JetDirect?

[Mike Fisher_3]

Hi all

We have a very old HP 2932A impact printer
It has a parallel port only, but we need a serial connection

Black box are unable to help
Can anyone suggest a compatible external JetDirect [or similar]?

It doesn't matter if it's an obsolete solution - we'll dig it up from
somewhere

Model & part # would be great

Cheers
Mike

[Pete Randall]

Mike,

If nothing else, how about an old server with a parallel port on it? You could even buy a remarketed D200 or something for next to nothing. You could then set it up as a remote printer via the "old server".

Pete

[Rick Garland · Accepted solution]

I have good luck with JetDirect 170x
I purchased from CompUSA some time ago.

I used these with OKI 320 and 321 9-pin impact printers in the past.

[Steve Steel]

Hi

The jetdirect shown is good stuff

The software can be found at

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/networking/support_doc/bpj06765.html#P1_54

The HW at
http://h20022.www2.hp.com/busprod/CatAtAGlance/1,,type=13037%5Ecat=,00.html?lsidebarLayId=12

Otherwise can you hang it on a linux PC and print to it.

Steve Steel

[Mike Fisher_3]

Seems pretty good info so far
Will this 170X work in HP9000 environment?
How about HP HP3000?
I'm not sure what language[s] the 2932A uses, but is it possible that this OLD OLD printer could be incompatible with this JetDirect?

[Mike Fisher_3]

Thanks guys

Useful info in a general sense
That particular JetDirect is not suitable however
Because I've just discovered we want to go from parallel to 25-pin serial

Any ideas out there?

Regards
Mike

[Justin Willoughby]

Are you looking for a print server with a serial port? I don???t think HP makes any of those, I called them up a while back to see and they said they did not sell a print server with a serial port.

We have used Axis print servers (www.axis.com) and they seem to work pretty well for us. The Axis 5600+ that we use have two parallel ports and one serial ports. The serial port is 9pin and requires a 9pin to 25ping null-modem cable to print to 25pin serial printers.

Hope this helps,

- Justin

[Rick Garland]

Right now I have 2 170x jetdirect boxes that I use for 2 deskjet printers.

These work fine with no trouble.

I have not heard 1 thing thing about the OKI printers.

[Bill Hassell]

The 2932 printers are excellent and should work well connected to an external JetDirect box. You mentioned going from parallel to serial...why? Serial is immensely slower than parallel and as mentioned, it will be hard to find a network connection for a serial cable. HP sells (an expensive) DTC solution for serial printers, but since an external JetDirect box connects any parallel printer to the LAN, I'd go with that solution. You'll need the JetDirect box plus HP Printer Installer software for your HP-UX machine. Once connected to the LAN< even PCs (using JetDirect software) can talk to the 2932 printer.

AS far as the 3000 goes, MPE can talk to JetDirect boxes just fine. And the 2932 speaks PCL, the same as any printer manufactured by HP in the last 20 years. JetDirect doesn't care at all about the print job, as it is just a network applicance. NOTE: very old JetDirect boxes may not interface the parallel interface of the 2932 (foggy memory here as this is more than 10 years ago) but the 170 and newer boxes may work OK. All of the external JD boxes have a selftest button. If that works (the printer prints the test data) then it should be fine.

If you need the serial interface to go to an MPE-based DTC, I would still look at JetDirect instead. A lot simpler and easier to share than a DTC.