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I have the following situation

I have an Ethernet only HP Printer which I need to connect to a parallel port PC.

Could I use an External JetDirect card to connect my Ethernet printer to a Parallel port PC?

--UPDATE-- There is an Ethernet port on the PC but it's being used to connect to the Domain. So I can't unplug the PC's ethernet. The room which has the PC has only 1 Ethernet port so we can't connect 2 devices to the network simulataneously.

The Printer has an Ethernet port only so I can't connect it via Parallel port cable.

But if I can bridge the Ethernet port to Parallel port that would solve my problem.

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6 Answers 6

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If the computer and the printer are on the same network, that's your answer; use Ethernet. I'm assuming the printer does not have a parallel port. You won't be able to use the Jetdirect "in reverse".

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  • Ok. That answered my question about using the JetDirect in reverse. Thanks!
    – Cocoa Dev
    Feb 8, 2012 at 17:41
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If the PC doesn't have a network card, buy one. Really, that's the simplest solution and you don't want to dick around with trying to make some sort of parallel-to-ethernet bridge that no one will understand after you leave.

If you don't want the PC to be on the network in general, buy a switch in addition to the network card, and assign static IPs to the JetDirect and to the PC. Then they can live together alone on their on LAN and no one will bother them.

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  • No switch required for most modern NICs (with auto MDI-X)
    – Chris S
    Feb 8, 2012 at 16:03
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    Ah, true. "In my day, we had to crimp RJ45 crossover jacks on CAT3 cables ourselves, and we liked it!"
    – cjc
    Feb 8, 2012 at 16:10
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Based on your update, a simple $15 hub should solve your problem. Cheaper than a jetdirect, too.

A $10 nic would also work, but it will be a lot harder to set up correctly.

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Buy a cheap hub or switch - blammo, the room magically has more Ethernet ports.

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  • cant buy equipemt. We are on a freeze. Thats why we're trying to figure out how to accomplish this (if possible). If we didn't have the freeze, we'd have a new port installed or buy a new printer.
    – Cocoa Dev
    Feb 8, 2012 at 17:39
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    You can't do anything about this without buying something. If you can't drop $20 on a cheap hub, or scrounge one from the parts closet, or hack up a cable splitter (bad option, but might work), then you're truly up a creek sans paddle.
    – mfinni
    Feb 8, 2012 at 17:42
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    Who the hell voted this down? :-)
    – mfinni
    Feb 8, 2012 at 20:20
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If you can use the external you can use the Jet direct on the printer. You will need ethernet in either case. Can you explain the issue in more detail? Does the PC not have ethernet? Can it be added?

Can you provide the printer model?

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Unless you require gigabit performance for your PC/Printer I'd recommend either splitting the cable at both ends to give you two jacks or purchasing a breakout cable for both ends. This way will give you two ports that will support 10/100 devices.

This is the breakout cable I mentioned.

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    OMG, why would the OP want to buy that for a total of $17 when a dinky switch will do what he wants? Maybe if he wants to run a phone line into there, too, but that's not what's described.
    – cjc
    Feb 8, 2012 at 17:01
  • @cjc because no network admin would like to have unmanaged consumer-grade shit on his premises but rather connect all equipment to managed switch ports. Do a new cable run if possible or split cables (preferably properly) if it's not.
    – the-wabbit
    Feb 8, 2012 at 17:16
  • Not to flame or anything but I'm going to anyways...Recommending someone daisy chain CHEAP switches like that is seriously irresponsible.
    – ErnieTheGeek
    Feb 8, 2012 at 17:47
  • What specifically is "seriously irresponsible" about using a cheap switch in this sort of edge case?
    – Chris S
    Feb 9, 2012 at 17:04
  • Maybe thats a bit of an overstatement on my part, but I've seen more "dinky switches" bring down a network than most of the other common causes combined.
    – ErnieTheGeek
    Feb 9, 2012 at 21:03

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