Subj : WinXP
To   : All
From : Gerald Miller
Date : Sun Sep 18 2005 06:23 pm

Hello All,

    Responding to a post in the WIN95 area:
    On Monday September 12 2005 at 18:52,
    Rich Wonneberger [1:2624/50] wrote to Gerald Miller,
    about: WinXP

Rich, I hope you don't take offense that I addressed this to All.  :-)

Everyone has been so helpful to me (and they know who they are, even if I
can't list all their names here), and I am making some progress.

 RW> *** Quoting Gerald Miller to Rich Wonneberger dated 09-12-05 ***

 >>  RW> Does this printer plug into a computer, or to an ethernet hub??
 >>
 >> It is currently using a parallel cable plugged into LPT1 on the XPP
 >> box

 RW> That's why you cant access it if the computer is off.

So I found out!  I was, originally, mistaken.  ;-))

 RW> *** Quoting Gerald Miller to Rich Wonneberger dated 09-12-05 ***

 >> I'm going to investigate the possibility of using a USB HUB
 >> connected to the printer with cables going to the USB port on each
 >> computer...

 RW> Not going to work either.
 RW> There are small print servers that plug into an ethernet hub that
 RW> would work for what you want.  Some use the parallel port of the
 RW> printer, some use the USB port.  The USB port would be faster printing
 RW> of complex jobs. There are also routers that have print servers built
 RW> in.  I dont know if these have the USB port, I have only seen parallel
 RW> ports.

Thank you.  I learned something.  I had _presumed_ that Print Servers were
dedicated computer systems - I had no idea that they were so small and
inexpensive.

I went to the Tigerdirect.ca web site and came to a conclusion that either
a:

  1.  Zonet - ZPS-2102 - USB 2.0 / Parallel Print Server
  2.  Trendnet - TE100-P21 - USB 2.0 / Parallel Print Server

would work for me (I could run my scanner through the parallel port), but
my son-in-law said that trying to access a scanner from three computers
would be an "iffy" situation at best and it would be better to hook the
scanner up to one of computers and then copy whatever I needed across the
network.  His recommendation of a print server was:

  3.  Linksys - PSUS4 - USB 1.1 Print Server with Built-in 4-Port Network
      Switch

and I _think_ this is what I'm going to go with because I currently have
three machines plugged into the router and if I plug a print server into
the remaining RJ-45 receptacle, then I have no options available if I
should want to expand my network.  Does anyone an opinion / option to
express in this regards?

Further, I have a D-Link DSS-5+ 5-port 10/100Mbps Dual Speed Ethernet
Switch (that I plugged into the network last night), but I've only been
able to get one computer to work through this switch - the W2K box; the
other two computers report that the network is off-line (or, a network card
is unplugged) and I had to plug them back into the router to get the
networking capabilities on-line.

Considering that the manual for this switch was printed in Taiwan, I have
to wonder if the instructions got garbled in translation...  The manual
has instructions for Straight and Crossover network cables, but directions
about when to use what type of cable is less than clear (to me).  I
*thought* that using Straight cables from each computer into the switch
would work, but with the other two machines being off-line, I either made a
mistake or did not understand the manual correctly.  I have a couple of
Crossover cables that I will try in the "off-line" boxes and see if that
will change my situation...

Thanks to all for being so patient with me and taking the time to provide
directions.

           Cheers ... Gerald

.... Before we begin, is anyone here an investigative reporter?
--- GoldED+/DPMI32 v1.1.5-040330 [msg of September 18, 2005]
 * Origin: An unemployed Jester is nobody's fool! (1:342/512)

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