How to connect two Mac Pros to one Epson 4800

[joe_mcinerney]

<p>Can I connect two Mac Pro towers to one Epson 4800 with an ethernet card? Can each Mac Pro run one ethernet cable to the Epson 4800 which has two ethernet ports?<br>

Thanks,<br>

Joe.</p>

[howard_m]

<p>you could but honestly, it'd be a lot saner for you to get a small 'switch' and connect everything together. <br>

Something like a Netgear GS605 or 608 but there are many many on the market.<br>

http://netgear.com/Products/Switches/DesktopSwitches.aspx<br>

Are the Mac's already on a network, perhaps to your cable or DSL modem/router? If there is another unused jack on the modem/router, you could just plug the 4800 into that.</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>A print server would definitely do the trick. You can spool jobs from both computers to it, and it handles the output from the network.</p>

[howard_m]

<p>it appears as though the network card on the 4800 is optional and the card comes w/ a range of software including what appears to be print server functionality. The card that the 4800 manual shows as the ethernet card does NOT have 2 ports, just 1 (and a pushbutton)</p>

<p>http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=Doc&oid=48607&prodoid=38262402</p>

[digitaldog]

<blockquote>

<p>Can I connect two Mac Pro towers to one Epson 4800 with an ethernet card? Can each Mac Pro run one ethernet cable to the Epson 4800 which has two ethernet ports?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Yes you can. Run through a hub (one cable goes to the 4800, all printers on network can print to it).</p>

[john_simon5]

<p>You should be able to run it via a wireless network that should be easy to setup with your existing equipment without needing any new cables. Connect the printer to one computer and then turn on printer sharing and use the airport in that Mac Pro to create a network. Then you can link to that printer from the other Mac Pro via the network.</p>

<p>(For myself I have an airport express with USB printer connected. My two computers can both print to that printer over the network.)</p>