Replies

Thanks for the replies.

No, I mean share a printer WITHOUT a network. There are two PCs – one occasional laptop, one desktop – and I need them to be able to print independently i.e. without requiring the other computer to be switched on at the time. One way that would work would be just to swap out the cable from the back of the printer each time, but this would be a far from ideal solution.

What I was thinking is that its perfectly feasible to have to (or more) USB devices connected to the same PC via a hub, therefore with the right cables/adapters, is it equally possible to share a USB printer between two PCs?

I’m looking to do this as cheaply as possible, making use of a redundant passive USB hub if I can.

Thanks.

Thanks for the replies.

No, I mean share a printer WITHOUT a network. There are two PCs – one occasional laptop, one desktop – and I need them to be able to print independently i.e. without requiring the other computer to be switched on at the time. One way that would work would be just to swap out the cable from the back of the printer each time, but this would be a far from ideal solution.

What I was thinking is that its perfectly feasible to have to (or more) USB devices connected to the same PC via a hub, therefore with the right cables/adapters, is it equally possible to share a USB printer between two PCs?

I’m looking to do this as cheaply as possible, making use of a redundant passive USB hub if I can.

Thanks.

Hi there!

There IS a way of networking two machines together via the USB ports, but it involves the use of a purpose-built data link cable. It’s a regular USB cable with a ‘block’ between the two connectors which I presume contains the circuitry that would normally be found on a network card. I have one which is very handy for occasional use. Details of the one I bought can be found here. I’m sure with a bit of searching you could find a US supplier for a similar product.

I think there are two versions by this manufacturer, one which uses an ‘Explorer’-like control program and one which shows the connected machine as a workgroup computer. My supplier only stocked the first version so that’s what I went for, but on reflection I’d rather have had the second. Still, it’s very useful for basic file transfer.

Another method would be to use a couple of USB-to-Ethernet adapters and a crossover patch lead between them. May end up costing as much as proper network cards though.

Hi there!

There IS a way of networking two machines together via the USB ports, but it involves the use of a purpose-built data link cable. It’s a regular USB cable with a ‘block’ between the two connectors which I presume contains the circuitry that would normally be found on a network card. I have one which is very handy for occasional use. Details of the one I bought can be found here. I’m sure with a bit of searching you could find a US supplier for a similar product.

I think there are two versions by this manufacturer, one which uses an ‘Explorer’-like control program and one which shows the connected machine as a workgroup computer. My supplier only stocked the first version so that’s what I went for, but on reflection I’d rather have had the second. Still, it’s very useful for basic file transfer.

Another method would be to use a couple of USB-to-Ethernet adapters and a crossover patch lead between them. May end up costing as much as proper network cards though.

To remove day-to-day dust, I drag a Post-It note or two, gummy side down, over the surface.

Afternoon Bob,

~In additon to the other bits of advice given above~

I’m wondering if the problem here is similar to one I previously experienced when making the leap from Nero’s InCD software to Nero Burning ROM (NBR). The discs I’d created using InCD weren’t recognised by the same PC after I’d uninstalled InCD and installed NBR. Further investigation showed this to be because the method InCD uses to write to the disc is different to NBR, that is to say it writes to the disc in packets.

If you’ve still got the installation CD, try installing the Hotburn software onto the destination PC and then trying to read from the disc. I’m up to my neck at the moment, but I’ll have a look around the Iomega site later to see if I can shed any further light on this.

Afternoon Bob,

~In additon to the other bits of advice given above~

I’m wondering if the problem here is similar to one I previously experienced when making the leap from Nero’s InCD software to Nero Burning ROM (NBR). The discs I’d created using InCD weren’t recognised by the same PC after I’d uninstalled InCD and installed NBR. Further investigation showed this to be because the method InCD uses to write to the disc is different to NBR, that is to say it writes to the disc in packets.

If you’ve still got the installation CD, try installing the Hotburn software onto the destination PC and then trying to read from the disc. I’m up to my neck at the moment, but I’ll have a look around the Iomega site later to see if I can shed any further light on this.

Not having access to either, is the 9600 one of those cards that has it’s own power socket to connect directly to the PSU? Even if it does, and it is, is the PSU up to the job?

Just brainstorming here…

Hi Kris,

~to complement the excellent link posted by John~

First things first. Any DVD writer is capable of creating a CD, using the correct medium of course.

IMHO, a DVD+/- writer would be the sensible option. Considering you’d still be able to burn CDs as well as DVDs, it’s also the most flexible option.

