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Wireless Peripherals?
Now that wireless technologies are more-or-less a household name,
BSDevil wonders if it's possible to use such technologies (ie Bluetooth,
802.11, etc) as a replacement for those situations where long ungainly
cables are usually called for: "My laptop and printer are placed
such a way that running a cable from one to the other would just plain
suck (too long if not direct, if direct then in the way, etc.) and
because both are about a year old. I want (to make, if need be) a little box that I plug
into my Parellel port on the laptop and one that I plug into the port
on the back of my Printer, and have them talk and print and be merry.
Power could either be directly off the port (best) or from a
rechargable battery inside the thing that is used to power the system
when transmitting, and recharges when not - like a big capacitor - off
the power of the Port. Does it exist, and if not, any ideas on making
one?" And if such can work for printers, why not other peripherals
as well?
I'd like the same thing -- except with 10BT on one end. Essentially, I'd like a IEEE802.11->10BT bridge.
Why? I don't have the ability to run cable from my "lan" area to my stereo without it looking extremely unsightly. But I'd love to be able to buy an audiotron. If I had such a bridge, I'd be all set.
Does anyone out there know of such a thing, for a reasonable cost?
I really want an universal wireless solution for everything:
the mouse, keyboard, printer, scanner, zip drive, stereo, telephone, pda, lan, of course.
and I want to turn on/off the light without a electric instalation, just the key glued to the wall and a little box in the cable.
how much I have to wait?
I'm from Argentina: Tango, Asado, Mate, Gaucho, Maradona, YPF
The units themselves are buried in a box, and used a presumably proprietory RF system .. i.e. not 900MHz, etc.
Doing a google on 'wireless printing' gave me this link to aerocomm which has a similar product, but which is faster .. 1mbps.
Still, a little searching youeself would have been better.
gus
.. if only.
Check out the HP 995C here.
It seems to support Bluetooth out of the box. A little pricey to me, but it seems like a good deal.
BAM!
I bough an Auditron and needed a 10BT bridge. I just bought two Linksys WAP11's and upgraded the firmware on them. There is a point to point bridging mode with the most current firmware. I also used WAP11's with an external antenna to link up my garage to my network (internet appliance and downloading MP3's to my car). e-mail me if yah need info. I'll send yah a bunch of info.
LLAMA
Rule of Life Number 2: Remember, it can all go to hell at any minute. --Jimmy Buffet
If all you want to do is print, Ethernet is the (very old) solution, works fine. Could cost you too much for an Ethernet capable printer, though.
PC parallel isn't too tough to do, it's slow by modern standards, though. Most of your options will be with newer interfaces.
Wireless is OK, again you're paying money for this.
I would suggest a good old telephone interface (PhoneNet for Macs, about $20) or one of the Phone networking solutions for PCs (maybe $100). Plug the PC into your home phone lines and same with the printer, they can be anywhere phone lines can go. This works because your phone wiring/connectors should be 4-pin and the phone only uses 2.
Why...?
The only reason I can think of is because you live in an apartment - but this isn't a reason at all!
I say this because of my years of apartment living. Given a bit of work, it is possible to route a wire anywhere, and make it look good. The easiest way is to run it next to the baseboards, just underneath the carpet, along the walls. Where you have to go through a wall, drill the holes, and poke the cable through. You might also be able to pry back the baseboards, and install in the crack between the drywall and flooring. Nail the baseboards back, and repaint.
Spackling compound and plaster are your friends. Get a sample of paint (or ask you landlord) and have it colormatched - buy a gallon or two (the latter if you are really ambitious). I remember installing a desk into a walk-in closet - because there was no good joists to hang the desktop from (really crappy closet design), I had to glue and nail the load bearing members to the paint/drywall in the closet. Of course, when I moved, I had to remove these "shelves" - and ripped the paint down to the drywall and beyond (ie, the cardboard - ack!). A bit of spackle, some colormatched paint, and a bit of artfully crinkled paper (to match the "texture") - and I got my deposit back no prob (it looked good, believe me - but just in case, I slightly unscrewed the light, etc to deter close looking).
Various manufacturers also make baseboard-style conduit in various colors - and they can be painted as well. Typically, they are used to run phone or electrical circuits - but they can be used for just about anything, including network cable, etc. You can find them at most big home centers (Home Depot, Lowes, etc). They aren't too cheap for long runs, but they look better than PVC pipe (which could be used in a pinch, I suppose - painted a neutral off-white color, and laid along the baseboards - wouldn't look too bad). These conduits aren't a new idea, BTW - in the "olde-days", phone and electric wiring used to be run in a similar manner in wooden conduits - many times the conduits would be disguised as baseboards, ceiling cornices, and chair rails - so there is another idea (for network cabling only - not sure if it would match code, though - check into it if you care).
If you aren't in an apartment - I appologize. But if you aren't, then where are you living that is preventing such a cable run? If it is your own house, there shouldn't be a problem - same for a condo or townhome. I am really curious...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
You're in luck -- soon you'll be able to get a wireless monitor.
I connect my laptops wirelessly with my printer because my SMC Barricade router for my DSL circuit has a print server built in.
I go DSL line -> SMC router -> Wireless AP.
I only paid around $70 for the SMC, and I needed a router anyway so the print server part was a bonus, but now I can't live without it!
...with something like this. :)
Definitely not designed with networking in mind (for all I know is probably because it wasn't designed or built recently)...
Can you run the cable on the outside? In other words, out a wall up the side, over the top, and down the other side and through the wall? Are there any conduits to allow this?
Given your situation, it truely does look like wireless is the only option...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon