I think you should test whether your AsanteTalk is still working at all.
Setup the SE/30 to act as a Server using File Sharing (available in System 7 and later). Check and see whether your Plus or SE can see the SE/30 by selecting AppleShare in the Chooser.
If that's not working, then the AsanteTalk is probably toast. Although, I am assuming that you've done everything else correctly, like terminating the ends of your PhoneNet media and having AppleTalk active on all the machines.
I use a MicroAsantePrint (predecessor to the AsanteTalk) and it has been perfectly reliable for about fifteen years with the occasional reboot, as Hrududu mentioned. The only difference between the two is that the MAP has some network administrator functions available that the AsanteTalk lacks, but since I never use those, it's essentially the same thing. The hardware is identical (unless one has a MAP with a ThinNet connector).
So, no, the AsanteTalk is not crap. It does its job really really well. The particular unit you have may be broken, or there may be other issues at work.
I'm not familiar with netatalk, so I can't address your problem in detail, but the Asante product only bridges AppleTalk back and forth between the two media. It doesn't speak anything resembling TCP/IP.
In my household, I have had a couple of LocalTalk printers and a few computers of various models connected to the PhoneNet network and everything else connected by ethernet, and the MicroAsantePrint has always supported printing via AppleTalk and Apple File Sharing between machines on either network media without a hitch. That's what it is built to do.
Setup the SE/30 to act as a Server using File Sharing (available in System 7 and later). Check and see whether your Plus or SE can see the SE/30 by selecting AppleShare in the Chooser.
If that's not working, then the AsanteTalk is probably toast. Although, I am assuming that you've done everything else correctly, like terminating the ends of your PhoneNet media and having AppleTalk active on all the machines.
I use a MicroAsantePrint (predecessor to the AsanteTalk) and it has been perfectly reliable for about fifteen years with the occasional reboot, as Hrududu mentioned. The only difference between the two is that the MAP has some network administrator functions available that the AsanteTalk lacks, but since I never use those, it's essentially the same thing. The hardware is identical (unless one has a MAP with a ThinNet connector).
So, no, the AsanteTalk is not crap. It does its job really really well. The particular unit you have may be broken, or there may be other issues at work.
I'm not familiar with netatalk, so I can't address your problem in detail, but the Asante product only bridges AppleTalk back and forth between the two media. It doesn't speak anything resembling TCP/IP.
In my household, I have had a couple of LocalTalk printers and a few computers of various models connected to the PhoneNet network and everything else connected by ethernet, and the MicroAsantePrint has always supported printing via AppleTalk and Apple File Sharing between machines on either network media without a hitch. That's what it is built to do.