Alan Mendes writes:
>Does anyone know if it is possible to connect a HP 5p to the Hp 3000.
 
Yes.
 
>we currently have a HP 4 and a Hp 3 connected. Do we need a special i/o board
>
>or will the Serial port do.
 
As I found out to my chagrin when I borrowed a 5P for an emergency, the 5P
doesn't have a serial port! You have several choices:
 
1. Buy a parallel-to-serial converter box from someone; Black Box makes
   them (part number PI115-A, $135, (412) 746-5500) among others. I
   solved my problem by using one of these (an older Black Box model
   that I happened to have sitting around from an earlier project).
 
2. Buy a JetDirect adapter. This will let you put the printer on the
   network. They're more expensive -- around $300 at the low end -- but
   give you more capability. You'll also need some softare to drive it;
   I'd recommend Quest Software's NBSPOOL. (I recommend it because I've
   tried it and I know it works!) I suppose you could throw something
   together in Perl as well. MPE/iX 5.5 will have network spooling
   functionality built in, if you can wait for it.
 
3. Put the printer on a PC and use Reflection or another terminal
   emulator. This won't give you automatic printing like the other
   solutions, but it'll work if you really want to share the printer
   between the PC and the 3000.
 
-- Bruce
 
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