[OPERATION] - Sil's Printer Server

[Harper]

I am getting a little sick and tired of the rest of the house network badgering me for print jobs. (Long Story Don't Ask)

I have a Canon LBP-660 Laser Printer, and they are fussy to network at it's a GDI Printer.
Especially those 30 page print jobs at 7:45 am. At 6 pages per minute with the more than occassional printer jam, i need to be out the door 8am.

Boss-man is giving me for free a Compaq Deskpro 4000 (P-166, 16Mb Ram, 2 Gb Hard Drive, 10/100 Nic) so I can set up a printer server at back of my house.

Questions :-
1. What OS would be better for setting up the this dedicated printer server. Windows 98SE or Windows 2000.

2. If I do put Windows 2000, would I want to be upping the ram at all to 32Mb/48Mb/64Mb. Mind you, this computer is just going to sit in a corner all day act as a printer server. There will be a Keyboard and Mouse attached to it. Monitor (although I have a spare) will only be connected if there is a problem.

 

[nak-1]

Could you not ditch the monitor all together and just log in remotely over the network if there is an issue??

 

[office politics]

2k would be the better OS. It's more stable and if the spooler screws up you can restart the service.

2k recommends 64 min ram. all other specs are good.

 

[Harper]

Actually found a retired Deskpro with 64Mb Ram in it.

There was also a Sound Blaster Live Digital Entertainment inside the box too.

CURRENT SPECS of this box is :-
P-166 Mb, Wester Digital 1.5Gb Hard Drive, 64Mb EDO Ram (8x 8Mb Ram Modules), On board 10/100 Network Card, Win 2k SP4

Now getting the printer shared in not going to be so bad. However what am I going to need to do so I can set up a remote desktop and setting things up from PzychoB!tch (Win XP Machine) if I need to.

Can Windows Xp Sp1a and Windows 2k SP4 do that. Or should i rely on some thing like PC Anyware (which is some thing I do not have)

 

[Harper]

All done now

I figured that I am going to keep the monitor on this box as it would be useful for people to access the online phone books and the internet. I changed my mind on the location as placed in the far end of the kitchen. It's the most central location of the house with out getting in people way.

I just hope that the computer is not too close to the microwave. It about 30 cm (1 foot) away. The printer right next to it microwave.

I will be putting a small phone directory program on this computer too so we can store all of our contact (that we wish to have public) on it.

I am think about putting a modem in here and getting a some software for Faxing and Answering Machines. I will thinking about that for the time being.

 

[office politics]

i dont think win2k can run remote desktop. As an alternative, i suggest www.tightvnc.com With the default installation, no client install is needed, any pc with a java enabled browser can control the pc running the VNC server. It has a built in http daemon that loads a java applet on port 5800 for the first connection. So install the server, set a pwd, goto another comp, ppoint your browser to http://serverpc:5800, and you're connected.

 

[Harper]

I might check out that software some time. Thank you for the suggestion