Large Print jobs and Windows XP Pro

[viperman224]

I'm not sure if I should post here as it may be a combo of both hardware and software. But here goes, I built a new print server for my house. It's an old machine but SHOULD work fine. It currently has a PIII 450MHz processor, 256 megs of PC100, a 6.4 gig hard drive and is running XP Pro. My problem is when my dad trys to print large files like PDF files and scanned files from his visoneer scanner. The machine just hangs there (the print server). The only way to clear the Print job list is to reboot. I originaly built the machine with 192 megs of ram, thinking, it's only going to be hosting the printer on the network and not doing anything else. So, the other day I removed one of the 3 64 meg sticks of PC100 and added a 128 meg stick of PC100 for a total of 256. I thought maybe that would help. It didn't. I changed the driver for the printer (HP DeskJet 722C) that didn't work either. I can print a test page and word file no problem. My guess is that because my hard drive is really small, the Page files are taking up to much space on it or there isn't enough available hard drive space to create them. I was going to upgrade the hard drive but before I do does any one have any suggestions? Thanks

[kc0arf]

Hello,

It is my guess that the hard drive is filling up. Because smaller documents are working fine, we have to assume that the permissions and other materials are working fine too. What is not working well are the bulk documents.

I would guess though that a 6.4 GB drive would be able to handle the print without a problem, as I would guess that your OS install is using about 1/2 of it. Curious problem indeed.

If you are just using this computer as a print server, I am wondering if you would entertain using a different OS instead, such as Linux, which has much less overhead, and is designed to be a server from the get-go.

Christian

[viperman224]

I wouldn't have a problem trying Linux, unfortunatly I have little clue has how to configure it. I have been a Windows guy since windows 3.1 lol. As for the usage of the drive, The OS is using about 3 gigs. Thats with the OS, anti-virus and antispyware software. I have a copy of SuSe 9.1 personal. I have benn told the SuSe 9.1 professional is also free. Is that a decent distro of Linux to use? Are there any websites out there that you know of that would show me a step-by-step instructions on how to setup a linux print server?