Making copies of CDs is made far easier by having a second drive, even if just a plain old CD-ROM drive, although with prices being as low as they are it may be worthwhile investing the extra $10 or so to buy a CD-RW drive in case your other drive should ever fail. You can get away with using a single drive as both ‘source’ and ‘destination’, but obviously it’s a lot quicker and smoother with two.

As far as the DVD+ or DVD- debate goes, if you’re worried about which to choose a dual-format burner may be the for the best. Doesn’t seem to cost much more.

You said that you’ve “…checked the “Single Drive: 48x CD-RW Drive” choice”. Does this mean it’s now too late to get a DVD writer drive installed at the time of ordering? If you want to buy one independently and feel like fitting it yourself, post back and I’m sure you’ll find many offers of help to talk you through the process. Bare in mind, however, that opening the cover to your brand new Dell may invalidate the warranty

Hi Kris,

~to complement the excellent link posted by John~

First things first. Any DVD writer is capable of creating a CD, using the correct medium of course.

IMHO, a DVD+/- writer would be the sensible option. Considering you’d still be able to burn CDs as well as DVDs, it’s also the most flexible option.

Making copies of CDs is made far easier by having a second drive, even if just a plain old CD-ROM drive, although with prices being as low as they are it may be worthwhile investing the extra $10 or so to buy a CD-RW drive in case your other drive should ever fail. You can get away with using a single drive as both ‘source’ and ‘destination’, but obviously it’s a lot quicker and smoother with two.

As far as the DVD+ or DVD- debate goes, if you’re worried about which to choose a dual-format burner may be the for the best. Doesn’t seem to cost much more.

You said that you’ve “…checked the “Single Drive: 48x CD-RW Drive” choice”. Does this mean it’s now too late to get a DVD writer drive installed at the time of ordering? If you want to buy one independently and feel like fitting it yourself, post back and I’m sure you’ll find many offers of help to talk you through the process. Bare in mind, however, that opening the cover to your brand new Dell may invalidate the warranty

Hi Ray,

Just a thought: What’s the transfer mode for each of the drives? Have a look in Device Manager under the section IDE/ATAPI Controllers, Primary/Secondary IDE Channels. I’ve had problems before with stuttering playback on a DVD if the drive’s transfer mode isn’t set to ‘DMA if available’.

Worth a try?

Hi Ray,

Just a thought: What’s the transfer mode for each of the drives? Have a look in Device Manager under the section IDE/ATAPI Controllers, Primary/Secondary IDE Channels. I’ve had problems before with stuttering playback on a DVD if the drive’s transfer mode isn’t set to ‘DMA if available’.

Worth a try?

Well, I’m going to take the plunge this weekend. It’s a public holiday here on Monday so I’ll have lots of time to play around with it. (Yeah, right. With a son who I’ve only seen for ten minutes this week and a wife whose list of jobs for the garden is getting on for three pages…)

I’m browsing through the forum at the moment. Makes for interesting reading. One thing I am finding time and again are the number of users who not only rate the product but REALLY rate it. This product seems to be unique in the way it works and I think this gives it the edge over drive-imaging software or VirtualPC.

Me saying something will become the Next Big Thing is usually the kiss of death so I won’t say it, but keep an eye on this one in the future.

Well, I’m going to take the plunge this weekend. It’s a public holiday here on Monday so I’ll have lots of time to play around with it. (Yeah, right. With a son who I’ve only seen for ten minutes this week and a wife whose list of jobs for the garden is getting on for three pages…)

I’m browsing through the forum at the moment. Makes for interesting reading. One thing I am finding time and again are the number of users who not only rate the product but REALLY rate it. This product seems to be unique in the way it works and I think this gives it the edge over drive-imaging software or VirtualPC.

Me saying something will become the Next Big Thing is usually the kiss of death so I won’t say it, but keep an eye on this one in the future.

Well from what I can make out, the software creates multiple partitions to use as ‘spares’ in the even that your current Windows installation slows down or goes pear-shaped, etc. Then it’s a simple matter of dragging a fresh image from one partition to another. This also means that you could have, say, six different versions of Windows installed, each independent of the others. This is as I understand it anyway.

I know it seems like just a collection of other utilities under on roof (Ghost or similar, Virtual PC, etc.) but I’m sure there’s more to it than that. I tried again last night to load it onto the laptop in question, but it was still giving me problems. Having a hard drive continually freeze halfway through creating partitions didn’t help either. All this from a six-month-old system which was in it’s box for the first five months. It’s already been back for repairs once with a suspected CD drive fault. I digress.

MicroMart here in the UK rave about it here. The blurb on HyperOs’s site makes convincing reading too.

I’ve also read somewhere that a distributor is shipping systems with it pre-installed. I’ve just never met anyone who’s actually used the software before. It’s not like it’s that new.