Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!worldnet.att.net!arclight.uoregon.edu!news.uoregon.edu!Symiserver2.symantec.com!news From: tedm@agora.rdrop.com Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking Subject: Re: Print server hardware... Date: 14 Dec 1996 18:00:48 GMT Organization: Symantec Corp. Lines: 77 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <58uq0g$7q3@Symiserver2.symantec.com> References: <58tlu1$d55@raven.eva.net> Reply-To: tedm@agora.rdrop.com NNTP-Posting-Host: shiva2.central.com X-Newsreader: IBM NewsReader/2 v1.2.5 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:32600 comp.periphs.printers:53499 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking:14430 In <58tlu1$d55@raven.eva.net>, jca@bighorn.accessnv.com (J.C. Archambeau) writes: >I need a recommendation for a good and inexpensive print server to use >under both FreeBSD and WFWG 3.11. I would prefer a server that works >under both 10BT and 100BTX, but 10BT is the minimum requirement. > >Something that supports any protocol that may be thrown at it in a >network that is shared by WFWG 3.11 and FreeBSD would be highly >desireable but in the catalogs I have it seems that the IPX print >servers are more easily found. >-- I'll ignore the IPX solutions as you can go to Novell for that. Other than IPX, you will see TCP/IP's LPR and NetBIOS-over-TCP, Appleyack, and DLC as commonly used print protocols on Winblows networks. WFW machines can only speak NetBIOS over TCP and NetBEUI (which is supported by nobody) as print protocols. As a point of history, Microsoft did indeed come out with a DLC protocol for WFW, but it is real-mode only and you don't want to be running it unless you enjoy pain. There are a couple of shareware LPR drivers for WFW machines floating around, but why add more mess to the fun? Win95 continues the limiting tradition of WFW, and there is a DLC protocol for it (unbelievably) which can NOT be used to print out of the box. So far, there are no shareware LPR protocols for Win95 (although I REALLY wish someone would write one!) WinNT has DLC and LPR print support in addition to NetBEUI and NetBIOS. There are really two major contenders out there, Intel and HP. I feel that the Intel NetPort XL is the best choice if you want to have the clients print directly to the print server, as it supports NetBIOS-over TCPIP, while the HP JetDirect EX boxes don't. This can be handy in a WinNT/ Win95/WFW311 environment. (of course, you have to run TCP/IP) The XL is rottenly expensive, though. With NBT, all clients can print directly to the print server and you don't have to spool files on a fileserver. If you don't care about NBT, and are willing to spool print jobs onto an NT server or a FreeBSD server running Samba, then next on the list is a HP JetDirect MIO card that mounts inside the printer. (obviously these cards only work in the appropriate HP laserprinter) There are a number of advantages to going this way instead of an external print server box such as a NetPort or a JetDirect EX. For starters, you can use JetDirect to keep tabs on printer internals, for example JetAdmin can allow you to monitor paper levels in some HP printers. What you do is set up your WFW and Win95 machines to print via NetBIOS to the NT or BSD server, which in turn prints via LPR to the printer, and also serves as a print queue so that clients can immediately spool off their print jobs and not block waiting for the printer to free up. The MIO cards also have software, JetAdmin for Win95, that when installed on a Win95 client can allow the client to print directly via Direct Mode IPX to the printer. (you don't need a Novell server on the network to do this.) The disadvantage of spooling print jobs onto a fileserver is that you are sending your print jobs over the network twice, once from the client to the server, then from the server to the printer. You also lose the immediate printer status feedback to the user, if the printer goes offline jobs can pile up in the server and users won't know about it. If their printing directly to the print server, they get an error if the printer isin't accepting jobs. The advantage to server-side print spooling is that your server can accept many multiple simultaneous print jobs, and can suck up those jobs as fast as the client can spew them out. Also, the admin can go into the print queue of busy printers and re-order print jobs, and so forth. Both solutions support LPR. (and IPX obviously) Now you can see why Novell got so big so fast, there really isin't any other option for DOS or Win31 (not WFW) network printing other than NetWare. If you have an extra 386 with 8MB of ram and a 150MB disk, you can load FreeBSD on the 386 and Samba, and plug the 386's parallel port into the printer, and spool your print jobs onto it using NetBIOS or LPR. The cheapest solution is to set up a IBM XT or some similar piece-o-crap computer with NCSA Telnet, and plug the printer into the computer's parallel port. Then you can LPR your print jobs to this from the BSD box, and use Samba to get print jobs from the Windoze machines to the Unix box.