Can I hook two printers to my PC?

I would like to hook 2 printers to my pc - a Lexmarkz65 and an hpdeskjet 960c. Can this be done and how do I do it?

This question was answered on January 21, 2003. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Depends on the interface hardware I note the HP has both parallel and USB ports, and the Lexmark is advertised the same way You can connect both devices, if both printers contain USB ports, and so does your PC.

If you use the USB ports, the PC will note changes and ask for appropriate drivers the next time you reboot, following connection.

If you have a spare parallel port, or your PC has a USB port, you can specify which printer to use simply by choosing a printer from the user interface.

If you are short one port, you will either need an expansion card with an additional port, or else a parallel port switch that will do the job This is a matter of user preference

Either way, you will have to specify which printer to use before every print job, as each printing device must use a separate driver to make it run properly.

The alternative is the "Armstrong Method", where you use muscle power to connect and disconnect a printer cable each time you want to change over Simply add the additional print driver, then specify the same port for both printers You will still need to specify the proper printer by clicking on "start" and "settings" each time you change over

Following installation, click “add printer” if you need to specify the print drivers manually.

RG

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Posted by Robert of Mesa Community College on January 21, 2003

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