Maker Pro
Maker Pro

How to Network a Parallel Port Printer?

J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
I there any simple way to adapt a parallel port printer to a network?

I'd like to move a printer to a closet and get it out of the way.

...Jim Thompson
 
T

Tim Shoppa

Jan 1, 1970
0
I there any simple way to adapt a parallel port printer to a network?

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.
 
F

Frithiof Andreas Jensen

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Thompson said:
I there any simple way to adapt a parallel port printer to a network?

I'd like to move a printer to a closet and get it out of the way.

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

I am happy with my Canon PIXMA IP4000R.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
I there any simple way to adapt a parallel port printer to a network?

I'd like to move a printer to a closet and get it out of the way.

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.
 
I there any simple way to adapt a parallel port printer to a network?

I'd like to move a printer to a closet and get it out of the way.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave


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
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Buy a new one that is already networked! Cheaper and Simpler!!

I am happy with my Canon PIXMA IP4000R.

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
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
As other have mentioned, what you want is a print server. Here's the list of
what Newegg has, sorted by "best ratings:"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010130387&bop=And&Order=RATING .
Ignore the USB-only ones (which these days are more popular than parallel port
versions!), of course, and decide whether you want it to be wireless or not
for the network connectivity.

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
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don't you have the SMC Barricade router like I do? It should have a LPT
port built in.

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

Just ordered a new LinkSys BEFSR81.
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.

...Jim Thompson
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Thompson said:
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.

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.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
Yep. But it's croaking... reboot required more than once per day.

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.

http://www.smc.com/index.cfm?event=downloads.searchCriteria&localeCode=EN_USA

Just ordered a new LinkSys BEFSR81.

I had a LinkSys before that. Didn't work well, support could not figure
out why, returned it within the week.
 
As other have mentioned, what you want is a print server. Here's the list of
what Newegg has, sorted by "best ratings:"http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=201013038....
Ignore the USB-only ones (which these days are more popular than parallel port
versions!), of course, and decide whether you want it to be wireless or not
for the network connectivity.

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



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
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
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.

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
 
O

Oppie

Jan 1, 1970
0
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).
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Thompson said:
Nice! How well does the duplexing work?

Quite well; I haven't had any problem with it. The only thing to be aware of
is that, since it's an ink jet, after it prints side 1 it just sits there
waiting for the ink to dry before it pulls it back in and prints the second
side. That makes it slower to print, e.g., 10 duplex sheet than to perform
manual duplexing (print all the odd pages, flip the stack over, print all the
even pages), but it's still worth it to me (I guess I'm usually not in that
big of a hurry...).

For 13"x19", I've found that it is sensitive to paper alignment: It is
possible to load the paper crooked enough that it'll just sit there and ram
the paper into the side of the carriage, eventually ripping it. I've learned
to be careful about this (besides loading the paper and straight as possible,
the trick seems to be allowing a little bit of play in the paper guide -- not
having it jammed all the way up right next to the paper's edge) and haven't
torn a sheet in quite some time. It reminds me of the older D-sized HP roll
paper plotters that had the exact same problem -- if you didn't get the paper
very, very close to perfectly square, the paper would slowly drift towards the
edge and eventually rip.

---Joel
 
Q

qrk

Jan 1, 1970
0
I there any simple way to adapt a parallel port printer to a network?

I'd like to move a printer to a closet and get it out of the way.

...Jim Thompson

You can get little print server boxes for <$70. DLink, and others,
make them. If your printer is an HP and it can scan, then you need a
HP Jetdirect print server for $300, or whatever they cost these days,
to support the bidirectional communications.

Mark
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Joel said:
Quite well; I haven't had any problem with it. The only thing to be aware of
is that, since it's an ink jet, after it prints side 1 it just sits there
waiting for the ink to dry before it pulls it back in and prints the second
side. That makes it slower to print, e.g., 10 duplex sheet than to perform
manual duplexing (print all the odd pages, flip the stack over, print all the
even pages), but it's still worth it to me (I guess I'm usually not in that
big of a hurry...).

For 13"x19", I've found that it is sensitive to paper alignment: It is
possible to load the paper crooked enough that it'll just sit there and ram
the paper into the side of the carriage, eventually ripping it. I've learned
to be careful about this (besides loading the paper and straight as possible,
the trick seems to be allowing a little bit of play in the paper guide -- not
having it jammed all the way up right next to the paper's edge) and haven't
torn a sheet in quite some time. It reminds me of the older D-sized HP roll
paper plotters that had the exact same problem -- if you didn't get the paper
very, very close to perfectly square, the paper would slowly drift towards the
edge and eventually rip.

Ink jet can get rather expensive for high-volume users like Jim's wife.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Quite well; I haven't had any problem with it. The only thing to be aware of
is that, since it's an ink jet, after it prints side 1 it just sits there
waiting for the ink to dry before it pulls it back in and prints the second
side. That makes it slower to print, e.g., 10 duplex sheet than to perform
manual duplexing (print all the odd pages, flip the stack over, print all the
even pages), but it's still worth it to me (I guess I'm usually not in that
big of a hurry...).

For 13"x19", I've found that it is sensitive to paper alignment: It is
possible to load the paper crooked enough that it'll just sit there and ram
the paper into the side of the carriage, eventually ripping it. I've learned
to be careful about this (besides loading the paper and straight as possible,
the trick seems to be allowing a little bit of play in the paper guide -- not
having it jammed all the way up right next to the paper's edge) and haven't
torn a sheet in quite some time. It reminds me of the older D-sized HP roll
paper plotters that had the exact same problem -- if you didn't get the paper
very, very close to perfectly square, the paper would slowly drift towards the
edge and eventually rip.

---Joel

Sounds familiar. I made an external guide for the straight thru feed
on the 1120C to ensure squareness... particularly an issue with card
stock.

...Jim Thompson
 
A

Anton Erasmus

Jan 1, 1970
0
I there any simple way to adapt a parallel port printer to a network?

I'd like to move a printer to a closet and get it out of the way.

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

Regards
Anton Erasmus
 
N

Nobody

Jan 1, 1970
0
Go to any computer store and ask for a "HP JetDirect Print Server".

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