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From: psm@manta.NOSC.MIL (Scot Mcintosh)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Anyone selling a device like this?
Message-ID: <1511@manta.NOSC.MIL>
Date: 12 Dec 90 22:52:44 GMT
Reply-To: psm@manta.nosc.mil.UUCP (Scot Mcintosh)
Distribution: na
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 25

I've just thought of a device that would help us overcome some
problems at our installation. I figure that if I can think of it,
someone is probably already selling one. So, if anyone knows of such
a thing, I'd appreciate hearing about it.



         +-- standard parallel printer interface
         |
         |             Ethernet
         |             |
         |             |
+------+ v +------+    |
| PC   |---|Device|----|
|      |   |      |    |
+------+   +------+    |         +------------+
                       |---------|Print       |
                       |         |Server      |
                       |         +------------+

The idea is that the device appears to be a normal printer to the PC,
but forwards the print data to a print server. Thus no ethernet
interface is needed for the PC. For various reasons which I won't go
into, this is preferable to installing an Ethernet and software in
the PC itself.