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How to Network a Parallel Port Printer?

J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
Joerg said:
Ink jet can get rather expensive for high-volume users like Jim's wife.

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.)
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Thompson said:
Sounds familiar. I made an external guide for the straight thru feed
on the 1120C to ensure squareness... particularly an issue with card
stock.

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

David Brown

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.

...Jim Thompson

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.
 
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.

...Jim Thompson


How 'bout getting this plus a USB-LPT adapter:

http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking/external-device-servers/ubox.html

USB-LPT used to be available at Walmart for under $20 but their web site
seems to be toast right now. Again. No idea if such a combo works but
per the Lantronix ad there is a good chance that it might. Then you
could hang all kinds of other stuff onto this box.
 
P

petrus bitbyter

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.
...Jim Thompson



Well, HP has a nice solution: The HP Jetdirect 170x. They have more, more
expensive solutions as well. My local computer store has much cheaper
parallel printer servers. (About 50 Euro). Personally I fired up an old
WIN98 engine with some adapter cards. It served me well for the printers.
The scanner gave some problems however.

petrus bitbyter
 
E

Ecnerwal

Jan 1, 1970
0
Buy a 50 foot (or whatever it takes, that was the longest one I recall
seeing when I bought a 25 foot one last year to solve a similar problem)
parallel printer cable, unless you have some other reason to want to
network it - but if the logical PC as print server is not also going to
live in the closet, it still might be the cheaper solution.

If that seems like an expensive solution, shop better - some places
charge way too much for cables.
 
P

PeterD

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

Jim, what server are you using, if any?
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim, what server are you using, if any?

Everything is plugged into an 8-port router (SMC Barricade) right now.

...Jim Thompson
 
J

Jamie

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.

...Jim Thompson
My SMC router has a parallel port for a printer to be used as a
network printer.
 
J

Jamie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
Everything is plugged into an 8-port router (SMC Barricade) right now.

...Jim Thompson
did you look on the back and see if it has a P-port?
mine does.
of course, I only have a 8 port with a WAN port, but I also have a 9
pin serial port for an external dial up modem :) I was using that before
I got high speed at the house.
Got kind of slow how ever, when the kids wanted to down load MP3's
and all.
 
R

robb

Jan 1, 1970
0
David Brown said:
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.
P60 wasn't that also known as the "fire hazard" :)
that *was* just a joke (although true), sorry could not resist ,
robb
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
My SMC router has a parallel port for a printer to be used as a
network printer.

So does my Barricade, but I want to move some of this pile out of my
office ;-)

...Jim Thompson
 
C

ChairmanOfTheBored

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

Use the Net Use command in a DOS box from windows.

Share the printer on the windows box it is on.

Give it a share name.

The code:

For starters, type "net use ?" without the quotes of course.

for coding it, type:

Net use LPT1 \\sharename

You also delete it later. It may default to persistent, which takes
that physical local port out of your control.

Then all print jobs sent to LPT1 on that machine go to the shared
printer over the net.

You have to have that printer's driver set in place, and nothing
actually attached to LPT1 (if so, use LPT2).
 
C

ChairmanOfTheBored

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).
Yes. Standard windows share functions usually work great.

My NET USE suggestion allowed us to even use DOS apps which typically
specifically look for things attached directly to specific ports.

Either way, a dedicated box to print from is the right way. He could
also use it as a mail gateway, and stop all the local machine hack
attempts that way.
 
C

ChairmanOfTheBored

Jan 1, 1970
0
Google "parallel print server" ... quite a selection of products are
available. Even WiFi parallel printer servers.

Regards
Anton Erasmus
Yes, if he is on a wireless LAN, there are plenty out there. Most
won't allow the HP utility functions or print job feedback communications
to occur though.
 
C

ChairmanOfTheBored

Jan 1, 1970
0
Buy a 50 foot (or whatever it takes, that was the longest one I recall
seeing when I bought a 25 foot one last year to solve a similar problem)
parallel printer cable, unless you have some other reason to want to
network it - but if the logical PC as print server is not also going to
live in the closet, it still might be the cheaper solution.

25 feet is the max for parallel port cabling, unless a line extender
gets introduced.
If that seems like an expensive solution, shop better - some places
charge way too much for cables.

A dedicated PC to serve through a short cable is cheaper than some
cables I've seen.
 
C

ChairmanOfTheBored

Jan 1, 1970
0
of course, I only have a 8 port with a WAN port, but I also have a 9
pin serial port for an external dial up modem :) I was using that before
I got high speed at the house.
Got kind of slow how ever, when the kids wanted to down load MP3's
and all.


No shit! Smack 'em!
 
C

ChairmanOfTheBored

Jan 1, 1970
0
So does my Barricade, but I want to move some of this pile out of my
office ;-)

...Jim Thompson


Get longer net cabling and move the router and the printer out of
proximity then.
 
F

flipper

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.

Well, the simplest way is to put it on a computer with a printer port
and then network share it.
 
D

Don Bowey

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well, the simplest way is to put it on a computer with a printer port
and then network share it.

The most simple way is to buy a wireless or ethernet print server ($40 to
$100 or so), and send the print jobs to it's address. There are other
similar options that also don't require the printer to be connected to a
computer.
 
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