Network printing

[#1]

I have a perfectly good GDI laser printer (NEC) attached to an old (very old) Windows 98 pc.  Both work very well together.  The pc is networked with wifi broadband to two other computers, and acts, I suppose, really as a print server.
However, if I want to use it, I have to copy the file to the Windows 98 machine and then go to the Winows 98 machine to physically print it, because I understand that neither Windows XP nor Vista support the old GDI protocol anymore.  In fairness, I have never tried to install the GDI printer on an XP machine because it requires a parallel port whereas the other machines of course only have USB.
I also have several spare laser cartridges, and at the price they are, I do not want to waste them - hence the reason for continuing with the GDI printer instead of replacing it with something up to date and probably not as good ! 
What I would like to do is to be able to print directly to the laser from an XP / Vista machine through the W98 without having to copy the files to the W98 machine first.  I have other printers installed on the XP / Vista machines and can print directly to those printers from any machine via the network, with the exception of this GDI machine because GDI is not supported.
Any suggestions ?  Or do I just have to bite the bullet ?

[#2]

If on the 98 pc you share the printer and then go to Xp and add a printer select network printer then browse and it should pick it up and copy the files needed to print from xp that should be it.
If its a very old printer you may need win2k or xp drivers for it but most of the time its ok

[#3]

Thanks.  I just tried that but as I feared, XP did not "see" the printer.  I think the problem is the antiquity.  I think that this will not be worth too much time trying to sort it out.

[#4]

Xp should see the printer if its shared even if its very old it may grumble about drivers but it should be visible.  Is the 98 pc on the right ip range and member of the workgroup have you got file and print sharing enabled on 98? Is 98 using ip or the old netbui?
You can use the cmd line like this
net use LPT1 \\MyServer\MyPrinter
myserver being the win98 pc name and myprinter being the name you have shared it as on win98
You can get cheap printer servers for the old lpt1 printers which would mean you dont need 98 on to print

[#5]

I am an idiot.  It is so long since I tried to use this printer as a network printer, that I naturally assumed that it was "shared".  However, at some point I must have reinstalled it and of course forgotten to share it.  So now indeed, I can "see" it.
However, having tried to install it on the XP machine, sadly it tries to load the drivers and then gives a message "Printer diver setup error. Operation could not be completed".  I am working from the original disks.  I  Googled for a driver and, as suspected, found that NEC have not produced drivers for XP for GDI.  But I found a thread where the Konika 6100 was eveidently compatible.  Amazingly, I downloaded it and amazingly it worked !
So thanks to you, I now have the NEC 610+ installed and working as a network printer.  I am a very happy bunny !  Thanks so much.

[#6]

Glad we solved it win98 is going back a bit and its ages since I used it but do have it as a virtual pc for old times sake.

[#7]

Its not actually that amazing. There is only a relatively small number of companies who make the complicated bits inside a laser printer. You will often find printers from different people with the same internals.