Subj : WinXP
To   : JEFF GUERDAT
From : Gerald Miller
Date : Thu Sep 22 2005 07:31 am

Hello JEFF,

    Responding to a post in the WIN95 area:
    On Monday September 19 2005 at 06:36,
    JEFF GUERDAT [1:123/140] wrote to GERALD MILLER,
    about: WinXP

 GM>> network.  His recommendation of a print server was:

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

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

 JG> Should work fine.  Just be sure to daisy-chain the second switch to
 JG> the first properly.  You'd either use a crossover cable between any of
 JG> the standard ports on both switches or a straight-through cable using
 JG> the last port on the the first switch to the uplink port on the
 JG> second.

I haven't got that far yet...  I'll probably place my order for the print
server this weekend, and hopefully the instruction manual for the server
will be written more clearly than the one for the switch.  :-)))

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

 JG> A problem that still befuddles the industry on occasion is that the
 JG> switch and NICs may not negotiate the connection speed properly.  The
 JG> first thing is to try each computer with the cable that is known to
 JG> work to see if that helps (yes, you want to use the straight-through
 JG> cables).  If not, you'll need to go into Device Manager, select the
 JG> Network part and get properties on the NIC. In one of the tabs should
 JG> be a section that allows you to change various parameters, including
 JG> connection speed (auto, 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s) and duplex (half and full).
 JG> Make up the matrix and see what works and what doesn't. You'll need to
 JG> do that for each computer since each NIC is likely different
 JG> - identical NICs will probably work with identical settings.

Whew.  Thankfully, I didn't have to go into the Device Manager (yet) on any
of the machines, but I've written that information to a file, if the need
arises.

Everyone is happy, now.  There were only so many cable (types) / switch
port combinations to try and I think I went through to four trial runs
before I finally hit on the right combination.  ;->)

Win2K and WinXPP are at home on the switch and working quite well, thank
you.  I presume this box _should_ work also when I swap out the DOS HDD and
insert the W98SE HDD (don't want to take down my Fidonet mailer until the
weekend)...

I imagine I may have some ordeals when I remove the printer hardware from
the parallel port, but I'm not going to loose sleep over it until it comes
time to install the print server.

One thing that I'm curious about: Will the print server have a MAC address?

           Gratefully ... Gerald

.... Smoke usually means that you've surpassed maximum performance.
--- GoldED+/DPMI32 v1.1.5-040330 [msg of Thursday September 22 2005]
 * Origin: Assault on Hoth by West End Games. (1:342/512)

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