reintom@rocky2.UUCP (02/26/87)
[]
"This sentence, though not interrogative, nevertheless ends in a
question mark?"
-Douglas Hofstadter
We need one of those devices that allow you to share a printer among
several PC's. We want the kind that will ignore the input of all PC's
other than the one being served at the moment. We need this because
some PC's will be down the hall from the printer and the PC users
won't want to check to see if the printer is available before they
issue the print command.
I have seen a few advertised but the claims are vague. Does anyone
have experience with any of these devices? What should we expect to
spend? We may get a second printer later so should we get a
print-switch that will address two printers or is it better to get two
print-switches?
Thanckx.
Tom Reingold
--
Tom Reingold; The Rockefeller University; 1230 York Av; NY 10021
PHONE: (212) 570-7709 [office]; (212) 304-2504 [home]
ARPANET: reintom@rockefeller.arpa BITNET: REINTOM@ROCKVAX
UUCP: {seismo|ihnp4|yale|harvard|philabs|phri}!cmcl2!rna!rocky2!reintomlane@dalcs.UUCP (03/15/87)
In article <346@rocky2.UUCP> reintom@rocky2.UUCP writes: > >We need one of those devices that allow you to share a printer among >several PC's. ... I have seen a few advertised but the claims are vague. Hi. good question... I've been considering the same sort of problem and how to get around spending $$$ on a LAN and having to dedicate a system to print spooling (that, BTW, being one obvious solution to the problem). I have in hand an ad for "the Logical Connection, a programmable multi- port interface device, suggested retail $495" from Fifth Generation Systems 7942 Picardy Ave, Suite B350, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809, Sales: 909 Electric Ave, Suite 308, Seal Beach, CA 90740, 213-493-4483. The ad pictures a box with 8 connectors which can be plugged into any combination of systems and printers. The ad says that a "big (256K or 512K), smart ( the box remembers the interface (serial or parallel), handshaking, baud rate, etc. for each device) buffer spools each document for sequential printing." Different printers are identified by an 8 char "selection string". Several "Logical Connections" can be "daisy-chained" using single twisted-pair wiring. Modems can also be used. Sounds pretty spiffy. I would imagine that the size of the buffer would be a serious limitation for some applications and I would assume that the box cannot be printing on two printers at the same time (on that I could well be wrong). I dont know what it does to a system trying to send new data when its buffer is full or its acceping data from another system. Probably just pulls down (or up?) the DTR line or sends X-OFF or whatever is appropriate. I dont know if it does anything about printing banner pages or if it automatically form-feeds between files. Anyone used this box or have more info? I'd be interested and I'm sure so would Tom. Disclaimer: They wouldn't print it if wasn't true... :-) (I have no connection to the "Logical Connection" and have never used it.) -- John Wright ////////////////// Phone: 902-424-3805 or 902-424-6527 Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax N.S., CANADA B3H-4H8 Ean/Bitnet: lane@cs.dal.cdn Arpa: lane%cs.dal.cdb%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa Uucp:{seismo,watmath,utai,garfield}!dalcs!lane Csnet:lane%cs.dal.cdn@ubc.csnet
mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP (03/17/87)
In article <2449@dalcs.UUCP>, lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) writes: > In article <346@rocky2.UUCP> reintom@rocky2.UUCP writes: > > I have in hand an ad for "the Logical Connection, a programmable multi- > port interface device, suggested retail $495" from Fifth Generation Systems > 7942 Picardy Ave, Suite B350, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809, Sales: 909 > Electric Ave, Suite 308, Seal Beach, CA 90740, 213-493-4483. The ad > pictures a box with 8 connectors which can be plugged into any combination > of systems and printers. The ad says that a "big (256K or 512K), smart ( > the box remembers the interface (serial or parallel), handshaking, baud rate, > etc. for each device) buffer spools each document for sequential printing." > Different printers are identified by an 8 char "selection string". Several > "Logical Connections" can be "daisy-chained" using single twisted-pair wiring. > Modems can also be used. Sounds pretty spiffy. > > John Wright ////////////////// Phone: 902-424-3805 or 902-424-6527 > Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax N.S., CANADA B3H-4H8 > Ean/Bitnet: lane@cs.dal.cdn Arpa: lane%cs.dal.cdb%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa > Uucp:{seismo,watmath,utai,garfield}!dalcs!lane Csnet:lane%cs.dal.cdn@ubc.csnet We have a Logical Connection connecting and IBM-XT and IBM-AT to a QMS Kiss laser printer. We have found it difficult to configure and use. It has a separate stand-alone power supply. Although we consider ourselves fairly knowledgable users of MS-DOS machines, we have had problems requiring the support of the computer store who sold us the thing --> it finally worked --> the power supply plug slipped out, and we could not get it to work again after re-plugging. One of our worked fine with box in place (WordPerfect) but another (Reference Manager) worked only without the box. We originally bought the box to print graphs on the laser printer from the AT twenty-five feet down the hall (over a serial line). I would be interested in others' experiences with this box. It seemed very finicky. --Mike Volow, Psychiatry, Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center Durham, NC, 27712 919 383 3563 mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP