OT: USB<->Ethernet printer server for router

[Fred Erickson]

> > >
> > > Our home network has two Fedora machines and a Ubuntu machine on a
> > > four-port router. As none of the machines are 'always on' machines,
> > > the poor USB printer is plugged into whichever one needs to print. I
> > > recently saw a device for connecting a serial printer to an ethernet
> > > port on the router, thereby giving the printer a local IP address and
> > > any connected computer could print to it. With NAT, even a remote
> > > computer could print to such a printer (actually a feature that we
> > > would use a lot in our home, as I am often at the university and I
> > > send documents home for the wife to print).
> > >
> > > Does anyone know of a similar product for USB printers? I've scoured
> > > Ebay but found nothing. I'd love to hear of anyone who has experience
> > > with such devices, and who could describe possible drawbacks that I
> > > have not considered.
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance.
> > >
> > > Dotan Cohen
> > >
> > Here is a link to the print server I have been using for a couple of
> > years -- seems to work very well. I have had to re-set it one time I
> > believe. Think it cost $30 or so on sale at CompUSA.
> 
> Thanks. Now that I have the keywords I found several models on Ebay.
> They all come with a driver CD for Windows. Is this necessary? Can
> Linux be configured to work without the disk? Note that my HP
> Officejet 4200 works fine in KDE as KDE comes with the drivers
> installed for it already, but a friend's Lexmark E120 does _not_ work
> in KDE because there are no Linux drivers for it. What is the driver
> situation for these print servers?

The print server I'm using (Hawking HPS1U) with my network, which
consists of a couple of Fedora machines and a couple of M$ machines, has
no Linux support that I can find on their web site, however, the on-disk
manual has a unix install section. I initially configured it using the
included software on an XP computer, then set the printer up on the
Fedora computers with drivers provided with Cups. 

The HPS1U is completely configurable via a web browser once it has an IP
address. The manual says IP is enabled by default. I won't have time for
several days to re-set it to defaults and give it a try.

I'm thinking that the print driver and not the print server hardware is
the determining factor as to whether or not a multifunction printer will
work with a networked printer.