Ruahrc
06-11-2001, 12:20 AM
Greetings fellow Sysoptians (saw this term used today hehe):
First for the DVD:
I wanted to upgrade to DVD capabilities, and pretty much settled on a drive, the Pioneer 16x/40x slot loader. But then there was a problem, there was nobody who carried it. Then I looked around a little more and found that AOpen actually makes a 16/40 slot loader too. It is more avaliable than the pioneer drive but I read a review and they said it was kinda loud. Other reviews of the Pioneer drive commented on its relatively low noise level. I was wondering if anyone had the Aopen one and is it loud?
Now for printers:
I'm going to college and was thinking that 2 printers in a dorm is kinda redundant. I came up with a few ideas to work out a system for 1 printer between 2 computers:
1. Set up an A/B box. Pretty simple, good, only drawback is that I would like to connect my printer via USB. Is there a USB A/B box?
2. Hook it up to one computer, access it via the network. This one seems logical but kinda a hassle for example I want to print my roommate's comp is not on, I have to turn it on to print my stuff. This is my last option if necessary.
3. I saw a printer once a while ago with a direct connect RJ-45 port to connect to a network. I'm assuming from there you can simply "find" the printer on the network and print from it. I like this method the best except I haven't really seen any printers since with a network link. Is there a printer out there that is a color printer with an RJ-45 connector? Also has to be fairly inexpensive (i.e. no $3000 color laser things......)
Thanks a lot.
Ruahrc
First for the DVD:
I wanted to upgrade to DVD capabilities, and pretty much settled on a drive, the Pioneer 16x/40x slot loader. But then there was a problem, there was nobody who carried it. Then I looked around a little more and found that AOpen actually makes a 16/40 slot loader too. It is more avaliable than the pioneer drive but I read a review and they said it was kinda loud. Other reviews of the Pioneer drive commented on its relatively low noise level. I was wondering if anyone had the Aopen one and is it loud?
Now for printers:
I'm going to college and was thinking that 2 printers in a dorm is kinda redundant. I came up with a few ideas to work out a system for 1 printer between 2 computers:
1. Set up an A/B box. Pretty simple, good, only drawback is that I would like to connect my printer via USB. Is there a USB A/B box?
2. Hook it up to one computer, access it via the network. This one seems logical but kinda a hassle for example I want to print my roommate's comp is not on, I have to turn it on to print my stuff. This is my last option if necessary.
3. I saw a printer once a while ago with a direct connect RJ-45 port to connect to a network. I'm assuming from there you can simply "find" the printer on the network and print from it. I like this method the best except I haven't really seen any printers since with a network link. Is there a printer out there that is a color printer with an RJ-45 connector? Also has to be fairly inexpensive (i.e. no $3000 color laser things......)
Thanks a lot.
Ruahrc