…  use that to upgrade your PowerMac from OS8.6 to OS9 ; that will make your network more compatible… Note : you can run OS9 on all PowerMacs, for more info on that :

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25114

Griffin Technologies has made some adapters that might be of use in your case :

• iMate :http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imate/
• gPort :http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/gport
• iPort :http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/gport/iport.php

CAUTION ! : do extensive research to make sure that these Giffin-adapters are compatible with your Mac !!

Again : if you are really sure you want to make this work, upgrade to OS9. There is no guarantee that things will work, but it’s a fact that OSX has better network-compatibility  with OS9 / OS9.1 / OS9.2 than with any prior version of MacOS…

Some other links that you might want to have a look at :

• Three Macs and a Printer :

• Low End Mac :

• Great Ideas for Old Macs :

http://weitzman.net/classicmacs/

the original post(s) can be found here :

http://www.onemorething.nl/community/topic/printer-power-pc-via-netwerk-naar-i-mac-osx