<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9"> <TITLE> PLIP Install HOWTO: Compatibility with a printer (lp)</TITLE> <LINK HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO-21.html" REL=next> <LINK HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO-19.html" REL=previous> <LINK HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO.html#toc20" REL=contents> </HEAD> <BODY> <A HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO-21.html">Next</A> <A HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO-19.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO.html#toc20">Contents</A> <HR> <H2><A NAME="s20">20. Compatibility with a printer (lp)</A> </H2> <P>I use the same parallel port for printing on a printer and networking with my laptop without big problems. It takes less than one second to switch from printing to networking. I just add a cheap manual switch between the parallel port, the printer and the laptop. The cable between the switch and the desktop computer is a fully connected one. The switch is just the one used to shared printers when no network is available. It works. <P>Sometimes, the kernel is not very happy because it can't finish its network job. In that case, I shut down the plip interface and restart it when needed. <P>I bought a new parallel card last year but it is still in its box. I'll write an "install a second parallel port" when I succeed in opening the box and add that beautiful card in the last connector I have left. <P> <P> <HR> <A HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO-21.html">Next</A> <A HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO-19.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="PLIP-Install-HOWTO.html#toc20">Contents</A> </BODY> </HTML>