Can't have two printers installed in one computer

[Othman]

Hello,

In my line of work I require to have 2 printers installed
in my PC: one printer is an Okidata Microline 320 and the
other is a HP Laserjet 3100. The platform I use is
Windows XP. I have a switch box that connects to the
back of the PC through a parallel cable, and both
printers connect to the back of the switchbox. The
switchbox has a dial which can be turned to 'A', 'B', 'C'
or 'D'. Each one of these letters corresponds to a
connection in the back of the box. My printers are
connected to 'A' and 'B'. It should all work so that if
I want to print to printer 'A', I simply turn the
switchbox dial to the letter 'A', and the same if I want
to print to printer 'B'. The problem is as follows:

While both printers are installed I cannot print
documents to either one, even though the dial is turned
to the appropriate printer. I have to delete and
uninstall one, and then restart my PC, in order to print
to the other.

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

1. Get an add in LPT port card from you local computer store - usually
these are pretty cheap.

2. See http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bpd05600.

3. Get a printer LAN adapter (sometimes called a "Print Server") - e.g. HP
JetDirect and connect the Okidata printer to it. This will require a NIC in
your computer, a Hub or Router etc. to set up a local LAN.