On Wed, 5 Sep 2001, Colin Novick wrote: CN>On the windows side of my machine I am connecting my machine to a large CN>format HP printer (DesignJet 488 CA) through a 3Com network card and CN>a 3Com 4 port fast ethernet hub. The HP requires that I send all the CN>data to a HP JetDirect 300X box that transfers the data through a CN>parallel conn. to the printer. It is faster for big projects that way CN>if you believe the literature. That works fine in Windows , but again CN>I can't "see" the important command settings that make trying to CN>understand what works, and thus how to replicate it in Linux hard. it's not that hard, i think. does Mandrake have something like printtool? in RedHat, there's a program called control-panel that allows the admin to configure printers. it was through this that i told it about network printers (the information is stored in /etc/printcap).... once you know hostnames or IP addresses for the printers, the rest isn't difficult at all. that little box seems to act like a print buffer. pretty handy. CN>I haven't been able to address the large HP in Linux through printing CN>programs, network interfaces, or fiddling in network settings. My hm. is there an LCD on the printer? if so, you might be able to manually configure that part yourself locally (that is, local to the printer). make sure that the IP address is free to be assigned and that it is within the realm of those used on your network (IP, subnet mask, etc). CN>machine's network card is there (eth0) and I can ping that. Thus there CN>is a way out and onto the network. All the connected items satisfy the CN>3Com hub and the appropriate indicator lights show a good connection. okay... that takes care of my next question before i even ask it. CN>I was of the belief that the HP printer may have a "static" IP in its CN>hardware so I tried pinging that. No luck. Nor any luck for trying to CN>just assign an IP to it, though I have to admit that I may have done CN>that improperly through ignorance. there is a factory default, but it's not likely that you could access it from any machine unless you change your IP address on the host... i've seen that on WinDOZE: HP Jet Direct couldn't see new printers unless i changed my Win* box to that IP subnet first. once i went in and made changes (including changing the printer's IP address!), i could put the settings back, and i'd be in business. CN>Each time I installed Mandrake I made sure that the hub and printer were CN>on in the hopes that it might be automatically detected in the setup. not likely. the printer doesn't need to say much about its presence, so.... CN>I figured that my general difficulties in overall printing might be part CN>of the issue so I am trying to add to the network an old PentiumI using CN>another 3Com card. I heard that connections are easier if you keep the CN>connections all in the same family. That card is there as eth0 on that CN>machine as well and I can ping the card from its machine. familiarity is the main reason. it doesn't really matter who the manufacturers are, so long as you know what you're dealing with. CN>Part of the issue is trying to figure out how to set the settings in both CN>of the machines such that they can find one another. I was originally CN>thinking that this was a peer to peer relationship and that I needed to CN>set the IP's on each of the machines and then try to have one ping the CN>other. The Mandrake Config programs are not doing this automatically for CN>me so I tried messing around in the terminal. there are a lot of things that don't get set automagically, but that's okay. that's what we're here for, right? ;) Bill Smith Fall River, MA