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Date:	Tue, 9 Oct 2001 16:16:49 PDT
From:	Steve Carter <scarter@vcnet.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Print Servers (SMC)

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On 10/09/01, Jordan Fox wrote, in part:
> ...
>> > Sounds like the SMC won't suffice for the 2 workstation,
>> > 2 printer, all-sharing situation I described.
>> But 1+2=3, and you get four from the SMC7004!
>> One input port and FOUR output ports!
> Well, I was talking about 2 workstations, each able to use
> either of two printers, at will.

I spoke too quickly. The network connections are, of course,
input/output. I was thinking of data flowing from your ISP to you.
It flows equally well the other way, or from machine-to-machine or
machine-to-printserver on the network.

>What is going into the SMC input port, and from where ?

The input to the built-in printserver is any port on the 4-port
switch. The printserver outputs to the dedicated parallel
port. The 4-port switch is free for any combination of
ethernet devices. For example, two computers (NICs) and
two (more) HW printservers, or ...

The SMC doesn't really have a dedicated "input" port.
The SMC has one dedicated RJ-45 ethernet jack for connection
to a broadband modem/router, but that and the 4-port switch
(smart hub) are both input and output. All devices on the
4-port side of the box are on the same network, isolated
from the broadband connection by the SMC7004 router. This is
the firewall effect you're paying for. The parallel port
is dedicated to a printer, accessible only through the built-in
HW printserver.

>If there is just one Parallel connection at the SMC,
the other printer is left out, No ?

Additional printers require their own HW printservers.
With the SMC, that would be Ethernet to parallel port.

>Unless one of the printers has a network printer card inside it
>(for the available Ethernet connector you mentioned), and they don't.

The network card you refer to IS the printserver. A printserver
is a piece of hardware -- could even be a whole computer, with a
printer, connected to a network. It can be either external or internal.

The network card approach makes it an internal printserver. It's
more convenient, but dedicated to the machine in which it is installed.
(Sometimes a computer on the network is used as a printserver. )

Software, such as LPR, routes the data-stream from the printer
driver to the printserver hardware, which is connected to the
network using ethernet (HW). (Could use another means,
i.e. Token Ring, but ethernet is the most popular).

>> You'll have to install the tcp/ip printer application on each Win9x
>> workstation. Win9x doesn't support TCP/IP printing out-of-the-box.
> O.K. I think this much I got.
>
>> You might need a different application for each print server,
>> installed on each Win9x computer that needs to print to it.
>> I used the SMC application only with the SMC, and the
>> IBM with both the HP170x and the Digi 3400x.
>I gather you are referring to the InstLPR thingie ?

Yes.

I'm staying within TCP/IP printing, for the sake of OS/2 compatibility.
There are other protocols, but I'm not bothering with them. Essentially,
the software you have to ADD to Win9x is LPR (from UNIX) so you can use
a TCP/IP printer. A TCP/IP printer is just a regular printer, with a
hardware adapter, a printserver, that receives its input, destined for
the printer, over the network using the TCP/IP protocol.

The SMC has a 4-port ethernet switch. One ethernet (input/output) port
for connection to/from the broadband "modem", cable or DSL, and FOUR
ethernet input/output ports for your own network. For example, two
computers and two print servers (in addition to the one printserver
built-in to the SMC. The hardware printservers you would connect
will have ethernet as an input and a standard parallel printer port
as an output, just as the built-in printserver in the SMC does.
Or you could add a computer and subtract one of the add-on
HW printservers I mentioned, keeping the one internal to the SMC
and just one external printserver.

>If I could get by with just the SMC print server functionality (in h/w),
>that would be great.

The SMC will serve ONE printer (unless you use a printer switch).
I don't know whether the SMC windows LPR application will work for other
manufacturers' HW printservers. It might -- the IBM instlpr.exe does.

>So you are using multiple print server boxes in this setup ?

Yes, one or two external HW printservers in addition to the printserver
built into the SMC7004.

>I'm also still not clear on how the print server app.s are
>leveraged together -- and together with the h/w print device(s).

They are really independent. If Win9x came with TCP/IP printing,
then I wouldn't need to bother with all this. They are just different
programs to do pretty much the same thing. They may look a little different,
have more/fewer options or settings, but in the end, they route the
printer data to a specific IP address on the network, where a printserver
is located, which in turn feeds the data to its printer.

The two or three (software) LPR applications on my Win9x machine.
don't seem to conflict. I've configured them for different HW
printservers, but I don't think it matters. I only run one LPR
session at a time, and that runs only while sending data to the printer.

> ...
>The users at this future home-office installation have avoided Win printers
>thus far, on my advice. I believe they have a Deskjet 840c inkjet, and will
>be adding some sort of HP laser, possibly an older, used, 4-series model.
>...
>Jordan

Standard, full-featured printers should work just fine. Win-printers suck,
for several reasons. One not-so obvious one that affected my friend "May",
is that you cannot print the BIOS settings (for later reference) when
updating the machine. PrintScreen is a BIOS function, but there must be
a standard (character) printer on the parallel port. There's no way to
load the Win-printer driver. Yeech.

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