Terminal and printer on 1 modem

[Steve Goodrich]

I have an interesting problem:  I need a way to use both a printer
and a terminal on one modem.  Multiplexers and stat-muxes are too
expensive, so those items are out.  I'm using Xenix System V, version
2.2.3 on an 80386 clone.  We are using an Arnet Multi-port board with
4 serial ports on it, and we have one other serial port available on
the machine.  One of the people on the machine is going to have to 
take some time off, and she wants to be able to do her work at home.
She is the head of our accounting department, and we NEED her to be 
able to balance the books (especially at the end of the year).  In 
order to do this, she needs to have both a printer and a terminal at
home. 

This, then, is the problem:  we need her to have both a terminal and a 
printer at home.  There is the obvious answer of her having two modems 
and two phonelines, and our having to install those.  I think that 
there must be a better answer, though.  In my mind, a person should be
able to live with only having to purchase two modems and one phone line.
The terminal should be able to queue up print requests, and the shell 
script interface program for the printer should be able to wait until the
user has logged off, then dial the modem to call her house, dump the file(s),
and clear the line.  She would also need a serial switch box so that when
she was done with the terminal (and she had hung up the phone line), she
could switch the modem's output over to the (serial) printer.  This is 
my theoretical solution, but I don't know HOW it would be done IF it can
be done.

Therefore, I'd like to solicit your help:  you've seen my problem.  Can 
you help me find a way to get her a terminal and a printer at home with
only one modem?  I'll take all the help I can get.

Thanks in advance,
Steve Goodrich


(sdg at loft386)