[Tfug] ethernet to USB?

[Michael Salivar]

Well, we already handle permissions and accounting and such through this one print and file server,
which is in close proximity to the USB devices, and thus handles them directly.  But it just can't
handle everything we're throwing at it.  Plus all of our data is in a rather precarious position on
a USB Iomega hard drive without any backup.

We're a professional print shop, yes.  We have a Gestetner 7502 w/ finisher and a Canon color
machine I forget the model number of, both with integral print servers.  We also have a Xerox
Docucolor with a rather old Fiery, and a couple very old Konicas (7070?) with f inishers we might
get a Fiery for.  All of this is managed by that Win2k print server, along with a networked Phaser,
Oce TDS-400, Xante platemaker, and large format Epson inkjet.

On USB we currently have a couple 11x17 scanners, an older Kimosetter plate maker, an old HP inkjet
with impeccable quality, and a vinyl cutter which I think acts more as a plotter (one of these
http://specials.signwarehouse.com/pan_packge.htm )  There's also the Graphtec large format scanner
which is USB2/Firewire.  So it's not mostly printers I'm looking for solutions to, there's a lot of
imaging equipment too, with more likely to come.

What I'm looking at in a server is a low end S939 Athlon64, 2-4GB of RAM, a three disk SATA RAID 5
array and a seperate root disk.  It doesn't have to do much: provide a strong centralization for a
network that's currently a hodge podge of shares by serving images and layouts, and sharing
printers.  I'll also have it as another layer of firewall, and maybe filter and archive email from
our pop accounts.  In the future it might act as a buffer between a POS and the owner's workstation.

As I lay it out, I guess this USB solution isn't really vital, but it sure would be nice if either
graphics artist could use any of the scanners or the vinyl cutter at any time, without asking the
other to move over for a second.

---
Michael

On Fri, 1 Jul 2005 18:46:54 -0700
Adrian <choprboy at dakotacom.net> wrote:

> On Friday 01 July 2005 18:06, Michael Salivar wrote:
> [snip]
> > I haven't worked much with Linux and print spooling yet, so I'm not sure if 
> we'll be able to run
> > Linux yet.  Do you need to have a printer driver to spool for it, or can the 
> server just pass jobs
> > on without understanding them?
> >
> 
> Yes, no, and both... A print spool is really just a temporary queue to hold 
> the print data and pass it bit-by-bit to the printer, as needed, so that the 
> originating application can go back to doing other work. In the good-ol-days 
> of serial line printers, this was a good thing as it meant your application 
> didn't have to sit and monitor the serial port... These days, the OS itself 
> manages a print spool, so the applications doesn't have to.
> 
> A print spool as your referring to it (as most generally do) is both the print 
> spool and a print driver/manipulation/encapsulation in one. The standard 
> Linux CUPS is the latter, but is completely configurable to be with or 
> without any processing to pass print jobs directly thru. In a typical 
> situation, you set up a printer on the Linux machine (say a HP LJ) with a PS 
> (or PCL) driver and then share it out on the network. Any local application 
> printing to that would send the data to CUPS, which would process it into 
> Postscript and que to the printer. A Windows machine on the network pointed 
> at CUPS as a print server would typically do its on PS conversion, send it to 
> CUPS, which would see it's already PS and que it to the printer. (You could 
> have CUPS do additional work as well, such as reformatting the PS to put 
> multiple pages on a single piece of paper.)
> 
> 
> > Anyway, the real thing that's holding me back right now is USB and 
> distances.  The server would
> > optimally be with the switches and DSL modem on one side of the building, 
> while there are a bunch
> > of USB printers, plotters, scanners, and plate makers in graphics.
> 
> Well, that depends... What it sounds like you want to do is separate the 
> Windows machines from direct (local) connection with lots of devices (i.e., 
> it's not Bob's printer, it's everyones printer). But how do you want to 
> manage that printer?
> 
> If all you want to do is make the printer a network device and you don't want 
> to manage/munipulate the printer jobs, then don't think about using Linux at 
> all... What you really want is an Ethernet->USB print server. Something like 
> the D-Link DP-301U (or the DP-300U):
> http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=165
> 
> You just pull an ethernet cable to the printer, connect to the printer with 
> one of these, which act as a server/spool. Configure the windows machine (use 
> the standard printer's driver, but change the port from USB to a mock-USB 
> TCP/IP port on the D-Link). Now on the other hand, if you want to manage who 
> can print what/where and provide accounting data, then a Linux print server 
> may be the way to go.
> 
> But now a second question, why do you need a print server? You go on to say 
> above printers, scanners, and plate makers... So does that mean that this is 
> a professional print shop and what you really want is a RIP processor to send 
> out to high-end printers, not a print spool for temporarily holding PS data?
> 
> I haven;t messed much with RIP, I assume you could it with CUPS as well. There 
> are software drivers for Windows that act like a print driver, but 
> most?/many? professional shops use a dedicated RIP server (like a FieryRIP), 
> which is a pricy and specialized item.
> 
> Adrian
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