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Chooser
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The Chooser is an application program for Macintosh systems using the original Mac OS. The Chooser started out as a desk accessory and became a standalone application program as of System 7. The Chooser allowed users to connect to AppleShare file servers (via AppleTalk or TCP/IP), enable or disable the network access, and select which printer to use.
original Macintosh computer did not support networking, but could connect to a variety of printer types via its serial ports.
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Encyclopedia
The Chooser is an application program for Macintosh systems using the original Mac OS. The Chooser started out as a desk accessory and became a standalone application program as of System 7. The Chooser allowed users to connect to AppleShare file servers (via AppleTalk or TCP/IP), enable or disable the network access, and select which printer to use.
History
The original Macintosh computer did not support networking, but could connect to a variety of printer types via its serial ports. A small desk accessory called Choose Printer allowed the printer driver and serial port to be selected for the connected printer.
When Apple introduced the LaserWriter, its very high cost meant that the only cost-effective way to use it was shared among a small workgroup of Macintoshes. This necessitated the inclusion of AppleTalk, a simple networking implementation which used low-cost cabling and the same physical RS-422 serial port hardware. It was a natural extension of Choose Printer to include the ability to select the LaserWriter and also which port was used to connect its network connection.
As AppleTalk became useful for other types of networking, such as file sharing, the Choose Printer accessory was renamed to simply Chooser. The Chooser became the main point to add top-level configuration options for both networking and printing. Many criticized the dual-purpose nature of the Chooser as making little sense, and confusing users, given that printing and networking are two very different tasks. This led to the demise of Chooser.
Today
The Chooser faded away at the end of the 1990s. Starting with Mac OS X, the Chooser is extinct, replaced by OS X's integrated networking features in the Finder. For the printing functions, they are now found in the separate Print Center (10.0 - 10.2) and Printer Setup Utility (10.3 and later) applications.
It still exists in Mac OS 9, and is also required in OS X to select a printer for use with the "Classic" environment, where this is installed.
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