Will a Print Server accomplish what I'm trying to do?

HERE'S THE SET-UP IN MY HOUSE:

Location 1: Verizon DSL phone line -> Westell Modem -> Linksys Wireless-B Router.

Location 2: Dell Computer -> Wireless Adapter.

Location 3: IBM Thinkpad. (Note: I do NOT want to connect Thinkpad to internet.)

HERE'S WHAT I WANT TO ACCOMPLISH: I want to purchase a new printer. I am looking at the Samsung ML-2250. It has a USB 2.0 and a parallel port. I want to connect the Printer to the Thinkpad (via parallel port/hardwired) and to the Dell (via USB port/wireless). I was told that this could be accomplished with a Print Server connected to the Printer's USB port. I purchased a Linksys Wireless-G Print Server for this purpose.

SO THE NEW SET-UP WOULD BE:

Location 1: The Same... DSL line-> Modem -> Wireless-B Router.

Location 2: The Same... Dell Computer -> Wireless Adapter.

Location 3: IBM ThinkPad <- Parallel Port hardwired <- Samsung ML-2250 Printer -> USB 2.0 port hardwired -> Linksys Wireless-G Print Server.

HERE'S MY SIMPLE BUT RATHER CLUELESS QUESTION AND EXCUSE MY IGNORANCE WHILE YOU'RE AT IT:

With this new set-up, will I be able to print from both locations 2 (wireless) & 3 (hardwired) to the Samsung printer? It doesn't matter so much if the print jobs can't be done simultaneously just so long as the Dell and Thinkpad can both print.

Thanks for any advice.

 

I dont think you can hardwire the printer to any PC, laptop or desktop and use a print server.
You can use one or the other but not at the same time.
While I'm on that thought, similar thing just because a printer has USB & Parallel ports you cant use both at the same time, it's one or the other.

Two choices here:
One, I'd say the best way, is both PC's networked (home network) wireless or hardwired makes no differance & the Printer connected to your wireless print server (the wireless print server connect via wireless to your home network thur you wireless router) this the best option because the printer is not connected to any PC & thus only the PC that need to print need's to be on & the printer ofcourse.

The other way you dont need a print server but you need the printer directly connected to either your Laptop or desktop.
Both the Laptop & desktop need to networked (home network) wireless or hardwired to your router you also need to enable print sharing, the downside's to this is when ever you print, the PC that the printer is connected to need's to be powered on.
When you print from the other PC it will disrupt or slow activity on the PC that the printer is connected too.

 

"I dont think you can hardwire the printer to any PC, laptop or desktop and use a print server. You can use one or the other but not at the same time."

I don't mind if I can't print from the two locations at the same time. Most of the time, I will only have one or the other computer on since I will be the only one using them. Either (a) I'll have the IBM on/Dell off and access printer using parallel port, hardwired or (b) Dell on/IBM off and access wirelessly somehow --- the question is how. Is it a problem to have both ports physically occupied even if one port is inactive? I'd hate to have to unplug one of the port wires every time I wanted to print.

Further complicating the issue, I'm now aware that there is a Samsung ML-2251N (network-aware) and Samsung ML-2252W (wireless) and maybe a combination of the two. In other words, they sell a printer that accomplishes internally what the Print Server does externally --- if I'm understanding correctly. In which case, I should return the Linksys Print Server and buy the printer with the correct functionality.

I don't understand the "network" concept. Now, I'm being told that I must have at least a "network-aware" printer in order for two different computers to use it. Is that true even if the computers don't need to use the printer at the same time? I'm not sure if the functionality specs I've outlined technically even qualify as a "network". Arrghh!!!

I'll talk to some technical support people at HP, Samsung, etc. and see if they can answer this, but it's always a crapshoot.

 

If you have Network printer the printer ports of the computers are not used, the printing is done in a transparent process through the Network connection of each computer.

If returning the current printer and getting a Printer that is already Network ready is an expensive ordeal you can use the Linksys server that you already have.

 

had a long conversation w/ guy at Samsung tech support and I don't think this is going to work out with my very specific limitations about having one computer wired and the other one wireless. i'm just going to go with a non-network-aware printer for one and leave the other w/ its crappy inkjet. cheers.

 

May be I am missing something , but when a Printer is installed as a Network Printer it does not matter what so ever what is the nature of the Network computers. Wire, Wirelss, PDA, Tablet, whatever, any thing that uses an OS that you have dirvers for would print, that why it is called Network Printer.

 

Notice how I wrote "crapshoot" about talking to tech support.

Samsung's phone tree doesn't even distinguish between "sales," "customer service," and "technical support" they're all on the same branch. I asked the guy more than once if he was "sales" or "tech support" and he insisted he was "tech support," but there was always this lilting sense that he was not 100% confident in what he was telling me.

I gotta say I have as much confidence in what I read on the message boards as the Samsung tech guy, but what am I gonna do?

Maybe, I'll call again tomorrow -- one last time. This is why Western Civilization is crumbling (even though Samsung happens to be based in the Far East). Maybe, I should say civilization, in general.

 

Depends on how it's configured. A "Network Printer" may be a device that is connected to a print server (that is, a Windows Server OS or Linux OS with SAMBA running) that shares the device out. You can then use point-and-print SMB printing from PCs on the network, but this printer connection is specific to the current user the same way that a mapped drive is. You can also more centrally manage what rights users can get. This is the MS Windows definition of a network printer.

Alternately, you can connect some printers directly to an Ethernet port (they have an internal NIC) and you can then configure a standard TCP/IP port in Windows to print directly to the printer. This printer actually shows up as a "local" printer in Windows because it connects to a local TCP/IP port (even though the port points to a network location). This way of setting up a network printer makes the printer apply to all users who log on to the machine because it is a local port, but it requires that you have drivers installed locally because there is no print server witha PRINT$ share to fetch the drivers from. You also lose the ability to centrally manage print queues, and run a very minor risk that a given job will arrive at the printer just as the printer's memory from existing jobs fills up, and thus gets truncated or discarded (I've only seen this happen once with nearly 50 users connecting to the same printer).

Typically, a "print server" appliance device is just a means to make a USB or LPT printer have a NIC directly attached to it. They often have memory to store queued jobs because the printers themselves were never intended to serve more than one person or function in a network environment. However, they generally do not create Samba-style network shares in my experience. That would require drivers being installed on the devices, which would be vendor specific and OS specific.

 

To answer the original question: Yes, your proposed setup *should* work, in theory, but Samsung would be the only people to be able to verify that.

You could try making the print server or the Dell exist on two networks, but home equipment is usually not that flexible.

 

Seeing all the complications involved (at least from a neophyte's point of view) has made me re-evaluate the situation, and I think I'll be settling for the less expensive, non-network aware printer.

Ultimately, I can live with having one of the computers connected to a crappy inkjet and will still reap the benefits of the upgrade to Laser printer.

I'm sure in a couple years the technology will all be obsolete, anyway.

 

Unbelievable. I spoke to a 2nd tech at Samsung who agreed w/ the first.

But why the heck would a wireless printer have all those other ports if they couldn't be used? Makes no sense, right?

So, I spoke to a 3rd Samsung tech who seemed more knowledgeable, confident, coherent, and knew exactly what I was talking about.

Upshot: I'm back to the 2252W. If it doesn't work, I'm going back to chalk tablets and cave paintings.