I have recently purchased second-hand an HP4100TN Laser printer with an HP JetDirect 610N 10/100Base-T print server card installed and a Parallel Port. My query is: Can I connect this directly to my Laptop which has NO Parallel Port only USB ports? My Laptop's Ethernet port is taken up with my Cable broadband connection through a Motorola SB5101 Cable modem. I have a TP-LINK 5-port 10/100M Fast Eternet switch in my box of bits and pieces - can this be used somehow to help set it up? XP Pro/SP2, fully up-to-date.

Re: Attach NON-USB printer with Jet direct card

The switch is designed for just this situation. Plug them all in and they should communicate happily. Presumably the modem is supplying ip addresses via automatic addressing (dhcp). You will need to set the printer to an address using the same ip range and subnet.

For example if you open a command prompt on the laptop and type ipconfig and press enter, you will see an ip address such as 192.168.0.1 (Bigpond would be 10.0.0.1) and a subnet mask something like 255.255.255.0. Set an address for the printer using an ip with a higher last number (say 192.168.0.50) and the same subnet address. Then install the printer as a local printer and add a port - select Standard TCP/IP port. Here you enter the ip address of the printer.

Chris B

Re: Attach NON-USB printer with Jet direct card

Yes. The numbers can be pretty much anything, provided they all match except the last number of the ip address.

Chris B

Terrific
Your site is very helpful... Thanks...