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It is highly desirable to have multiple
printers available to handle different types of print jobs. Standard
black and white laser printers are fast and can produce crisp text
output while ink-jet printers turn out photo-realistic prints on
various media. If multiple printers are to be
connected to a single host PC and the user needs to connect/disconnect
the desired printer on demand, the printers have to connect to
different ports (parallel and USB, multiple USBs, and so on). The
alternative is to use a printer switch.
A printer switch is a piece of hardware that is used to take data input from one or more devices and route it to one or more output devices. Also known as an A/B switch or data switch, these devices allow a host to access two or more output devices with the "flick of a switch". In addition to printers, these output devices can be Zip drives, scanners, or CDR drives. The parallel port is still the standard printer interface port on the PC. Most PCs are assembled with only a single parallel port. Though it is possible to install and configure a second parallel port, the most feasible method of having access to multiple printers on a single host is through the use of a parallel printer switch. The switch device connects to the host parallel port and gives the host access to two (or more depending on the model of the switch) user-selectable parallel ports. The port the host connects to is labeled "Input" or "Host", and the output ports are usually labeled "A" and "B". Inside the printer switch is mechanical or digital circuitry that performs the actual "switching" when the user selects the port connected to the desired output device. The user selects the device by turning a knob, flicking a switch, or pressing a button. A printer switch is a very useful device that is simple to
set up and use, but there are a few rules that should be followed
before installation:
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