avoiding a print server

[wwpro]

hi there

I'm setting up the shop, and it's small, really small, but I hate wires all over the place, and I have 2 laser printers( HP's color and monochrome), and 3 Epson inkjets (sublimation, pigment, and screen printing films), none of them wireless.

I'm gonna have the main PC at the entrance on my desk, and printers in the production area (3 meters apart), and I'd like to print to any of them without having to run a long usb cable to a hub where all the printers will connect.

Can I set a laptop or nettop and connect all the printers to it while it's on the network right ? What about the nettop going to sleep to save on energy ? I'm not familiar with the WOL (Wake on Lan) thing, but would that solve my issue ?

Just realized I almost answered my own question, but it's a print server necessary or are other ways to work around this? My SP300V would be connected via USB so no problem there

thanks for staying to the end

 

[round man]

you don't want to use a machine that will go to sleep or shut itself down for a print server(machine that is actually wired to the printer) on the network,...that will take the printers offline

 

[choucove]

If none of these printers are capable of connecting directly onto the ethernet network, then yes your best bet will probably be putting in a simple desktop computer back there connected to them and sharing out all the printers on your network from that device. Then, all computers in your network can print using those shared printers.

You can get a laptop to do this, and turn off the power saving features just leaving it plugged in, but really this is not ideal for what you're wanting to do as a laptop will 1) offer less performance for more money, 2) have less flexibility to upgrade or replace hardware if needed, and 3) will have fewer USB connections for external devices. I would just recommend a desktop system, and still you will want to turn off the power saving features so it always is running. If you are just wanting to run this off of a wireless network instead of plugging the computer directly into an ethernet network then just be aware you're going to have troubles printing occasionally. Every time that I've worked with wireless printers at any office, they have times where the wireless network is just not reliable enough and they will get prints that fail halfway through, or do not send at all, and it can be much more complicated and aggravating to go try and fix once or twice a week than it is to just run the ethernet cable and be done with it.

 

[encadtech]

Another option is using a wireless print server. The TRENDnet TEW-MP1U Wireless G Print Server is available from tiger direct. You would either need a wireless hub that connected to your PC via a CAT5 cable - or you could use a wireless usb adapter to talk to the print server directly. Nice thing is about the trendnet PS is it just a network appliance that sits on the network and never goes to sleep. This eliminates the need for a whole PC to act as a print server. Good Luck

 

[wwpro]

yep, I mentioned a laptop because I have a few that are a little outdated or with battery issues, so no big deal if they just sit there.

The Nettop is great because it's low energy consumption, somewhat fast for it's size and plenty of USB ports, and it is TINY!!! , maybe I can mount a small monitor in that area and use it to browse the web or play videos while I work in that area

thanks for the feedback, I had the idea that I wasn't completely wrong, but needed some assurance. The USB print servers I've seen around here are can only handle up to one printer, and it's not ideal for me now.

 

[p3]

If you have a router, get another router (I use a WRTG54 Linksys Router) Install DD-WRT and set it up as a wireless bridge. Run the cat5 to that. Boom. Next best bet, is the desktop. You can build a cheapy one to handle your print jobs...200 bucks. Or, you can get a network storage device. I have a D-Link DNS-325 for my network storage, and it also acts as a print server...so you don't necessarily need another computer and you would have additional storage, and can run backups.. So you could run that hooked up to a wireless bridge and have the printer connected to it via USB.. and I have not have had problems with it.

Just a thought.

 

[wwpro]

I have plenty of computers, and have a linksys WRTG54 with DD-WRT installed, but don't see how can that benefit me when the computers are only capable of connecting thourgh USB. I'll probably do what I intended to do first, which is setting up the nettop pc and hook all the printers to it.
Thanks for the help y'all