Today there was a small change in the local network at home. A laser printer was removed and the other laser printer changed to a network printer. It a small change in a little network, but a great convenience in the long run. I guess my home network is pretty standard and much like the average home network. There are only two machines attached (a laptop and a desktop), which share a DSL connection to the internet.
There used to be a printer attached to each of the computers – mainly because we had to printers and because the laptop was away from time to time (and thus couldn’t share a printer with the desktop) and the desktop isn’t always on – thus causing annoyance when the laptop needed to print.
Well not any more. The oldest laser was replaced with a JetDirect print server, which basically converts the printer cable into an Ethernet jack and makes it possible to attach the printer to both machines through the network.
While it is a nice feature I really can’t understand why it’s so damn expensive getting such a print server. I’ve been looking for one for quite awhile (actually I do have one, but the power supply was lost long ago), but I came by a junior model today and hooked it up this evening.
