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SMC Barricade or Hawkings Printserver
Authored by: rikkers on Sep 03, '02 11:09:48PM

When I switched from my old PowerComputing Powerbase system to my G4 iMac I had to find an alternative to printing to my HP LaserJet 4MP which I had been using through Localtalk. I guess I could have got a USB to Localtalk converter, but why bother. Actually I had already got burned by purchasing a USB to Parallel converter by Belkin (it did not support Postscript--which is extreamly silly since the device/software did not need to interpret Postscript only transfer it to the printer).

As I was getting DSL (and after dealing with that crappy EnterNet software that came with it), I got a 4 port Cable/DSL router from SMC...The SMC Barricade SMC7004ABR.

In addition to being a 4 port hub and a firewall (and allowing me to get rid of that EnterNet software), it lets you set up a parallel printer to be a LPR network printer.

To set up printing to it, create a new LPR printer, enter the IP address of your Barricade (usually 192.168.2.1, if you kept the defaults), and use "LPT1" as your print queue.

I do have occasional problems with my second print out (the first always works fine). After the first print out it (about 25% of the time) leaves the form feed light on. I have to take my HP 4MP offline then hit Shift-Reset on its front panel to reset the printer or else I am unable to print. A reset only takes seconds whereas cycling the printer is minutes, so it is not that inconvienent when it occurs. Not sure what is causing it. It seems to be less since I switched to Jaguar, but still occurs. It could be the cheap/old parallel cable I have.

I have seen in catalogs a device by Hawkings (PN7127P) that plugs into your parallel port on the back of your printer and supplies a RJ-45 network connection, turning your parallel printer into a network printer. It is usually only about $60-$80. It seem to handle a bunch of printer protocols including windows, lpr, and appletalk and is configured over the web. I am thinking of buying one. Has anybody tried it?



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