They have a "Y" coming off the cable
that allows the attachment of a printer while the Imation Drive is hooked up to
the parallel port. Rodney has used it in the field and states that "It's
GREAT!".
But I think that when everything is
hooked up, you're going to have an octopus of a laptop. Smart card reader
(with its own power connection), printer (with its own power connection),
Imation Drive (with its own power connection), and a power connection for the
laptop. You may also have a mouse connected to the keyboard port because
some people aren't comfortable with trackpads or little joysticks in the middle
of the keyboard.
Juan's suggestion of a PCMCIA device
sounds interesting. I've left a message with our rep to inquire further
into this model. It may be less cumbersome or it may not. We'll have
to see.
Does anybody else have a problem
with USB or parallel port or PCMCIA?
Ian
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 1:04
PM
Subject: Re: Imation Drives for PollBook
Laptops
how do you print ? do they have a
printer cable interface - like the external zips?
Tari
Parallel Port would be the best. I have used the
external parallel port Imation Drive in a real election, and it works
great. Interface speed is not an issue.
Rodney
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 12:02
PM
Subject: Imation Drives for PollBook
Laptops
Well, it looks like their are
no internal LS-120 Imation Drives available for most laptop
computers. They appear to be available for the fancy $3000.00
models. So it looks like we'll have to go external for the Imation
Drive.
We do have an option. USB
interface or Parallel Port.
I'd like some feedback on which
would be more appropriate for our application. Keep in mind that if
you want to print reports, you'll need the parallel port. Could USB
vs Parallel Port interface speeds be an issue?
Ian
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