Networked printer

Some of the older HP printers were windows only printers (like a winmodem, much of the processing was shifted to the OS). I'm not sure, but I believe the 960c was one of those. If it is, I doubt you will be able to make it work except when attached to a Windows computer.

Pretty close. The PS101 has a Centronics connector that plugs directly into your printer. Your assignment: find something else to do with the orphaned printer cable ... a new leash for Rowf perhaps?

Roby

You've got several steps to go thru after you get the print server wired up. Look for the "getting started" literature that comes with your print server and follow the instructions. Youi'll also need to have the right print drivers for your OS at hand.

There are several ways to hook up multiple PCs via a print server. All of them work, but it can be confusing. Follow the instructions that come in the box.

I've ordered a Netgear DG834G Wireless router. I've read up a bit on the subject of wireless networks, but I'm still not 100% on a few areas.

I want my printer to be part of the wireless network. The Netgear has four ports on the back to accept computers or printer connections. Firstly is it juat a case of plugging my printer to this port and the printer being able to accept jobs from a nearby laptop?

Also my printer (HP 960C) at the moment only has a parallel port lead, what kind of lead do I need to connect the printer to the router?

Thats great! They're not too expensive either.

Thanks Roby.

So I just plug in the printer using the parallel cable to the Print Serrver and then plug in the Print server to the router using an ethernet cable.

Hope I'm right in my understanding on how it works.

This networking stuff sure gets complicated very quickly!

In little tiny print on the

page, it shows the printer connected via a PS101 or PS121 (links to each on the right of the page). These adapt either Parallel or USB printers to ethernet.

has a USB port built in to the router. A parallel printer can be connected to a USB port with a $20 cable.

Is that "just" a printer? The wireless sharing solutions generally don't work with printer/scanner/fax multi-function machines, although they should work okay with simple printers. Printers known to work:

The other solution is to leave the printer connected to a PC, and share it to other PCs on the network. That requires that the one PC be turned on in order for the other PCs to use it, but it is the cheapest solution, and almost guaranteed to be fully compatible. $60 for the PS121 adapter. Free for sharing from a PC.

Thanks Roby, your replies are much appreciatted. The PS101 looks to be exactly what I need. It all seems so simple now! (fingers crossed it will stay that way!)

Thanks again

Thanks for pointing out that print, its confirmed to me that PS101 is excatly what I need. My printer is just a a basic inkjet model. Its not on the Netgear list, but google shows that people have got it working fine with the PS101.

Thanks

I hope it will work. All parts are ordered now. My 960C is getting pretty old now, and I'm not happy with the ink costs, if it doesn't work it'll give me a good excuse to get a new printer.

Be aware that if your printer is a multifunction device (ie combi printer/fax/copier/scanner type), it probably won't work with a printserver as the scanner/fax engine uses special protocols to talk to your computer, and the printserver won't know how to handle these.