No. What makes a host a "print server" is its ability to process print
requests from other hosts ... in effect, to manage a print queue.
Technically, it doesn't need to have *any* printers attached -- for example,
a linux host that managed the print queue for a printer that was on the
Ethernet would still be a print server.
There are inexpensive isa-bus cards that add parallel ports to PCs, and
there are standards (which I forget right now) about the IRQ/IO port
assignments -- they will be reflected in the configurations of Linux devices
/dev/lp0, /dev/lp1, and /dev/lp2 (3 parallel ports is still the hardware
limit, I think). Some printers can be attached to serial ports as well.
Accessing these printers (including Ethernet-connected ones) requires
appropriate entries in /etc/printcap and a system for selecting the printer
as part of a print request (lpr handles this via a command-line switch; I
don't know how Samba handles it).
At 08:29 AM 2/19/99 +0700, Shaggy Im-erbtham wrote [excerpt only]:
>Does a "print server" have to be equipped with more then one printers to be
>called a print server?
>
>If so, are extra parallel ports installed on the hardware, along with
>multiple printers? (I assemble my own computers and have no clue how this
>could be done)
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
762 Garland Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94303-3603
650.321.3561 voice 650.322.1209 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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