USB or Parallel

[imported_Bunter]

I finally talked my wife into switching to a laser for her business printing (almost all of it is black).

The weapon of choice is the HP 2420D that will be hooked up to the network via a printer server. The printer is both USB and parallel capable. I'm looking at a Netgear mini server to do the connection (I have a PS-110 that has served well for four years on two other printers). The parallel version server connects to the LAN at 10mbs, while the USB is 10/100. The paralled server also plugs directly into the printer (no cable). Of course, the parallel and USB connections themselves won't threaten 100mbs.

Anybody got any words of wisdom as to using the parallel connection or USB in this case? Sounds like a tossup to me.

 

[madthumbs]

USB makes a difference even for slower inkjet printers. I'd think for a print server that speed would be the factor in which usb would take the cake.

 

[imported_Bunter]

Thanks Madthumbs.


After reading the manuals on the 2 printer servers, the USB version has more memory, too. So the slight bottleneck coming from a network connection of 100Mbs to the USB speed which they claim is 12Mbs will get overcome. Most of her print jobs are probably smaller than the buffer. Sounds like between the connection speed and the memory, the USB is the way to go.

 

[LED]

USB may seem the way to go, however, it shares with other devices and sometimes messes up things (esp on Printers), whereas the PPort has its own IRQ and is more secure...Sure give it a whirl but for the most secure connect then go PPort/

 

[JackMDS]

Speed wise it really doe not matter.

The difference might be in the Bidirectional control.

Most Network Parallel arrangements do not support bidirectional.

If the USB does support it go with the USB.

:sun:

 

[imported_Bunter]

OK, got the USB Printer Server. The printer doesn't seem to care one way or another (the printer arrived first and was used as a parallel printer attached directly to her computer for the first 2 days). The setup software for both the printer and server were easy enough. Transferring the printer from a direct connection to a network device on the original computer was no problem, just a matter of installing the new port from the Netgear software and changing the connection port in printer properties within Windows.

After putting it on the network, the installation of the HP software on a different computer was tricky. The software installer understands a direct connection between the system and printer (USB or parallel) or the printer itself having a TCP/IP address (such as with the JetDirect installed), but I had little luck getting it to understand it could get to a "new" printer through the server on a specified TCP/IP address and it did not seem to want to recognize the port installed by the Netgear software. After adding the printer through Windows, the HP software installer was okay with the idea it was an existing printer. Only one of the other computers really needed the actual software (the toolbox), anyway, so I didn't spend a lot of time trying different ways to get the "textbook" installation within the HP software to work. Installing just the new port and then adding a printer through Windows was enough for the others.

The Netgear USB Printer Server (PS-121) seems fine if anyone needs a simple, 1-port USB printer server for their network. The device is small and includes everything but the patch cable. Setup was easy and intuitive. The software does not need to be installed on a system to add the port or even set up the server, as these applications can be run directly from the CD. I installed the actual ap only on the 1) the system that uses that printer as their primary printer (and is in the same room with the thing) and 2) the system I use to configure and troubleshoot anything on the network.

The HP 2420d has been a winner thus far. Plug it in and go, for the most part. Duplex printing is painless. I ran it through a sample of print jobs, including some Pagemaker files of some size and it did everything quick and well. Expanding memory, installing a flash card or an internal JetDirect all seem easy enough (I didn't have to do any of them). The driver gives access to pretty much all the features from within the print dialog boxes. The Toolbox software can also be used to set this stuff up, but it's primary purpose in our environment will be to check the status of the printer (including status of consumables). The software does allow you to build a user-specified and configured installation routine on a shared or network drive for others to use.

In short, it is what I would expect from an HP LaserJet. And I have a 1986-vintage LJ II still cranking away.

 

[LED]

Good news/go and now that it works being secure, the Puter should stress the CPU less cycle wise while the Printer is in action ...