Print Server Questions

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evotz

New Member
Will a USB to Ethernet print server work with any printer, or are they only for specific printers?

I have an HP F4400 printer that I'd like to share out between two computers. I have a wireless router, and both computers are networked together through that.

Could I get something like Dlink's DP-301U (although it doesn't have to be that one specifically) to connect the printer via USB and then connect the ethernet port to the router? That would essentially make the printer a wireless printer as well.

Or do the print servers only work for specific printers? I would think it would just be a matter of installing the correct HP F4400 drivers on each computer and configuring it to print out through the specific IP address given by the print server. Or is that wrong?

The HP F4400 is an all-in-one printer, it also has a scanner. I'm assuming I'd lose the scanning functionality of the printer by using the print server or would I?
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
It should work with any USB printer and will make it available as a network device. So if you are connected via Ethernet or wireless to the same network you can access it.
 
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evotz

New Member
That's kind of what I thought. But I did notice at the bottom of that Dlink page:

For a list of compatible printers, visit D-Link Tech Support site
Click to expand...

But I don't see a list of compatible printers on their support site (or maybe I'm not looking at the right one). But I wasn't sure what their definition of compatible was. Sometimes compatible means that its easy to configure. It may not necessarily be easy to configure, but I would think installing any printer driver and telling it to use an IP address instead of a USB port in the printer's control panel in Windows would be a solution.
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
Hmm. Interestingly, DLinks Chinese website lists it as compatible. I'm guessing there's newer firmware to support more than the printers in the manual. Though with the manual John found, I wouldn't buy one unless you know it will work.
 
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