I have a beige G3 desktop with a modem, Epson Stylus PhotoEX and Stylus 800. 2 serial ports, 3 peripherals. I'd like to connect the modem and both printers and have all available simultaneously instead of shutting down, switching serial cables, etc. What is the easiest, most cost-efficient way of doing this?

What about a serial switch box? I though this might work, but someone told me you'd have to shut down to switch from "a" to "b" to prevent damaging printers/computer. What use is it in this setup if all it saves is unplugging the serial cable and connecting to the other printer?

I do have an ethernet port open. Are there converters from serial to ethernet? Cost? Anyone have any suggestions?

There were various products like the MacAlly PortJuggler and the Momentum Inc. PortExpander that turned one dserial port into 3 or four. They worked pretty well, but now are very difficult to find. You'll have to search ebay or used Mac sites to find one.

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The Mac Information Depot. Why go anywhere else?

I had a situation similar to your, too many devices, not enough ports. I was wanting to be able to connect a printer, a modem and digital camera at the same time -- all needing a seral connection.

You did not mention if you had any available PCI slots in your G3.

If you do have one available, you could look for a PCI card which either provides extra serial ports, or perhaps something that is easier to find, a card which provides a USB interface to your system.

With a serial port PCI card, your modem can can be connected to the new card freeing the printer and modem ports for your two printers. Availability may be an issue as USB's speed and flexibility has all but eliminated the market for this card.
Note, unless Epson has added CommToolBox support to their drivers, their serial printers can only see to the printer or modem ports. Modems I have used have all had CommToolBox support and thus can locate and use the extra ports.

With a USB PCI card, you can do about the same. Your modem can be connected to the USB bus with a USB-to-Serial adapter or you can replace the modem with a USB modem as the adapter is close enough to the cost of USB modem. One note, as most USB peripherals draw operating power from the USB bus, you may also have to get a powered USB hub if your system's power supply does not have the extra power for the USB devices.
Belkin (www.belkin.com) is a major vendor for USB products.

I went with the USB option and have since added other USB peripherals such as Microsoft's Intellieye Optical Mouse and a compact flash reader which lets me get the pictures from the above mentioned digital camera dramatically faster.

Hope this is useful to you.


[This message has been edited by Zurich (edited 01-19-2001).]

Actually, I have a usb card with 2 ports and a 4-port hub connected (Kensington optical mouse, Umax scanner, Fuji Smartmedia reader attached). I hadn't thought of a serial to usb adaptor for the modem. I know the USB adaptor doesn't always work with the Epson printers. What configuration do I need to set-up if I use the USB adaptor for my modem (Zoom 56k Fax/Modem)? Any compatibility issues with printers using modem serial port and having a serial modem with usb adaptor attached? Also, I have never really priced the adaptor or usb modems. Any info on your preferred products? Pricing? Thanks in advance.

Most Epson printers also have parallel ports. Epson makes their own parallel to USB adapter that works with Macs. It's $39 at buy.com. Just search by Epson's part number of C-USB-PK4. That might be your best bet. You know it works because it's made by Epson for Epson printers and you don't need to worry about conflicts with a 3rd party adapter for your printer or modem. You should double check that it's made to work with your specific printer. Epson's website can probably tell you that.

If you go the adapter route, once it and its driver software are installed and the modem is connected to the adapter, go to the modem control panel and the adapter should be listed in the list of available ports. I believe, if memory serves me, that is all that needs to be done.

I do not know of any compatibility issues between using either the modem or printer ports -- all modem and printer drivers that I am aware of allow choosing either port. In your situation, you'll just have to use Chooser to indicate which printer is active. I believe that the specifications of the two ports are identical.

Initially I had a Global Village 56k/Flex serial modem running through a keyspan USB-to-serial adapter and had no problems. Later I bought a Global Village 56K USB modem and "handed down" my previous modem to my Mac Performa 6100. The nice thing about the USB modem is there is less clutter (i.e. sans the adapter) and knowing that it was engineered for USB compatibility lets me sleep better at night.

Pricing. If I remember correctly, I paid around $100 for the Global Village USB modem, but if you shop around and look at other brands, they go for $50 and up -- nearly every manufacturer is making USB modems these days. I personally like Global Village as they have been a long time supporter of the Mac and I have never had any compatibility issues with their modems.

USB-to-serial adapters run typically around $79. Both Keyspan and Belkin sells them so they are readily available.

Regards.


[This message has been edited by Zurich (edited 01-19-2001).]

I recently purchased a Belkin Parallel to USB adapter from Best Buy (open box return, got it for $30) and hooked it up the Stylus 800 and plugged in to USB hub. I also downloaded the Stylus 800USB driver from Epson. So far so good. Both printers are now visible. Photoshop and Quark print fine to both printers. I'm assuming others should also work. Appreciated everyone's suggestions on this forum. Will report any other results/problems as I come across any.

Realize this may be a bit much, but there is a network solution. I had the additional problem of having several computers and wanting to easily use printers with all of them. Found an axis print server (http: www.axis.com), that plugs into the parallel port of the printer, plugged it into an ethernet hub, and now a previously "non-networkable" printer is available to all my computers, plus I've not used up ports that I need for other things

Thought it was worth mentioning.

Thanks for the Axis suggestion. I may have to employ that solution at work to network a Stylus 3000.

One more note on the 2 serial, 3 device subject. I installed Adobe Press Ready, downloaded the USB driver from Epson. Adobe site said minimum requirements were System 8.6, but I'm still running 8.1 (for no good reason other than I haven't had time to upgrade). To my surprise, the 800 with parallel to USB adapter worked flawlessly in my setup.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions. I love it when things work! Now, about some of my zip disks...