Wireless Print Server - WPS870G and HP Printer fax scanner all in one

I have installed Wireless Print Server - WPS870G. It works and prints. However it does not scan or fax. My printer has these features. Tthese options do not seem available on my desktop anymore. It seems this printer is smart enough or dumb enough depending on your viewpoint, to know that the printer is not directly connected via USB, and has thus removed these features eg, the scanner / fax features disapear.

The question I have is, do wireless or I suppose network print servers allow for scanners and such. Or is printing the only functionality I can get out of it. Has anyone had any experience with this.

Regards

Reply to
steve
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All I know is that some of the printer's functionality stop functioning when a print server is in play. It doesn't make any difference whether it's a wired or wireless print server.

Duane :)

Reply to
Duane Arnold

mmm well now cant remember if when other computers where networked over and using the printer port on another computer wether these options where availble. So I think you are right. If you network the printer it prints but that is about it.

Regards

Reply to
steve

Almost no multifunction printers work properly with print servers, wireless or wired. Many don't even print properly (I had a lexmark X5150, wouldn't print a line).

The problem is that such printers require special bidirectional comms between printer and PC. This is handled in the driver software on the PC, but doesn't get handled by the printserver.

This isn't limited to MFDs. My Epson R220 won't work with a USB printserver, prints half a page then crashes the printserver. And even when it does "work", none of the useful features function (ink level monitors, head cleaning, CD printing etc...)

The only fix is to either buy a printserver which is listed as supported by your printer maker, or buy a printer which is listed as suppoted by your printserver.

You're lucky to get that much....

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:04:11 +0100, Mark McIntyre wrote in :

Much of what you say is true, but a possible work-around is to configure the printer driver for "raw" mode -- that's what enabled me to get an HP MFP working (for printing only), even though it wasn't officially supported on the Apple Airport Express.

It also helped to put the port in "direct" mode -- otherwise it was all too easy for the printer spooler to get badly stuck.

Reply to
John Navas

Yep that is all you will get unless you are lucky enought to find a printserver that will support multifunction prints... I know that the D-link DPR-1260 is supposed to work with quite a few HP printers... Most Print servers will not..... Like someone else pointed out it is a driver issue and we as a wireless group should start letting the printer mfr know that they should write their driver to give us that capability...

Reply to
DavidT

Thanks for all your answers. At least I know now and wount fuss with it.

Thanks.

Reply to
steve

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