getting 3 computers connected

[prasasti]

i have a mac, a pc and a laptop.
i want to have them share 1 printer, 1 internet connection (cable), 1 scanner and 1 cd writer.
my question is : what should i do/what connectors should i buy ? should i tell my isp ?

can someone please help me out ?

[RWSchlatter]

moved from Win9x/ME (software) to General Hardware forum

There are many solutions to this, J will try to show you some alternatives to choose from. And of course some solutions may depend on cash available.

First. you did not give all required hardware details, are you using parallel port for all or are some serial or USB ?

Cause you wish to have the internet connection also on each computer, J suggest you build yourself a small LAN: get a small hub (4ports, but better an 8port unit), and connect the three computers and the cable modem to it. The cable modem may require a special cable with crossovers.

Your ISP will usually not be interested what is connected at your end (or did you have to specify?). Depending on your contract you will only have a limited number of sessions to share between the three computers. But depending on address assignment you may be limited to one unit at a time.

Printer: you could buy a network printer server and share the printer across the proposed LAN.

Or for each device (printer, scanner, cd-writer, assuming each is parallel) get a parallel port switchbox (would have to be a 1-to-4 ports), with the 1-port to the device and each of the 4-port side going to one of you computers.

Then the same on the computer side to direct the single parallel port to each device. You could also get an extra adapter card for the PC, not sure for the Mac, and surely not for the Laptop, for additional parallel ports at the computer instead of a switchbox.

Rather a large set of switchboxes and parallel cables for HW sharing. Would not be my personal choice.

This also assumes that your Mac has a parallel port - as much J know, Apple has a preference to send print jobs to the network and not to a local port. So the LAN printer server would be better for you.

But one question: will you really want to share scanner and cd-writer too ? You will probably have a favourite software for scanning and one for cd burning. You will probably not want to get double software for Mac and Win. My suggestion is to use either the Mac or the PC as your preferred workstation to handle these devices and use file transfer between the computers.

Hope this helps as first step.


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Regards - Richard<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by RWSchlatter on 05/02/01 09:30.</FONT></P>

[prasasti]

Hi Richard !

Thanks very much for your advise.
I have more questions if you don't mind.

1. What is a network printer server ? I have an Epson Stylus 777. WHere does that leave me ?

2. What is HW sharing ?

Thanks again !

[RWSchlatter]

Hi !

"...What is HW sharing ..."
HW beeing hardware, and in this context J meant sharing your peripherals between several computers.

"...What is a network printer server ..."
this is a harware box that connects at one side to the LAN and at the other side has a parallel port to attach any printer to it. Some also come with serial ports depending the printer requirement. Some also come with several printer ports (attach several printers at one location - used in office environments).
The hardwarebox has a small computer in it to transfer data from one of the supported protocols (such as TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk) to and from the parallel / serial port(s). It may also contains a memory buffer to collect print jobs.
On the computer you will install a printer driver for the printer server, and all printoutput will be forwarded to the printer attached to the server as if it had been a locally attached unit.
Don't get a shock when you see the price tag of a network printer server - as mentioned, it's a small pc, not just some wiring.

Another way of sharing your printer:
You could attach the printer to your PC, install the required software (printer driver) and then enable the printer for use on the network (assuming that you build a LAN as suggested). In this case your PC is taking the role of a printer server.
From the Laptop you should be able to install this networked printer without any problem (J have assumed it is also a Windows based unit and not Mac).
In this configuration you will probably have difficulty to connect the Mac to the printer if your only protocoll is AppleTalk. Microsoft has dropped AppleTalk support. It may be possible if your Mac is running TCP/IP, look for an answer on a Mac-oriented forum.

Product sample of switches ( J don't know this brand, not a recommendation!):
Please click onto following link and read the answer J gave to user Kimm sometime ago, at the end there is link to a product description page of a manufacturer:
<a target="_blank" href=http://forums.winguides.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=genhardware&Number=11980&page=&view=&sb=>http://forums.winguides.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=genhardware&Number=11980&page=&view=&sb=</a>

______________
Regards - Richard

[RWSchlatter]

Hi,

concerns internet accesss:

another way, and recommended by Microsoft, is to use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS):
The cable modem not connect to the hub (as suggested previously), but you have a second network card installed on the PC.
For a discussion on the reasoning and whole setup, start reading following Microsoft KB article:
<a target="_blank" href=http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q199/3/46.ASP>http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q199/3/46.ASP</a>
and follow the additional linked articles (marked with a Q-number).

This reduces the exposition to the bad things on the internet.

What J did not mention in this hardware discussion:
When connecting the internet (cable modem) to the hub, your whole LAN is open to the internet. Install some firewall software on all machines.
If using above Microsofts recommendation, at least the computer directly attached to the internet (your PC), should have some kind of firewall.

______________
Regards - Richard

[Jeighsanchez]

how about with 2 win98 desktops (both have nic), 1 cable modem and 1 printer...what cable should i use and what else do i need to know to set up network... i also wanna share internet connection... thanks...

[Paradigm]

Do you have 98SE? If you do, then you can use ICS mentioned above. You can:

As I did - Use ICS and put two NICs on my computer, one connected to the cable modem and the other connected to a 4-port hub. Another computer has one NIC and is connected to the hub too.

Or

Have two NICs on the computer connected to the net like above, but use crossover cable to connect the two PCs. (Crossover cables connects two nics or multiple hubs together)