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Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible?

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Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible?
Hi All

It would help us if we could set up a single computer that could use a cluster of printers all at the same time.

Printer A might be for address labels, and Printer B might be for letters and receipts.

I know about the A/B switch type of thing, but this still is just using a single printer at a time.

Is there any way of creating an intelligent group of printers that can be used by a single computer all at the same time?

Many thanks Smile

Happy Halloween Smile

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Re: [DogTags] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
Buy printers with USB ports and you can have as many printers as you want connected without any printer port switchers.

Otherwise, I guess you could buy printer port cards so you have more than one printer port. Also, you could attach the printers to other computers and share them over the network.

Adrian
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Re: [brewt] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
You mean that if I have both printers plugged in via USB that all I would have to do is select which printer in the print setup when printing the document and it would do it? So, I could then have both printing at the same time.........easier than I thought!

Yeah, I have another printer that can be networked, as well. It has a network port.....great!

Thanks, Adrian Smile Smile

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Last edited by:

DogTags: Oct 29, 2004, 1:16 PM
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Re: [DogTags] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
You can also get some old clunker computers for free (p-100's etc) to use as "print servers" for older printers so you can have an HP4 loaded with UPS labels, etc.
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Re: [Watts] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
In Reply To:
You can also get some old clunker computers for free (p-100's etc) to use as "print servers" for older printers so you can have an HP4 loaded with UPS labels, etc.


This is a really good idea. Printing can use a lot of computer resources. It is not unusual to get print job errors (file did not print) because other tasks apparently used a portion of the computer resources, requiring reprinting either all or part of the file. This is using an HP inkjet and winXP.

It is also possible to save different settings for printers under Windows. I have the inkjet setup with two profiles. One for color and one gray-scale only. Probably could do the same thing with labels, photo paper, etc.
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Rob

SW Montana's Online Community
Modular Model Railroading
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Re: [Watts] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
This sounds very interesting. I happen to have a few old machines, one of which I installed Mandrake on. Would this work? My main machine is an xp box and would drive the whole system, though I can see the day when I have several xp and lin machines all pushing print jobs to the various printers. I'm not sure how to approach the networking of all this. Any suggestions?

Many thanks Smile

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Re: [DogTags] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
We've done it with network cards and a hub and just stuck win98 on the clunker's so that they show up on the network and then under file sharing you tell the computer to share the (local) printer with other systems on the network. This way your xp can "see" the printer(s).

Check on ebay also... we used to have a Baytech (or was it Baytek?) print server that was simply a box you plug into your network and then plug the printer(s) into it. It also had a modem utility built in so that you only had to have one phone line and modem on a small network for everyone to share. Win98 will do the same thing if you enable "internet sharing". It is perfect for a small, low-budget office (3 or 4 people) who still use dial-up.
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Re: [Watts] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
Thanks very much. This thread has been really important. Setting this up would be great.

I appreciate everyone's input

Cheers Smile

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Re: [brewt] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
In Reply To:
Buy printers with USB ports and you can have as many printers as you want connected without any printer port switchers.

Finally got around to getting a usb multi-port thing and got two printers working. Nice. It's neat to see both printers knocking out stuff at the same time.

The next move would be to set up a print server for a lan as suggested.

Thanks for everyone's help Smile

Hmmmm.....I think I'll print this thread....now I have to decide which printer to use Smile

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Last edited by:

DogTags: Dec 20, 2004, 8:03 AM
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Re: [DogTags] Simultaneous Multiple Printers - possible? In reply to
Okay, here's another twist:

What if I add multiple "generic" printers to the USB hub

Can I still do multiple simultaneous print jobs with the whole gang?

What I'm concerned about is how does the main win box know which generic printer is which?

Cheers

Go Eagles! Cool

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