Fun with print servers...

[alexpgp]

My old Hawking HWPS1UG wireless print server was a pretty useful piece of hardware once it was properly configured, and there lay the rub. I recall working through the various steps in the configuration process a dozen times or more before somehow, something "clicked" and the unit started working.

For those unfamiliar with what a wireless print server does, it's basically a box that links wirelessly to your home network, from one "end," and to a printer, from the other "end," and thus allows you to print stuff without there being an actual wire connection between your computer and the printer. Even better, multiple computers on the same network can use the same server, allowing print "jobs" to originate from more than just one computer.

The problem with the Hawking, besides it finicky nature, is that its idea of network security extends to WEP, which is no longer a secure way of running a home network. So I went out and got a Trendnet server and had a go at installing it today. I learned a lot, too.

For example, if one's router supports something called WPS, then you don't have to worry about how a new WPS-compliant device (like the Trendnet) gets connected to the network (which normally requires a password for a successful connection).

But you do have to have WPS enabled on the router, which I didn't, and I needed the router's password to enable WPS. As it turns out—in a sort of good news, bad news sort of way—I actually had the password close at hand, but it was actually accessible to anyone who could gain physical access to my house. (By default, but not any longer. :^)

I was not terribly thrilled when the Trendnet software was reported as wanting to run every time my system booted. This had not been the case with the Hawking (when I used the Hawking server, I was directing print jobs to a special version of my printer's driver). With the Trendnet, when the software runs, it automatically "connects" to my printer in such a way that when a print job is sent to my printer, the output from the standard printer driver is apparently intercepted by the Trendnet software behind the scenes and quietly relayed to the printer.

In any event, the thing works, so as long as the additional process doesn't eat up too many cycles, I guess I can live with it.

Cheers...

Comments

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

That's true, but then you have to keep the computer to which the printer is connected on all the time (unless the printer itself has a wireless capability, which is effectively what the print server provides for not-so-new printers).

Cheers...

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

In my case, that's the computer I have on while I'm working anyway. But I take your point.