Wireless Printing setup?

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Hello chaps,

I've relatively recently set up a wireless network in the coop based on a D-link wireless router. I'm about to replace the ancient epson printer with a new unit and this seems a good time to update the wireless network to cater for printing from any of the stations on the network. I see through rummaging through the internet that some printers are network ready, but these are a bit limited. So, would the better option be to obtain a print server and if so would it have to be a wireless one in order to work? There are spare Lan ports on the router so would it not be possible to simply couple up the printer to one of these ports and use a "lan only" print server or do I have to go for another wireless station ie: wireless print server? :confused:

[tired-flyboy]

can't give a definative answer to your question, others are more qualified.
However, just done a similar thing at home, wireless internet connection to router which has ethernet cable to printer. (HP 2750 All-in-one).
Works a charm (after i'd given the printer a dedicated IP address!) Give the printer a unique address and there shouldn't be a problem!
HTH
TFB :ok:

[Wing Commander Fowler]

oh yep - that sounds like exactly the reply I was looking for thanx! :ok:
Especially since the 2750 was one of the printers I was looking at! How do you find it and are the inks expensive? Did you get a good deal on it and if so from where?
Cheers

[beowulf]

There are wireless printservers available from Linksys or Netgear. They can even deal with a non-network able printers via USB
Here is what I mean ...

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Promotion_C2%26cid%3D1114633922941&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Product_C2%26cid%3D1114037289584&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

Nick

[tallseabird]

Just bought a USR 9108 which is a modem/wireless router/USB print server, all in one box.

[ExGrunt]

I have the following attached to my DG834GT, which works well:

Netgear ps101 (http://www.netgear.co.uk/mini_print_server_ps101.php)

If you have a printer with a USB port use:

Netgear ps121 (http://www.netgear.co.uk/usb_print_server_ps121.php)

The PS101 is really easy to set up. plug one side into the parallel port, connect the other side to the router using the supplied patch cable. Stick the disk into your PC to set up the connection.

After that you can use windows add network printer wizard from any other PC. The ps101 is also supported by CUPS if you have a linux box.

Hope this helps

EG

[TheOddOne]

We use an HP deskjet 5850 which is wireless-enabled. Just plug it into the mains and use the CD to set up each computer on the network. The advantage of this is you can choose a site for the printer without worrying about an ethernet cable. We chose to put the printer in a central location in the house so that we can all get to it. The children do their homework in their rooms and them come downstairs to collect the results.

Our wireless router is in the garage, so cabling would be a bit of an issue. I think the inks come out at about 15 quid or so. Of course it ain't 'all-in-one' If that's what you need, then you'd be best off going one of the other routes as above. We didn't feel the need for that - we've a scanner attached to one of the PCs and that seems to meet our scanning and copying needs.

We've had our D-Link wireles router for a couple of years now, with broadband supplied by our cable company, ntl - absolutely faultless

Cheers,

TheOddOne

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Thanx again guys - much appreciated! :ok:

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Our son, who is a computer professional, recently purchased a Belkin WiFi printer box. It works very well except it has to be set-up each and every time they turn the PC on! So far he hasn't been able to fix it, other than leaving everything on 24 hrs a day.

[tired-flyboy]

Get your son to give the printer a unique IP address.
His belkin will have a set range of addresses (such as 192.168.1.1) if he sets the printer to something like 192.168.1.15 for example it should eliminate the need to reconfigure it on every startup.
He can do this through the (assusming windows user) the start > printers> printing properties (i think its then advanced settings).
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&lc=en&product=324180&lang=en&cc=uk&docname=c00505920
This is a link to the HP support site, it gives a clearer answer than my ramblings above.
HTH
TFB :ok:

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

tired-flyboy. Grateful thanks for that, which I've passed on to #1 son. Will post an update with the results.