(e-mail address removed) wrote in @v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com:
Looking for good network print server for Canon PIXMA iP4000.
What I am interested was the ability to send status of paper and ink
levels over the network.
It was my mistake not to purchase the network version of above printer
(iP4000R), thus I looked for next best alternative solution to cater
for my need.
Any recommendation?
Actually, I did found some solution, which was offered by Planex and
Edimax, but it was just "Shared-USB-device-over-the-network"
emulation, supporting MFP (Multi-Function Printers, ie scan/fax/
print). But there is a strong disadvantage of dedicated single-user,
required issue disconnection upon every connection to free up the
"lock" to allow others to access the printers, and required
specialised driver installation on client in additional to the printer
driver.
Anyone know of a print server which is not brand-dependent and is
truly bidirectional communictation over the network?
I could be wrong but I'll tell you what I think to be true. I know how
disappointed I was when I bought a router with a built-in printer server
from D-Link.
As I understand it, lots of print servers are truly "bi-directional." They
will return messages to the client computer if they understand the
messages.
I have been told (by D-Link) the problem is that printers use propietary
non-standard communication strings for things like "paper jam," "out of
paper," and so forth. I think these messages provide important feedback
when the printer is in another room or on another floor of the building.
So ... I thought that if I bought a print server from the company who made
the printer, I'd be able to get a device that could decipher all that
"secret code" and report it to the driver on the client computer I was
using at the time.
Well ... I was disappointed. I hammered away at Epson through phone calls
and eMail to find out whether their dedicated Epson printer servers could
do the deed. Nope. If what I got was "good" information from those I
spoke to, then, only the USB print server could transmit some of this
feedback. The parallel server, they said, could do absolutely none of
that.
So, a dedicated print server from the printer manufacturer could only
decipher and transmit over TCP-->some<--and only some of that valuable
feedback.
I hammered away at Hewlett Packard just for the heck of it and they pretty
much responded with the same thing.
I originally hammered away at D-Link on this matter and it was D-Link who
enlightened me as to the "propietary" nature of these feedback
communications. It was D-Link who told me their printer servers were truly
bi-directional but that they just couldn't gain access to the propietary
code involved. I also surmised that opening up that can of worms would be
too complex and costly for D-Link each time a new printer driver was
released by each of the several printer manufacturers.
We've got a Brother Multi-Function Machine here at home and it has a built-
in EtherNet connection (RJ45 TCP 10/100). It, too, is crippled in the same
way when it's used over the network. It won't report that it's jammed, it
won't report that it's out of paper. It will only report the ink levels to
the client computer and for that, I've got to fire up a separate portion of
the program to poll its memory for ink level data.
In an office complex where I used to work, we had some top-of-the-line
Canon multi-function machines. These were those huge monoliths that can
fax, eMail, print, duplex, collate, staple, and so on and so forth. Those
were crippled also. Only the one computer connected via USB could get all
the good information from it. If you printed to it over the network, you
might walk to the printer and find it jammed on one of the 7 print jobs
sent to it and there was no warning at all about the jam sent to the
computer in your office.
Nevertheless, my information is about 1½ years old. I hope you might find
the time to "hammer away" at companies producing printer servers and let us
know what you discover?
Thanks.
//rus\\
