On Thu, 13 Apr 2006 09:31:55 +0100 Dieter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There are small boxes that sit on Ethernet and have a > RS-232 and/or parallel port or 2. Useful as printer servers > and such. > > There are similar boxes with USB, but these seem to have > severe limitations. > > I haven't seen a similar box for Firewire/1394. > > So build a similar box with RS-232, parallel, USB and Firewire/1394. > Avoid silly limitations.
RS-232 and Parallel printers are slowly going away and both interfaces are too slow for today's printing needs, you do not get extra speed out of Ethernet because of the limited print server <=> printer connection. Firewire seems doomed for non-technical reasons, even if it is arguably better than USB2. Inkjet printer users are mostly home users, and do not need such a box. Plus, the majority of inkjets does not work well with F/OSS. Good ethernet print servers are actual ethernet boards that plug directly in the printer itself, like the IC-109 from SEH : HTML description in English : http://www.seh.de/english/products/ps3/ic109/ic109.htm PDF in German : http://www.seh.de/phps/fpdf/index.php?lang=ger&product=ic109 Printers without an expansion slot for such a card are worthless, most tech-aware buyers won't get one to do network printing. So I'm not sure external print servers would be a good open hardware proposition... François _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
