Networks are hot, both in the home and at work. But in many networked environments, there’s one area that’s usually neglected--printers. Sure, there’s usually a lot of printer sharing, but that’s not really the same thing. Printer sharing takes place when a printer is attached to a PC that’s likewise attached to the network. In order to print on a printer attached in this manner, you first have to have permission from the printer’s “owner” (the user of the PC to which the printer is attached). If you have this permission, the PC to which the printer is attached has to be on and booted into Windows for another user on the network to actually print to the printer.

A better solution is to attach the printer(s) in your home or office directly to the network. That way, everyone can use each printer, regardless of whether a particular PC is turned on. If you have a variety of printers--a high-speed laser printer and a high-quality color inkjet, for example--every user can choose the right printer for each print job.

The problem comes when you want to attach a printer directly to a network and the printer offers only a parallel or USB connection. Not many printers come from the factory with an Ethernet adapter built-in, and those that do are relatively expensive.

The answer to this dilemma is a print server. While the term “print server” may be unfamiliar, these devices have been popular since networks started to gain momentum. A print server is a device that has a bit of memory and attaches to both the network and a printer. This allows printers without any sort of network adapter to be attached to a network. The print jobs are sent from PCs attached to the network to the print server, where each job is stored, put into a queue, and printed in the order received. A print server can be an inexpensive box that attaches to the network switch or hub using a standard Category 5 patch cable. It can also be a PC dedicated to storing print jobs, and then passing them on to one or more printers attached to it by USB or parallel cables.

A standalone print server, whether attached to the network with a patch cord or via a wireless connection, also provides a way for the network to recognize and address the printer. It does this in many cases by assigning an IP (internet protocol) address to the printer. When a printer has its own IP address, the network is able to recognize it as an individually addressable network node and send documents to be printed to a specific printer.

Look Ma, No Wires!

A wireless print server works pretty much the same way. Instead of having to be connected to the network with a patch cable, a wireless print server connects to the network with a transceiver using a wireless Ethernet protocol, usually 802.11b. As with all 802.11b devices, the maximum transmission speed is 11 Mbps. To accomplish this transmission speed, the print server must be within about 25 to 30 feet of a wireless access point or other 802.11b transceiver. Usually this is irrelevant anyway because, when it comes to printing, the bottleneck is the printer and not the connection to it, be it wireless or not.

As with most 802.11b devices, a wireless print server can be configured to operate in ad-hoc mode, where it works peer-to-peer with another single 802.11b device. This is perfect if you have a laptop equipped with an 802.11b wireless LAN PC Card, and you want to send print documents to a printer without having to mess around with cables.

A more common scenario is to operate the wireless print server in infrastructure mode. This requires your network to have a device called a wireless access point connected to its switch or hub. The print server is set up to communicate with this wireless access point. You have to configure the print server, as well as each PC that will send print jobs to the printer attached to the print server, but this is fairly easy to do.

Each print server has a bit of RAM, usually about 2MB or so, to store print jobs as they come in. The wireless print server has at least one IP address, allowing it to be directly addressed on the network.

Many print servers, wireless and otherwise, have more than one parallel printer port. When you connect multiple printers to a wireless print server, a special administration utility installed on the PC that you are printing from lets you choose which printer on the wireless print server the print job will be sent to.

We tested seven wireless print servers, looking at each to see how many printers it would support and how easy it is to get the print server running and configured. Note that none of the wireless print servers we tested support connecting a printer using a USB port. In fact, while there may be such a print server, we are currently not aware of any 802.11b wireless print server with USB capability. So before you run out to purchase a wireless print server, make sure that the printer(s) that you intend to use with it have the requisite parallel printer port.

Castelle LANpress
2P/Wireless                $395xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The Castelle LANpress 2P/Wireless was one of the more expensive units we reviewed. It is, however, more than just a capable wireless print server. When you don’t need it for that function, the 2P/Wireless can also serve as a wireless access point on your network.

The LANpress 2P/Wireless was unique to the devices we looked at in this capability. It was also unique in that it was the only one that requires you to plug in a supplied 802.11b wireless Ethernet PC Card adapter. The Hewlett-Packard WP110 also used a PC Card adapter as its transceiver, but it was preinstalled, and the average user would never realize that this was at the heart of the unit. The use of this card means it should be possible for Castelle to upgrade the LANpress 2P/Wireless to 802.11a in the future, simply by swapping PC Card adapters, drivers, and firmware.

It is impossible to use the device as both a wireless print server and access point simultaneously. You can, however, use the LANpress 2P/Wireless as a wired print server when it is acting as an access point.

Our LANpress 2P/Wireless was different from most of the units we tested in that it offers two parallel port connectors. You can set up the device as LPT1 and LPT2, and connect two different printers to the LANpress 2P/Wireless, directing different documents to different printers. You can even have both printers printing simultaneously.

Setting up the print server did not present us with any problems. There’s a Quick Start card included, and a manual of almost 200 pages in PDF format on the included CD-ROM. The LANpress 2P/Wireless supports multiple modes, including TCP/IP, AppleTalk, and SNMP, as well as operating systems, including Windows and UNIX. Utilities for administrating the unit under various operating systems are included on the installation CD.

