Wireless printing??

[Deleted member 2227]

We have a home network consisting of a Belkin router wirelessly connecting to four laptops, however, the printer is physically attached to mine to the other computers all e mail mine to print.

The question is can they be made to print wirelessly?? Thanks Guys!

 

[masqueraid]

Wireless print servers are pretty easy to come by and support a huge range of USB printers as well as conventional ethernet connections.

If you don't mind basing the printer around the place you currently have your wireless router you could consider buying a new router with this facility built in.

 

[Dieselman]

You shouldn't need to email to your laptop to print.

Just set the printer up as a shared device then it should be visible for the other machines to use without any intervention from you.
Your machine will still be the print server but others will port through it.

 

[Rose Chap]

Or put all the computers in the same workgroup and share the printer from your computer.

 

[Deleted member 2227]

You shouldn't need to email to your laptop to print.

Just set the printer up as a shared device then it should be visible for the other machines to use without any intervention from you.
Your machine will still be the print server but others will port through it.

That sounds good...........how do I do it??

 

[Deleted member 2227]

I found a box on my printers tab enable sharing which I have not ticked........

 

[jaymanek]

tick it!

 

[Dieselman]

Control Panel, Printers, Choose printer, Right click..sharing.


Edit:

Ah, I see you've got there already..

 

[Deleted member 2227]

done that. What do you tell the other computers?

 

[Rory]

If you don't mind basing the printer around the place you currently have your wireless router you could consider buying a new router with this facility built in.

My wireless router (an old SMC one) has a print server built in (uses a standard parallel printer cable) and it's been an absolute Godsend.

So much so, that when I needed to buy a router for my daughter a year or so ago, I hunted high and low and could only find one wireless router (a USRobotics one) with a print server - USB in this case. However it causes problems when her laptop is out of range of the router and the network printer is set as the default - Microsoft office programs won't open as they can't find a printer. This is a known issue but only seems to affect some machines. Workaround is to set a local printer (I used print to file) as the default. Pain is that this means the user having to manually select the printer each time.

It's also worth noting that some NAS (Network Attached Storage) units have USB print servers built in, and the BT Home Hub does too, although I don't think the print server feature is fully documented / officially supported in the BT unit.

At home we now have a marvellous HP all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax that has ethernet (and wireless, although we don't use that) built in.

 

[Easty]

I have a similar network to yours. The problem with using a shared printer is that the pc to which the printer is connected must always be on. To overcome this I installed a Belkin print server which was so easy to set up. Now any pc can use the common printer, either through the wireless network or through any direct ethernet connection to the router.

 

[Dieselman]

They need the driver and to look across the network for your machine and then printer.

 

[masqueraid]

done that. What do you tell the other computers?

Depends on what operating system you are using but in XP you'll find the printer in My Network Places under the name of the computer it is attached to, double click on it and XP should install the drivers and set it up to go. If there are no other printers installed it will automatically default as the main printer for any programs.

 

[Trophy1200]

It's also worth noting that some NAS (Network Attached Storage) units have USB print servers built in, and the BT Home Hub does too, although I don't think the print server feature is fully documented / officially supported in the BT unit.

I recently got the BT Home Hub and wondered if this was possible, no info anywhere from BT on this facility.

I'll give it a go, cheers.

 

[Rory]

I recently got the BT Home Hub and wondered if this was possible, no info anywhere from BT on this facility.

Have a look here - USB port info about half-way down the page:
http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/homehub.html

 

[Trophy1200]

Tried setting up with BT online helpdesk, total waste of time, "Please contact 0800..... @£25.00 per call" I don't think so.

I'll have a play later, cheers for the link.

 

[miro]

Or put all the computers in the same workgroup and share the printer from your computer.

For some reason it is a popular idea and the cost of fixing a worn out computer which is switched on all of the time is much higher than a print server.

 

[gina2201]

It is possible! We have 4/5 laptops all sharing a wireless printer/scanner thing, HP something or other. I hate wires these days....!

 

[Dieselman]

It is possible! We have 4/5 laptops all sharing a wireless printer/scanner thing, HP something or other. I hate wires these days....!

Yes, unwired are so much more comfortable..and don't get stuck in the washing machine..

 

[crockers]

Yes, unwired are so much more comfortable..and don't get stuck in the washing machine..

But that wasnt very "uplifting"