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@kalleboo@bitbang.social

Post #2261984

2026-03-25 10:47 UTC

Could this be the first battery-powered, fully-wireless ImageWriter II in history? Well, it might at least be the first one on #GlobalTalk! Just in time for the end of #MARCHintosh, a cheap Farallon AirDock showed up on Yahoo Auctions, and since I already had one, I had to try this stunt - adding an IRTalk node to GlobalTalk. It is currently live on GlobalTalk if you want to try it, I'll probably leave it up until either the battery runs out or I deem it too much of a tripping hazard. #mb

Replies (8)

  • @kalleboo@bitbang.social 2026-03-25 10:49

    Congratulations to @danieltufvesson@mastodon.social and @mroach@ublog.mroach.com as the first ones to print to my ImageWriter through IRTalk over #GlobalTalk!

    Open ##2417106

  • @kalleboo@bitbang.social 2026-03-25 10:55

    The Farallon AirDock is only advertised as being a way to connect up a PowerBook with infrared wirelessly, but reading the manual, it doesn’t actually need any drivers - just plugging it into the printer port it acts like a normal LocalTalk connection. The included software is just needed to act as a LocalTalk bridge, or if you want to use the modem port instead. That’s what gave me the courage to try to just plug it straight into the ImageWriter…

    Open ##2417107

  • @kalleboo@bitbang.social 2026-03-25 10:59

    And yes, I’m using a USB-ADB Wombat to give the AirDock the extra 5V juice it typically pulls from your Mac’s ADB port to run itself. It’s actually connected with an ADB to little DC jack and I could have spent an extra 5 minutes digging through my bin of DC adaptors to make it prettier but this quicker…

    Open ##2417109

  • @kalleboo@bitbang.social 2026-03-25 11:45

    It looks like Farallon later marketed a “AirDock Printer Adapter" which is just the exact same device but shipped with a 5V DC adapter instead of the ADB->DC cable, and they even sold the AC/DC adapter as an "upgrade kit”. They don't list the ImageWriter II on their compatibility list though... https://web.archive.org/web/19980524081602/http://www.farallon.com/product/infrared/airdockprint.html

    Open ##2417110

  • @kalleboo@bitbang.social 2026-03-25 15:39

    The battery is still holding at 3/5 dots, will be interesting to see if the setup is still alive when I wake up in the morning!

    Open ##2417111

  • @billgoats@bitbang.social 2026-03-25 12:47

    @kalleboo@bitbang.social Fantastic!

    Open ##2417117

  • @squelch41@oldbytes.space 2026-03-25 19:21

    @kalleboo@bitbang.social so portable! Def one to take to a coffee shop 😂

    Open ##2417118

  • @kalleboo@bitbang.social I just actually lolled because WHY 😂🤣😂🤣

    Open ##2417119