printservers

cphile

Hi all,

Most printservers I've encountered either have 01x parallel port, 01x usb port or a combination of the 2 interfaces( usb & parallel).

Problem is the ones with multiple connections are more than double the prices of those with a Single interface.

Assuming that I need to hook up 01unit x usb inkjet & 01unit x parallel/usb laser printer to a home LAN using my Linksys BEFSR-41 4-port router with 2 10/100 ports already occupied.

Which is the way to go? 01unit x usb & parallel multi-port combination printserver? 02units x single usb port printserver?

btw is it possible to cut costs by getting 01unit x single usb port printserver and hook it to 02 units x usb printers via a usb hub? Will the printers be identified indivuadually or a collective node on the LAN?

Many thanks in advance!!

Geeky1

How about just another computer as a print server?

That's what I'm doing. It's overkill, I know, but it works. And, in my case, it was cheaper than buying a print server (HP printer need HP print server. HP print server expensive)

trippin

A pentium 90 running *nix and samba would serve fine as a print server. Nice and cheap solution, and it could do multiple prints cheaply if you added a couple of isa (or pci) parallel port cards.

Geeky1

Or you could go with something a bit more exotic, like a Dual-P3 DDR board with 384MB of ram, a 1.3 Celeron, an 80GB/8MB/7200rpm Maxtor, and a 52/32/52 CD-RW...

...oh wait, that's my print server

MrBill

My SMC router has a built-in parallel print server. That's really the only experience I have with print servers.

Have you considered a router w/print server? Might not be any cheaper, I don't know...