---
One way to get rid of one of the manual switch (2PC->1 line) is to
replace it with autosensing automatic switch -- i believe these
are quite cheap.
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You can make a 5-10" parallel cable to go from 2->1 to 1->4 switch
and thus shorten the cabling some...
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Possible, but quite costly and not 100% working solution
would be to add a parallel port to each PC [for 4 ports total,
2 on each PC] and network the PC's. I'm _not_ recommending
this because I've never tried something like this, but
you should consider this because it effectively eliminates
the need for switches.

side question: are internal/external ZIP drives and scanners
working via network, i.e. accessible from any connected PC?

(you'll have to keep both pc running to use all of the hardware)

> I put the two computers on a manual 2-way switch them ran to
> a 4-way manual printer switch. the printers worked, but the
> scanner won't work on that long of cable (scans are streaky).

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