DM> I'll buy one from the commission I may make when you buy a swag of
DM> LAN print servers :-)
BV> HA! You jest.
DM> Nope :-)

DM> Single parallel port Axis server that will support Netware, Lan
DM> Manager, TCP/IP, NetBeui and AppleTalk for a measly ~$0.5k. By
DM> the time you've pissed around with the Lexmark server, you will
DM> have almost spent that much in time and $$. Triple printer port
DM> for double that.
DM> Not that I'm trying to sell you anything...... :-)

Good. 'coz you failed miserably. Why on earth would I want to but
the box above when for only $2850 ex-tax I can buy a HP Laserjet 4M+
which is a 600dpi, 12ppm, PCL-5, Postscript 2, Laser Printer with
6Mb of RAM. On the interface side it has Parallel, Serial, AppleTalk,
10-Base-5 Ethernet, and 10-Base-T Ethernet. It supports IPX, TCP/IP,
DLC, and every other network protocol known to man.

BV> BTW, do you have any idea where I might find a surface
BV> mount 7407 ? I've got a dead Lexmark network print server which is
BV> about 18 months old and the fuckers reckon they can't fix it. It
BV> basically consists of the SCM, 1 x 7407, 1 x 74F244, 1 x 74F245

DM> Why do I have the eeriest feeling about this.....
DM> I went down this path about 12 months ago for some japper
DM> printer's parallel port. In the end, I tacked a std 7407 upside
DM> down and ran several lengths of wire-wrap to the relevant
DM> connections.

Yeah. That's what I'm gonna end up doing too. I got the guys to
order a DIP in anticipation.

BV> The symptoms are that it thinks the printer is always in an error
BV> condition. Everything is surface mount and I can source the 244 and
BV> 245 from Farnell but no-one on earth has a surface mount 7407 so
BV> guess where the fault is going to be...
DM> Guess what, it won't be the 7407.. it'll be the SCM :-)

That's okay. The code is in an EPROM and I've got a few others lying
around too. :)

BV> The fucking dead cunts. At least I got the satisfaction of abusing
BV> the living shit out of their service manager.
DM> For an 18 month old product ? Screw 'em down hard enough and
DM> they should offer a replacement product.

Not after the way I got up 'em. It doesn't bother me that much though.
I didn't sell any of 'em, so my nose is clean :)

Cheers, Brenton
@EOT:

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