Legit Reviews

A friend of mine has a printer he wants to connect to.
It is now connected to a desktop computer and the desktop is connected to his router. What he wants to do is eliminate the desktop but still be able to access the printer from his laptop which is on the ether net via cat5.
My question is, what would he need to connect the printer to the network without going thru the desktop. The printer does not have an ethernet jack but it does have usb and the router does not. Router is cat5 or wireless only.

yeah you will need to go through the desktop. what you have to do is run the xp network wizard to set it up for file and printer sharing. it may sound hard, but it really is quite simple

martini161 wrote:yeah you will need to go through the desktop. what you have to do is run the xp network wizard to set it up for file and printer sharing. it may sound hard, but it really is quite simple

It sounds like he wants to hook the printer straight up to the router and not have to go through a computer...I'm not sure you con do this with a standard desktop printer. If he really needs to get rid of the computer, why doesn't he just plug the printer straight into the laptop?

Alathald wrote:

martini161 wrote:yeah you will need to go through the desktop. what you have to do is run the xp network wizard to set it up for file and printer sharing. it may sound hard, but it really is quite simple

It sounds like he wants to hook the printer straight up to the router and not have to go through a computer...I'm not sure you con do this with a standard desktop printer. If he really needs to get rid of the computer, why doesn't he just plug the printer straight into the laptop?

The printer is in his house and he uses his laptop in his shop. He can't move the printer to the shop because it is his wifes printer for school. She will let him use it but not move it. They both have laptops now and he wants to do away with the desktop.

What you need to eliminate the desktop is one of these. Make sure it has USB and either wireless or ethernet, depending on which route your friend thinks is best.

Dan

unless it has a rj-45 jack, then he cant hook it up directly to the router. maybe with a usb wireless adapter, but i dont know. its easiest to just hook it up directly to the computer and go through that, or just buy a new printer. i have my hp photosmart all in one hooked up through rj45 to the router, works great

DMB2000uk wrote:What you need to eliminate the desktop is one of these. Make sure it has USB and either wireless or ethernet, depending on which route your friend thinks is best.

Dan

ive thought about buying one of those, i think its just easier to buy a new printer

DMB2000uk wrote:What you need to eliminate the desktop is one of these.

As usual, Dan is the man! Those are a bit pricey, you could just buy a new printer for that price. What I would do though is just set that desktop up as a file server, great zero cost solution, plus an easy way to backup all your files and such. Just get it set up and stick it in a closet somewhere.

Alathald wrote:

DMB2000uk wrote:What you need to eliminate the desktop is one of these.

As usual, Dan is the man! Those are a bit pricey, you could just buy a new printer for that price. What I would do though is just set that desktop up as a file server, great zero cost solution, plus an easy way to backup all your files and such. Just get it set up and stick it in a closet somewhere.

At under $50, you're not likely to get a printer with built-in print server...

hnzw_rui wrote:

Alathald wrote:

DMB2000uk wrote:What you need to eliminate the desktop is one of these.

As usual, Dan is the man! Those are a bit pricey, you could just buy a new printer for that price. What I would do though is just set that desktop up as a file server, great zero cost solution, plus an easy way to backup all your files and such. Just get it set up and stick it in a closet somewhere.

At under $50, you're not likely to get a printer with built-in print server...

Haha, you're absolutely correct, I just meant he could pick up a second desktop printer for use at his shop...guess I could have been a bit more clear

Anyway, I still say it's cheaper (free) to turn the desktop into a server and hide it somewhere out of site.

The UsRobotics/3Com wireless router I use has a USB printer port built into it for wireless printing any where in the house. Took about 5 minutes to set up, cost in the $50 dollar range, and once it's set up you can disconnect it from the machine you set it up with and run it stand alone if you want.

In the 18 months I've had it I've had to hit the reset button on the back once and within a minute the network was back up and running with no other intervention from me. It also lets you back up the current router profile to disk (I put mine on burner) and restore the profile in a couple of clicks. Other advantages include the easy ability to turn on all your devices and tell the router that only these devices can access the router and no others period. Makes it easy to prevent out side access from hot point snipers, hardware based firewall gives a little extra piece of mind.

In all it's a good unit with multi functional appeal from a company that has made it's name in reliability, security and functionality.

Methious wrote:The UsRobotics/3Com wireless router I use has a USB printer port built into it for wireless printing any where in the house. Took about 5 minutes to set up, cost in the $50 dollar range, and once it's set up you can disconnect it from the machine you set it up with and run it stand alone if you want.

In the 18 months I've had it I've had to hit the reset button on the back once and within a minute the network was back up and running with no other intervention from me. It also lets you back up the current router profile to disk (I put mine on burner) and restore the profile in a couple of clicks. Other advantages include the easy ability to turn on all your devices and tell the router that only these devices can access the router and no others period. Makes it easy to prevent out side access from hot point snipers, hardware based firewall gives a little extra piece of mind.

In all it's a good unit with multi functional appeal from a company that has made it's name in reliability, security and functionality.

That was a really nice and concise review. Knew there were routers with built-in USB (for NAS/print server) but I thought they'd be in the $100+ price range. Then again, I haven't really checked prices for routers lately.

Alathald wrote:Anyway, I still say it's cheaper (free) to turn the desktop into a server and hide it somewhere out of site.

Yeah, but how much more is that per month compared to a simple print server when it comes to the electricity bill?

hnzw_rui wrote:Yeah, but how much more is that per month compared to a simple print server when it comes to the electricity bill?

It depends what the specs of the computer are, but since it'll be idle 99.9% of the time, it probably won't draw over 200W.

I'm in a similar situation as you. I have my printer plugged into my P3 that I use for BT and as a printer. The computer only on when it is downloading and when I'm printing. Other than that, it's usually off. It wasn't too difficult setting it up with the Windows XP programs that allow you to share a printer wirelessly, but once a while it stops working for like a day then it'll work again.

As the others said, you can also get a router that has a USB plug in or something related. This should be a pretty good bang for buck router. ASUS WL-500g I'm not sure whether it supports printers though. It says it has a USB port supporting external hard drives so I guess it works fine with printers. You can also get ASUS-WL520GU. The best part is that they support DD-WRT. I'm not sure if DD-WRT supports printer sharing though so you'll have to research that.

BTW, the WL520GU is cheaper than the $30 at Canada Computers. I don't know where you live, but under $50 for a router that can act as a print server is just great.

Print Server = Problem Solved

i personally have an old p4 that i use as a linux file and print server. works like a charm and i never have to worry about what files are on which comps