On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:44:40 +0100, "J Williams"
wrote:


"Chuck" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 13:03:49 +0100, "J Williams"
wrote:


"Chuck" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 22:00:35 -0800, Lance *email_address_deleted*
wrote:



Chuck thought carefully and wrote on 3/29/2005 4:19 PM:
How is the printer physically connected to the network? I Googled
and Yahooed
(and never found a link to the manufacturer Oki - I wonder why?), but
all the
articles referred to it as a Personal Printer (ie to be connected to a
computer
for queue management and sharing).

'cuse me Chuck while I butt in:
http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/C7300-C7500Home.html

The C7300N comes with Ethernet, firewire and parallel ports and it's own
internal print server and web-based printer manager.

Lance
*****

Thanks for the link, Lance. So the printer has Ethernet. And it
supports
IPP -
which IIRC is a TCP/IP protocol. TCP/IP does not provide named shares.

For a named share (something visible in Network Neighborhood), my guess
is
you
have to set up a print queue on a Windows XP server, which then provides
the
share.

I have worked with HP Laserjets (not Deskjets - those are another story)
which
will let you configure IPX/SPX for named discovery by the HP Printer
Management
client. But that is simply to display printer status, manage print
cartridge
replacement, etc. For named shares, named print queue management, etc,
you
still have to configure the printer on a Windows server, and the printer
queue
seen in Network Neighborhood, by all the client workstations, will be a
component of the Windows server.

It sounds to me like you installed it on the one Windows XP Pro
computer,
as
"http://192.168.0.7", with the Oki IPP driver. If you want to see the
printer
as a named share, you'll have to share it from the Windows XP computer.
Will
the IPP driver deal successfully with its possibly changing ip address
(a
result
of using DHCP for address assignment)? You may need to read the printer
manual
to find out how that works.

If you don't want to share the printer from the one Windows XP computer,
my
guess is that you'll have to install the IPP client on each computer,
and
refer
to the printer as "OKI C7300N on http://192.168.0.7". That's not a
named
share,
so you won't see it in Network Neighborhood.

Hi Chuck,
And thanks for your help. You are right about the IPP method - that's the
one I've used.

The printer is connected by Ethernet to a switch box which is connected to
my router. From what you say, I now understand why the printer won't
appear
in Network Neighbourhood unless I install it as a local/network printer
attached to one of my computers. But then it's dependent on that computer
being on. Thinking logically, a standalone network printer won't appear
in
'Microsoft Windows Network' because it isn't a Windows machine!

The OKI installation CD1 allows me to set up the printer as a Windows
share
name, or directly as a network printer. The latter also installs 'OKI
LPR'
which is a system tray utility for TCP/IP printing, plus network drivers
and
spool directories.

Because the printer supports IPP, I can add it by IP address
http://198.168.0.7/ipp, or better still name http://oki/ipp. The client
machines adding the printer just need access to the PCL Driver (Network)
file downloaded from http://my.okidata.com/PP-C7300n.nsf?opendatabase. So
overall this method is easier more lightweight than using OKI LPR.

I think you're getting the idea.

You appear to have 3 choices.
1) Use IPP for all 4 computers. Install the IPP client on all 4
computers, and
you will see the printer under "Printers and Faxes" on all 4 computers.
2) Use IPP for one computer. Install the IPP client on the main XP
computer,
and share the printer out from the main computer. See the printer under
Network
Neighborhood on 3 client computers.
3) Use Windows Networking on the printer, and setup a named share there.
See
the printer under Network Neighborhood on all 4 client computers.

Option 1 is the simplest. Install a driver on each client computer, see
the
printer under Printers and Faxes, and use it as a network printer.

Option 2 is the choice which PC World recommends "... only experienced
network
administrators should attempt to install the C7300n on a Windows print
server
with Oki's PrintSuperVision management software."

Sharing a printer from a print server isn't magical. The sharing has to
be
supported by the vendor, and has to work with all the variances of the
operating
system. And we all know how variant Windows is.

Option 3 is the one that intrigues me, though. The printer specs (link
provided
by Lance, thanks Lance) mentions an optional 10G hard drive. Does the
printer
operating system come with some portion of Windows? Again, Windows share
names
are Windows functions, so there has to be some Windows component in the
printer
operating system.

Please let us know what you decide to do.

Hi Chuck,

I went with Option 1.

Option 3 is interesting, I agree. According to the doco, the optional hard
drive is for local spooling and storage of documents for printing on demand.
The printer's OS doesn't come with Windows and installing some sort of OS -
Windows, MacOS or Netware - on the hard drive would be an interesting
exercise (for a rainy day). The C7300N has TCP/IP, NetBEUI, NetWare,
EtherTalk and IPP protocols as standard so getting it to run one of these
OS's might be possible. It even has Telnet and ftp!

Option 1 would be my choice too.

I would maybe go with TCP/IP, or IPP, but not NetBEUI or Netware - those are
extra protocols that you don't need cluttering up your LAN. IPP and individual
drivers on each computer should be stable and make each computer access equally.

I'd still wonder what portion of Windows is on the printer to provide NetBEUI
(NetBIOS Over TCP/IP maybe?). Knowing that there has recently been an alert for
HP PCL / JetAdmin, I'm not sure I'd want a piece of Windows on a printer if I
didn't know what piece is there and how to secure it. So option 1 definitely
would be my choice.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.