Setting up the LANpress 2P/Wireless is a breeze. Since the unit can also be used as a wireless access point, it has a 10/100BaseT Ethernet port, which we simply connected to our switch. With the MP Administration Utility, we were easily able to assign the device an IP address, and when unplugged from the switch, the LANpress 2P/Wireless found our NETGEAR wireless access point and was ready to print.

The LANpress 2P/Wireless, as with all of the units tested, supports Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) with 64-bit encryption. You might consider using this feature if you do not want an outsider to be able to intercept documents being sent to your printer.

D-LinkAir DP-313      $199

D-Link is very well-known in home and small-business networking. Certainly, the DP-313 fits right in with the vendor’s other networking products. Our DP-313 review unit was a compact (8.8 x 5 x 1.5 inches) print server with three parallel printer ports on the rear panel. The DP-313 looks virtually identical to two other print servers we tested for this roundup, the Senao SL-2011 and the TRENDware TEW-PS3. All have the same indicators, controls, manuals, and software. The major difference we found is that two of the print servers, the TRENDware and the D-Link, have internal antennas, while the Senao has an external antenna.

Installation was routine, though we did hit a little bump in the road. Before installation can begin, you need to initialize the DP-313 so it can find the wireless access point. This is simply a matter of setting a small DIP switch in the rear of the unit and holding down the reset switch. The bump: before we could do this, we had to bring down our network proxy server. The DP-313 uses the default IP address of 192.168.0.1, which is what many proxy servers, including WinProxy (which is what runs on our network), use as the default gateway address.

With our proxy server disconnected from our network, we were able to get the DP-313 to recognize the access point, and we then ran PS Admin to change the IP address on the print server. We then plugged our proxy server back into the network switch and installed the HP DeskJet 1315.

The PS Admin utility also allows you to make settings for each of the printer ports (LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3), so you can direct a specific document to a specific printer. This utility provides several other capabilities that are useful in a network environment, including the ability to give the print server a unique name--which is especially nice if you have several print servers in place--and the ability to apply WEP encryption. WEP encryption adds a little overhead to the data stream, slowing down the transmission slightly.

The DP-313 has a Web-based interface that allows for configuring all of the settings for the print server and makes the DP-313 independent of the operating system.

Hewlett-Packard WP110
Wireless Print Server     $299

At 7.1 x 0.9 x 5.4 inches, the Hewlett-Packard WP110 print server is a bit smaller than many of the units we tested. At the same time, it has only a single parallel port connector, so there’s really no reason for it to be any larger. The unit has no external antenna, and popping off a small access panel on the top of the WP110 uncovers a standard 802.11b wireless Ethernet PC Card adapter as the heart of the unit. As with most of the 802.11b print servers we tested, the WP110 can operate in both ad-hoc mode and in infrastructure mode, which is the way we tested it. Hewlett-Packard is more realistic than many of the other vendors, rating the WP110’s useful range as having a maximum of about 100 feet.

We found the setup of the WP110 just a touch more difficult than most of the other wireless print servers we tested. The WP110 has a default IP address of 192.0.0.192, which meant that we did not have to disconnect our network’s proxy server to install it, at least initially. The documentation did suggest that we download a new “network” printer driver. However, there is no “network” driver available for our Photosmart 1315. We were able to get around this by resetting a “Standard TCP/IP Printer Port” to the appropriate IP address, after installing the printer using the standard install on the printer’s CD-ROM.

The documentation that accompanied the WP110 detailed using the DOS command “route ADD” to establish a route from the PC where the software was being installed to the WP110. At this point, we had to pull the network connection on the proxy server to finish the installation. It sounds more complex than it is, but installing the WP110 was not simple. It required some knowledge (such as how to set up a printer driver to use TCP/IP on a network) that many casual users may not possess.

Once installed, the WP110 worked just fine. There’s a set of three LEDs on the top panel that show the status of the unit and help with troubleshooting, if needed.

The biggest criticism we have with the WP110 is that the documentation leaves you in the dark about what to do if you aren’t installing the server with a printer that has HP network-driver support. Because of this, we would recommend the WP110 only for a user who does have the requisite understanding of how to attach network printers and driver configuration.

Linksys WPS11
Instant Wireless PrintServer $129

EDITORS’ CHOICE

While most of the print servers we tested provide a good value, many users will not need the three-port capability that several of the units provide. Wireless print severs are generally employed when there is a need to position a printer away from a network connection or to temporarily connect a non-network printer to the network.

With that in mind, we have to give our nod to the Linksys WPS11 Instant Wireless PrintServer. Not only was it the least expensive of the seven products we tested, it was also the easiest to set up and get running. The low price and ease of setup and use is a terrific combination, especially when it performed as well as units many times its very inexpensive price.

If you do need to connect more than one printer wirelessly to your network, you can purchase a pair of WPS11s for less than what most of the other vendors are charging for one.

