Relztrah
02-11-2008, 07:51 PM
I work for a nonprofit charity and we have a computer training classroom with 9 machines, all running Windows XP Pro. They are all on the same workgroup and connected to 2 different hubs. Currently I have a network printer installed and they all print to that one printer. But it's becoming unreliable and paper jams are becoming a headache for the instructors. Plus the toner cartridges are very expensive.
Rather than buy a new network printer--I don't have the budget for it anyway--can I use a print server and connect a non-network printer somehow? I've got a couple decent desktop printers in my storage room. The network is totally wired so I don't need wireless capability.
Some time ago I understand that we tried using a print server and the problem was that when all 9 students sent a job to the printer simultaneously, the print server choked. So I would need one that has enough memory or whatever so that it can handle multiple print requests and put them in a queue.
I'm not totally sure that what I need is a print server if there is some other device that will allow me to connect a standard desktop printer to it via USB cable and then connect it to a hub with an Ethernet cable and configure the 9 machines in the classroom to print to that printer.
The option of just connecting a local printer to one of the machines and sharing it with the workgroup is out. I tried that and my instructors forgot to turn that machine on and then couldn't understand why they couldn't print. Furthermore, the machines in our classroom are the infamous HP d530 Ultra Slim Desktop which has a bad habit of overheating--no wonder they were dontated to us--and I don't dare leave one running 24X7. I've already burned out 2 machines because students left them running.
I'm open to suggestions. I don't have a lot of money to play with, but I've cobbled together a network with old parts purchased on eBay and I can probably figure out how to use a print server also.
Rather than buy a new network printer--I don't have the budget for it anyway--can I use a print server and connect a non-network printer somehow? I've got a couple decent desktop printers in my storage room. The network is totally wired so I don't need wireless capability.
Some time ago I understand that we tried using a print server and the problem was that when all 9 students sent a job to the printer simultaneously, the print server choked. So I would need one that has enough memory or whatever so that it can handle multiple print requests and put them in a queue.
I'm not totally sure that what I need is a print server if there is some other device that will allow me to connect a standard desktop printer to it via USB cable and then connect it to a hub with an Ethernet cable and configure the 9 machines in the classroom to print to that printer.
The option of just connecting a local printer to one of the machines and sharing it with the workgroup is out. I tried that and my instructors forgot to turn that machine on and then couldn't understand why they couldn't print. Furthermore, the machines in our classroom are the infamous HP d530 Ultra Slim Desktop which has a bad habit of overheating--no wonder they were dontated to us--and I don't dare leave one running 24X7. I've already burned out 2 machines because students left them running.
I'm open to suggestions. I don't have a lot of money to play with, but I've cobbled together a network with old parts purchased on eBay and I can probably figure out how to use a print server also.