buy a print server, or deticate a machine?

Hello all,
My freind has an internet business, and we print a lot of stuff in a given day, and he wants to consolidate all the printing on one machine.
He has a wired router and wireless one also, on cable.
My question is should he buy a print server, or use one of his old PIII machines to be a dedicated print server?
I have gone through the stickies, and it has helped some, but what we need, is to be able to print to one printer from 3 to 4 computers, but we do not want the internet to be able to see the printer (or the computer it is hooked up to).
What would be the best course of action for a couple of network iliterates like myself and freind?

Oh, and 1 or 2 machines will be win98, and the others will be XP
Should we be going with a static IP address, or dynamic?
Most likely if we dedicate one machine to printing it will be a win98 box, unless there are pitfalls that we aren't aware of that would make it unreasonable to use w98 for print serving.
All the computers are on the internet, but they cannot comunicate with each other...yet
Any other points I missed?
All help/suggestions would be most apreciated.
Doc

if you get a laser jet just make sure it has a jet direct card (hp) then you can connect an Ethernet cable to it, assign it a static ip and connect it like that. Then it doesn't need to be connected through a pc, just directly to the router/switch.

PLOBBY said:

if you get a laser jet just make sure it has a jet direct card (hp) then you can connect an Ethernet cable to it, assign it a static ip and connect it like that. Then it doesn't need to be connected through a pc, just directly to the router/switch.

Click to expand...

He/we already have more than two printers that work fine...no need to buy another..so the question still stands.... print server thingy, or a dedicated machine?

P.S. thanks fer the replies
Doc

Oh sorry I mis-read that. Well a print server might be nice just because the low power consumption.

PLOBBY said:

Oh sorry I mis-read that. Well a print server might be nice just because the low power consumption.

Click to expand...

I agree. Firstly because I think in the long run the PC would cost more in energy costs then the print server. Secondly since it isn't a PC you wouldn't have to worry about crashes like BSOD's or anything like that.

Just buy yourself a Print Server.. Easier, Cheaper and more Reliable..

The one I have has space for 4 USB Printers and is WirelessG

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=482

hasnt failed me yet.

I have an old LaserJet hooked up to an HP print server (JetDirect) I got off of eBay for about $20. It definitely beats having a dedicated machine just for printing. Its 100% silent, takes up no space, and the as mentioned, power consumption is almost nothing. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a lot more reliable than a Win98 system would be too

Thanks everybody...looks like the print server is the way to go...now what to do with those old PIII boxes

DocClock aka MadClocker said:

Thanks everybody...looks like the print server is the way to go...now what to do with those old PIII boxes

Click to expand...

DUH

Fold em

or donate them to needy families

If its a business I would donate the boxes, you should get tax write offs for it.

If you are going to donate them I would put a slim linux distro like xubuntu on there. Windows 98 is a 10 year old operating system and will probably be nothing but crashes and headaches for whoever gets it. If you go with linux at least you still get updates for programs like openoffice.org or firefox where you wouldn't get any of those w/ programs like word 98 or IE 5 (does 98 have IE6?).

Donating them sounds good, and no TalRW, 98 comes with IE 5, and SE comes with 5.5...but you could put IE 7 on there, but who would want to?

I d'l'ed Ubuntu (don't know which distro) and burned onto a cd, and never did anything with it...maybe it's about time to try it.
You all are great...Have a very safe and happy new year
Doc

DocClock aka MadClocker said:

Donating them sounds good, and no TalRW, 98 comes with IE 5, and SE comes with 5.5...but you could put IE 7 on there, but who would want to?

I d'l'ed Ubuntu (don't know which distro) and burned onto a cd, and never did anything with it...maybe it's about time to try it.
You all are great...Have a very safe and happy new year
Doc

Click to expand...

Have a great holiday. Also if you were going to but a *buntu on it make sure it is xubuntu. That uses the xfice display system which is lighter then gnome or KDE so it's better for older machines like a P3.