Techie Talk

Now that I think about it a little more, there's really no reason why you couldn't build a "cheap, low-power home server" using a netbook connected to one or more USB disks configured to spin down when not in use. Some of us need a few extra components -- my home server, for example, requires two Ethernet ports, an FXO card, and an external SCSI interface to connect a tape drive -- but I suspect most homes would only require a server that provides an Internet gateway and a file server.

As a bonus, the fact that all netbooks have WiFi interfaces in them means that it could also act as a wireless access point.

Netgear and Linksys(Cisco) ought to take advantage of their current positions in the "home router" market and start expanding that device's role.

I think Cisco already makes a home-router with USB ports specifically designed for sharing disks and printers, too.

Now that I think about it a little more, there's really no reason why

you couldn't build a "cheap, low-power home server" using a netbook

Or with an off the shelf wifi router (one with the storage port option) that's been reflashed with Linux.

Yeah, that too, if you can get one with enough memory.

What did I just do?

Somebody tried to give me, earlier today, the physically largest laser printer I think I can fit in the back of my SUV without cutting either the car or the printer, and for some reason I took the thing.

It was after I singlehandededly moved it into my room that I looked up the specs on the HP website. It's only 122 lbs. 32 ppm, duplexing, monochrome. 150k page per month duty cycle. 20k pages per toner cartridge, and mine is 80% full.

Not a bad acquisition for someone who runs through reams of paper like water.

My excitement in this acquisition was quickly crushed when I attempted to connect the said device to my FreeBSD workstation and set it up under CUPS. It turns out the device uses an HP proprietary parallel connector. I'm not sure why; they had enough space on the back of this thing to put about 50 normal parallel ports and a coffee maker. The "HP" connector is about 7/8" wide, and has a latching attachment. Looks kind of like a regular Centronics cable that's shrunk down.

Hitting eBay for one, I couldn't even find one for sale. Presumably I don't know what to search for. I'm sure this cable has an actual name.

The printer is a LaserJet 8150N. "Oh it's an N. It has networking! No need for parallel!" I think quietly to myself. Nope. Someone's robbed the JetDirect card.

It may be a totally moot point anyway since I did order a JetDirect for it, but does anyone know the name of the cable or happen to have one laying around?

the8088er: Re: HP 8150 N printer.

I pulled up the user-guide on HP's web site and it says the interface conforms to IEEE-1284. The guide lists the following cables:

3 meter, part # C2946A
10 meter, part # C2947A

Here's the URL if you'd like to download it:

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/bpl08658/bpl086 58.pdf

And the info about the cables is on page 48.
HP Binder

The smaller connector is called a "mini centronics" aka IEEE-1284C. HP used it for a little while before USB became the dominant interface for local peripherals.

I would agree that the JetDirect card is a better option. Ethernet uber alles.

ethernet is obviously a better choice for any connectivity because then anything can become world-direct addressble (come ipv6 yada yada)
So why is usb so proliferate.
If everything ran on ethernet, and then wifi chips got cheap, installing something would be as simple as getting it within range of your wireless router...

That's pretty much exactly what the whole zeroconf/rendezvous thing is all about. It's a good idea and everything ought to use it.

Some implementations are better than others. When we got our color laser printer, Mac OS X required a bizarre series of incantations and driver installs, but Ubuntu just said "hey, I see this HP printer on your network, I know what model it is and what driver it uses, do you want me to set it up for you?" and we were printing in about 30 seconds.

Okay, got a JetDirect card from an IRC friend, $20 shipped.

Works great.

Thank you guys for helping me track down the proper cable. I will save that info for future reference :)

I've still got an old-skool Ethernet-to-parallel (three parallel ports, actually) JetDirect. Works fine, but I'll probably never be able to upgrade it to support IPv6.

Might as well be creative and implement a new replacement for the <blink> tag using JavaScript.