Simple solution for printer sharing
Written: Apr 05 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to uses, small and lightweight
Cons: 15 foot limitation and no cables come with it.
The Bottom Line: This is a very simple device to setup and it will allow you to share a printer between two computers or connect two printers to one computer.
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| opinionated3's Full Review: Belkin Rotary Data Switch 2 Position (F1B024E) |
Recently the company where I work was looking for a solution to a printing problem we had, we needed to print two different shipping labels from a single computer. Instead of having to switch labels every time, we use two different dot matrix printers. This presented a challenge for us and we were able to find a very simple and relatively inexpensive solution. We use what are called dumb terminals that are attached to our IBM AS/400 Midrange computer system.
Unlike a PC that we could have added a second parallel printer port, these dumb terminals only have a single parallel port. To be able to attach both printers to this terminal we had to have a way to share the same printer port. What we came up with is a 2 Port Data Transfer Switch. The device uses a two position mechanical switch to select which printer we wanted to print to.
The one we purchased was the Belkin 2 Port Data Transfer Switch model F1B024E from our local CompUSA. It worked wonderfully for our needs.
Description of the device
One of the important features of this device is that it is very compact in size and it doesn't take up a lot of shelf space. The box is a made of heavy gauge metal and it is 6" wide x 4" deep x 2.5" tall and it has four hard rubber feet attached to the four corners on the bottom of the box. It has three DB25 pin connectors attached to the back and these are where the two printer cables and the parallel cable that is connected to your computer or in our case the dumb terminal are connected to. Above each one of the three connectors is a label identifying which corresponding cable connects to it ( A, B and I/O). On the front of the box is the manual switch and the corresponding A and B. This switch is what determines which device you want to receive the data.
Uses for this device
This device has many different uses besides the one that we use ours for. Some of the other uses are; printer sharing between two different computers and dial up modem sharing between two computers. As you can see this is a very handy little device and it is simple to use.
All you have to do is connect the cables to the box and then to your printer, no special software to load or configure. Unfortunately the cables don't come with this Data Transfer Switch, so you need to purchase those cables at the same time that you pick up the switch.
There is one downside to sharing a printer between two computers, you must be closer than 15 feet to the box. The reason is that parallel cables have a signal limitation and if you exceed the 15 foot distance you will encounter various problems. This problem doesn't exist for serial cables, but most printers currently don't come with standard serial ports.
Belkin doesn't recommend manual data switches for use with laser printers, they recommend using an auto switching device.
Setup is a breeze
Since we were attaching the printers to a dumb terminal we didn't have to worry about loading any software or printer drivers for the dot matrix label printers. All we had to do was configure the AS/400 terminal and connect the printer cables. It was as simple as that and we were ready to start printing labels. Now, if you were going to be using this switch to share one printer between two computers you must setup the software and drivers on both computers. If you are going to connect two different printers to the same computer, you must setup both printers separately and you will select which printer you want to use through the software.
Pros
1) Inexpensive
2) Easy to set up
3) No software to configure
4) Small and light weight
Cons
1) Distance limitation
2) Doesn't come with any cables
So in conclusion, I would recommend this Data Switch to anyone that has a need to connect two printers to one computer or share one printer between two computers.
Recommended:
Yes
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