How to Network a Parallel Port Printer?

Google for printservers. For example:

Go to any computer store and ask for a "HP JetDirect Print Server". Won't be really cheap, these tend to be sold to corporate customers with really heavy duty printers they want to share over their corporate network, not folks with old printers sitting in the closet. I think the HP 170x series starts around $150.

HP printers that aren't hopelessly old or low-end can take a JetDirect card that plugs in a slot in the back.

Tim.

"Jim Thompson" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Buy a new one that is already networked! Cheaper and Simpler!!

I am happy with my Canon PIXMA IP4000R.

Don't you have the SMC Barricade router like I do? It should have a LPT port built in. Might be useful if you can live with a somewhat generic driver and your printer isn't too exotic.

I'll have to do the same thing for a little HP-5L here because the new puter don't have no LPT port no more :-(

The big one is a Brother 7820N which dwelleth on a LAN port, Very practical.

Put the printer, plus a networked computer (with a parallel port! that's very important!), monitor, keyboard, and mouse in the closet. Make sure nothing is obstructing the computer's ventilation holes. Enable file and print sharing on the computer. When you want to print a document from your laptop, walk over to the closet and power up the computer and printer.

Or just buy a print server, as Mr. Shah brilliantly suggested.

(grin)

Michael

Just ordered an hp LaserJet P2015DN, but I have also an old hp1120C and a Stika stencil cutter that I'd like to get off of my desk.

...Jim Thompson

As other have mentioned, what you want is a print server. Here's the list of what Newegg has, sorted by "best ratings:"

I've only had a few over time, having instead switched to printers with the network interface built-in over the past few years. :-) I do know that the D-Link DP-301P+ and Netgear PS101 are popular models -- they're likely to be available at, e.g., Best Buy of Fry's. My mother has one of the Buffalo LPV3-U2 which has worked well for her, but that's a USB-only model.

---Joel

Yep. But it's croaking... reboot required more than once per day.

Just ordered a new LinkSys BEFSR81.

...Jim Thompson

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

If you're looking to replace the 1120C (nice printer, certainly), an OfficeJet K850DN (D=duplexing, N=networked) is what I have and I've been pretty happy with it. The only surprise was that it's actually slower than many letter-sized printers -- I guess there isn't as much competition for speed in thiese larger-format printers.

Maybe reflash the EEPROM in there? Might be worth to download the latest firmware and give it a shot. I've heard people with older models had problems requiring frequent rebooting and this fixed it at least for some of them.

I had a LinkSys before that. Didn't work well, support could not figure out why, returned it within the week.

ratings:"

My wife caught me talking to myself (sometimes I'm the only one who will listen!) while I was in the shower. I said, "two cents". So she asked me what that was all about. I told her I was doing an economic analysis; $50 for a print server, versus a maximum of two cents' worth of electricity, each time I fire up the server in my office, if I print a document from my laptop.

$50... two cents... $50... two cents...

Michael

Nice! How well does the duplexing work?

The 1120C is my wife's and has seen HEAVY duty printing Girl Scout stuff ;-) So it's feed mechanism is wearing out.

...Jim Thompson

I would use one of your network computers, one that is not used all that heavily as the print server.

Install the printer normally and then share it with your local network. If you don't have a working parallel port on the computer, USB to parallel (bi-directional) converters can be had fairly inexpensively.

All users should be able to use the printer (or not as you set permissions).

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

You can get little print server boxes for

Google "parallel print server" ... quite a selection of products are available. Even WiFi parallel printer servers.

Regards Anton Erasmus

And make sure it's behind a firewall; JetDirect has the most bug-ridden TCP/IP stack known to man.

Yes, certainly true. The K850 series do use large ink tanks, so at least it's cheap relative to most other inkjets. (Hence it's cheaper than cheap laser printers, albeit unlikely to be cheaper than true business-class lasers.)

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Good to know it's not just my particular printer then! Although too bad that HP apparently hasn't improved the design much.

If you've got an old dinosaur PC lying around, you could turn it into a print server. The last machine I used for that was a P60 with 64MB ram

- it also works as a file server.