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installing multiple printers

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by bunderwood

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I am running a windows 98 OS and need to install 5 printers (3 serial and 2 parallel). I might even need to add a fourth serial in the future. I am having problems installing both a multiple serial card and a multiple parallel card. This computeris used for shipping and every company needs to have there own printer. I am looking for any solution to be able to run all 5 printers at the same time. Is there a max amount of serial and parallel ports available?

10 replies

by cdobbin

One possibility is using one serial and one parallel port to control a switch box where you could select the printer you wish to print to.
Adding that mant ports, IRQ's would be the biggest problem. Not sure of your situation, but using USB would another way to have that many printers connected as USB does not require IRQ's.
There are serial devices such as Digi boards that can control multiple serial devices, but as far as parallel ports go I'm not to sure.
Good luck.

by nospam6

You could network the printers using something like Intels Netport Express Pro the one I use has 2 parrallel and 1 serial port but I`m sure thay do others.Then its just a case of installing network cards and cabling.

by nospam6

You could network the printers using something like Intels Netport Express Pro the one I use has 2 parrallel and 1 serial port but I`m sure thay do others.Then its just a case of installing network cards and cabling.

by csmith

For a computer in the shipping department that needs to support multiple printers for multiple labels, we would install a RocketPort or DIGI 4 port controller for the 3 serial printers plus the mouse. (Serial cards up to 128 ports are available.)
You can also use a USB serial hub.
With common printer cards you are limited to 3 LPT ports.
We would normally install a dual printer port card in this situation. (Cheap!)
With more expensive cards you can have 6 LPT ports.
WARNING! 4sp RocketPortcards are about $250, and DIGIs are higher. (A USB serial hub is about $150.)
Regards, Chris

by csmith

A warning about COM 4.
If you are installing two serial cards with the standard addresses of COM-1 03F8h, COM-2 02F8h, COM-3 03E8h, and COM-4 02E8h , you may run into a conflict between the video card and COM-4. (Move COM-4 to a different address.)
By the way, if you have the slots free, this is a cheap solution. (Using two serial cards, and a two port printer card.)
When you use this solution, you must have an IRQ free for each port.

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