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Comments on USB-Equipped Ethernet Print Servers?

Posted by timothy on from the any-wireless-ones-in-this-bunch? dept.

An Anonymous Coward asks: "I'm looking to purchase an external Ethernet print server with an USB printer interface. I've only found two such beasts HP JetDirect 175x and Sercomm PS5800). Do I have any other hardware options? Do USB print servers work with any USB printer, or are there driver issues?" Comments, anyone? Information about running such a box under free operating systems would also be nice.

1 of 21 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Avoid the JetDirects by Bazman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So only have one computer talk to it at once. How? By setting up a unix box as an LPD server, and define a queue that prints to the Jet Direct. All client machines print to the queue on the LPD server, and you configure the JetDirect so that only the LPD server has access to it.

    If your server is close enough to your printer, you can do without the JetDirect box and plug the printer straight into the server, but our print server is a long way from our printer, so the printer is connected to a JetDirect box in the user lab, and the server is tucked away in the machine room.

    Yes, I know its another single-point-of-failure, but ours hasn't failed for years....