Technology is just so coool! Everyday, I am amazed about the neat toys that people build for me to play with. When things go right, I'm in heaven. But, unfortunately, things often don't go right and the thing is, you only learn the important stuff when things go wrong.

Installing this print server did not go smoothly. It's working now, but in the process I learned a whole lot about Windows 98, TCP/IP, and a mess of other arcane networking stuff. In the end, coming to understand something new and/or complex is just as much of a rush as anything. So let me introduce you to this thing called a "print server"—specifically, the unit once manufactured by Hawking Technology, the PN7337.

The PN7337 serves its designed purpose without flaw. It connects up to your LAN, permitting all workstations to access any of up to three printers served by it. It is: a component of your 10/100Base-TX LAN, using any of IPX/SPX, NetBEUI, and TCP/IP protocols, operating under Windows, Netware, or UNIX, controlling up to three standard Centronics parallel-based printers. (This model isn't wired to return ink-level and other status messages. Paper-out and off-line signals work, though.) The PN7337 can get its TCP/IP address from a DHCP server or can be manually set.

My first experiments showed that this unit manages simultaneous print jobs correctly. Jobs from different workstations to the same printer are held in that workstation's queue until the specified printer becomes ready. Jobs from the same workstation, or different workstations, sent simultaneously to different printers on the server are printed at the same time. (This is a vast improvement over other passive "printer sharing" devices I've had in the past. Sending a print job from a second workstation prior to an in-progress print job finishing caused all sorts of havoc.)

Management of the PN7337 is accomplished directly by using a networking protocol called TFTP. Fortunately, I never had to get cozy with this aspect of networking because the "Port Settings" button on the Details tab of the printer's Properties dialog gives indirect access to all the important settings.

The unit is small enough to be hidden almost anywhere. It is light enough to be affixed to the side or back of any of the printers it serves with double-sided sticky foam.

Here's what the PN7337 doesn't do: redirect a job away from a busy printer to an idle printer; provide a simple, easy way for a novice to manage it; and permit the printers to be "seen" by users on the other side of your Internet-sharing gateway device. (That involves a newer protocol called Internet Printing Protocol which has been incorporated in the PNxxxxP models.)

PN7337 Print Server
Hawking Technology
6A Faraday
Irvine, CA 92618
888-662-8828
$174.00 MSRP
$45.00 used (winning bid on eBay)