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Let's take a minimal two computer network, one has a printer, one does not. The goal is to get the computer that does not have the printer to be able to print to the printer on the other computer.
We will call the computer which has the printer node #1 named "Bert," and the computer which does not have the printer node #2 named "Earnie."
This line should be in CONFIG.SYS on Earnie's computer (and above NET00000):
DEVICE=c:\lbl\netbshar.sys LPT1 LPT1 ON:1
This line makes your software think a printer is attached to Earnie's computer
on LPT1, and NETBSHAR sends all of Earnie's printer data to node #1's LPT1.
If we had intstead entered:
DEVICE=c:\lbl\netbshar.sys LPT1 LPT2 ON:1
then your software still thinks a printer is attached to Earnie's computer
on LPT1, but NETBSHAR sends all of Earnie's printer data to node #1's LPT2.
And If we had intstead entered:
DEVICE=c:\lbl\netbshar.sys LPT2 LPT1 ON:1
then your software thinks a printer is attached to Earnie's computer on LPT2
(not LPT1), and NETBSHAR sends all of Earnie's printer data to node #1's LPT1.
The "ON:1" parameter tells NETBSHAR where the real printer actually is, in this case, on node #1. So that's where NETBSHAR sends printer data. If we had entered "ON:17", then NETBSHAR would send printer data to node 17.
This setup can be modified later using LBL.COM.
DEVICE=c:\lbl\utils\netspool.sys LPT1
This example is done on a computer where "LPT1" is physically attached to LPT1,
and other computers will be printing to it over the network. If you have
four computers, but only one of them has a printer, only that one computer will
have NETSPOOL loaded. If a computer has two printers, NETSPOOL can be loaded
twice:
DEVICE=c:\lbl\utils\netspool.sys LPT1 c:\lbl\spool
DEVICE=c:\lbl\utils\netspool.sys LPT2 c:\lbl\spool2
The path at the end of the line tells the spooler where to put spool files
for each printer -- these must be kept separate. If no path is given,
"c:\lbl\spool" is used (assuming "LBL" is "home"). These paths must exist.
There are some parameter which can be entered on the command line to improve performance.
If printing is taking too much time away from the person sitting at the keyboard, try adding: SLICE:1,10,10,1 WAIT:5 The middle two numbers of "10" define how long a print cycle is in 18ths of a second ticks, while the first "1" limits the amount of time dedicated to printing to 1 of those ticks, or ten percent. The default is fifty percent.