Linksys is well-known in the small-business network market. The WPS11 Instant Wireless PrintServer we received has a lot going for it. The first thing we noticed is the print server’s small size--it measures only 4.75 x 3.75 x 1 inches. An external antenna fits onto a connector on the right side panel, while four small LED indicators, which show the server and network status, are located on the top of the WPS11. The rear panel has a connector for the small AC power supply, a single parallel port connector, and an RJ-45 LAN connector.

The WPS11 can also be configured using a Web browser. This is detailed in the excellent manual that comes with it, packed right in the box.

There’s nothing particularly fancy about the WPS11 Instant PrintServer, but it does the job well. This makes it a good bet for those users who aren’t networking gurus, as well as for more serious networkers on a small budget.

Senao SL-2011PS 3-port
Wireless Print Server     $219

When we first unpacked the Senao SL-2011PS, we thought we had mistakenly taken out the D-LinkAir DP-313 print server to review again. We had the feeling of dŽjˆ vu all over again when we unpacked the TRENDware TEW-PS3. All three of these print servers, with minor differences, are the same.

One of these small differences is with the print servers’ antennas: The Senao SL-2011PS was the only one of the three to use an external antenna. It uses a small rod antenna that must be attached before the unit is powered up. Senao doesn’t claim Wi-Fi compatibility for the SL-2011PS, but it had no difficulty recognizing the NETGEAR Wireless Access Point on our network. The SL-2011PS can be set up using several different print protocols, including TCP/IP and NetBEUI. This allows it to be used with a variety of operating systems, including Windows, UNIX, and Apple’s Mac OS.

As with the D-LinkAir DP-313, the SL-2011PS has a default IP address that was the same as the proxy server on our network. Since we had already been through the process once, unplugging the proxy server from our network and setting up the SL-2011PS took us very little time.

The software provided with the SL-2011PS is identical to that supplied with the D-Link and TRENDware units. The PS Admin makes it easy to reset the IP address of the print server, as well as to set up each of the LPT ports so that you can direct documents to the three printers that can be attached to the SL-2011PS.

We found Senao’s SL-2011PS a pleasure to work with. You should, however, plan on printing the manuals out first. These are on the included CD-ROM, and we found them more useful than the skimpy printed manuals during the initial setup and configuration. For the money, the SL-2011 is a very good value.

TRENDware TEW-PS3 Wireless Ethernet Print Server  $229 (esp)

The TRENDware TEW-PS3 print server, the D-LinkAir DP-313, and Senao’s SL-2011 print server were no doubt all made in the same factory. The cases look identical, and all of the units have identical labeling, controls, and indicators. Each even comes with identical software. That’s not uncommon in the computer industry, as many products are made by one vendor and sold by other vendors. Laptops are a prime example of this trend.

The set up for the TEW-PS3 was almost identical to the process we underwent getting its cousins up and running. There was one big difference: The default IP address of the TEW-PS3 was set to 1.1.1.1. Because of this, we did not need to disconnect our proxy server from the network during installation. We did, however, need to use the PS Admin utility to change the IP address of the print server to match those being used on our network and on the standard TCP/IP port we created for the printer driver on our Windows 2000 test PC.

            The TEW-
PS3, like the D-LinkAir DP-313, has an internal antenna, rather than the screw-on rod that the Senao uses. Another difference is a visual one. The D-Link and Senao print servers are housed in gray plastic cases. The TEW-PS3’s case looks identical, but is molded in a transparent blue plastic. In terms of aesthetics, it’s definitely a standout.

Other than this, however, it’s pretty much a coin toss choosing between the TEW-PS3, the D-LinkAir DP-313, and the Senao SL-2011PS. All are easy to set up and use, and all are very affordable.

TROY Wireless EtherWind 802.11b Print Server  $219

The TROY Group provides strictly business-networking equipment, usually for large corporations and enterprise installations.

The EtherWind 802.11b Print Server is a small, attractive blue and transparent gray plastic box. It includes a matching stand so that the print server can be mounted vertically, perhaps standing directly next to the printer. The print server also comes with an easy-to-use WP-Admin Java-based utility for configuring the print server under Windows, Mac OS, and Linux/UNIX systems. It has only a single parallel port connector, and a pair of LEDs on the front panel, while a serial port is provided on the rear port to connect a serial printer or other RS-232 compatible device.

A much easier route is simply to install one of the administration programs that are supplied.

The EtherWind can be used with a wide variety of operating systems and networking protocols, including Novell, Banyan, AppleTalk, Windows, and TCP/IP. We found it simpler to install the Windows-based administration utility, which found the print server and assigned it an unused IP address. The printer is attached to the server and then simply set up under a “Standard TCP/IP Port” under Windows 2000 (the operating system on our test platform). Plug the EtherWind’s IP address into the Standard TCP/IP Port driver and the printer is ready to go.

The EtherWind works well, and is fairly easy to set up and configure.

Castelle

(408) 852-8000

www.castelle.com

D-Link Systems, Inc.

(800) 326-1688

www.dlink.com

Hewlett-Packard Corp.

(888) 999-4747

www.hp.com

Linksys

(800) LINKSYS

www.linksys.com

Senao International Inc.

(305) 592-5666

www.senao-usa.com

TRENDware
International, Inc.

(888) 326-6061

www.trendware.com

TROY Group, Inc.

(800) 923-9538