Workgroup printer sharing problems.

[dullard]

I'm getting quite frustrated at work. I have a small group of 6 networked computers that I and my coworkers print from (there are many other computers that never print nor access the network so lets ignore them). The computers vary widely in age and thus operating systems. We have one printer for those computers to share.

I've tried having the printer hooked up to a computer running Win2000 - but the older computers (Win 98, WinNT) had troubles connecting.

I've tried having the printer hooked up to a computer running WinNT but users complained that they had to type in a password. The Win2000 user cannot print quickly due to Win2000 requiring 2 minutes everytime you want to access a WinNT computer (Windows problem as far as I know). Then the computer user with the direct printer connection complained that I gave others passwords with limited access to her machine.

So I tried having the printer hooked up to a computer running Win98. Everything seemed to run fine for awhile. But then the user of that Win98 computer decided that he wants to frequently shut off his computer (meaning we can't print) and frequently change the computers name (meaning that all the other computers need to reinstall the printer drivers). I've tried reasoning with him and nothing works.

Boss is money restricted and won't pay for another network connection to have a 7th computer just as a printer server.

So does anyone know a solution to any of those problems?
1) Letting old OS print to newer OS.
2) Letting WinNT run as a printer server without requiring a password.
3) Preventing a Win98 user from changing the computer name.
4) Anything else you might suggest? I could install WinXP Home/Pro for free on one machine if that would help - but I'd rather not take the time to test all the programs to make sure they run.

 

[clarkmo]

Get a print server. They're cheap. Your Win98 guy prolly got tired of his pc freezing while people printed to it. Link

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: clarkmo
Get a print server. They're cheap. Your Win98 guy prolly got tired of his pc freezing while people printed to it.

agreed. This is the way to go. Look on the FS/FT forum. They pop up every once in awhile for sale.

EDIT: i didnt notice he didnt want to have another network drop installed. I say do your own drop for the network

 

[Tripleshot]

You can build a print server out of junk parts on a 486 mobo. Your boss is a jerk. Tell him to spring for a print server,even if its a used up old win 98 box with nothing in it. that is the safest and cheapest solution.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Tripleshot
You can build a print server out of junk parts on a 486 mobo. Your boss is a jerk. Tell him to spring for a print server,even if its a used up old win 98 box with nothing in it. that is the safest and cheapest solution.

from what i gather, the boss doesnt want to create another network drop

 

[Tripleshot]

The boss has an ego problem. The solution is spelled out. It needs implementation. More than likely the boss didn'tcome up with the idea,so its a no go. If a drop is needed, so be it. A freaken ego standing in the way of effeciency. I want to choke the sh!t out of people like that.

Dullard, cut and paste this post and ram it up your boss's ass.:disgust:

 

[dullard]

We recently moved into a new building. There are tons of ports every-which-way you turn (way too many, but we had no control over that). Even the almost unused loading elevator has 4 ports on every floor. However the university charges $8 per month to activate the ports. Also remember with universities, they charge overhead on every dollar spent (44% here making the total price $11.50 per month). Thus my boss wanted 1 port for the whole group. I insisted that we get almost half of the computers online, resulting in a $830 per year charge for those 6 computers. That was a tough enough battle since the whole department is broke from the cost of the new building. Adding another port at $11.50*12 = $138 per year won't happen for a while (In fact I'd rather he just pay that to me than fork it over to the university to solve this problem).

Other groups have smuggled in hubs and routers only to find them confiscated and threats to have all ports deactivated were left in their place.

 

[NogginBoink]

Holy cow! Do you go to Nazi U.?

Sounds like the Univeristy's IT dept. needs a swift kick in the ass.

The solution appears to be to tell the Win98 user not to shut off or rename his computer under these circumstances.

 

[iamwiz82]

get a router then and plug it into a drop and then feed a PC and the print server into it.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
get a router then and plug it into a drop and then feed a PC and the print server into it.

Is there a way to make sure it is undetectable by the IT department?