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IronMentality · Feb 21, 2005, 07:46 AM

I need to buy a wireless router to hook up a new Epson printer so it can be accessed wirelessly by both a PC and Mac. Generally LinkSys are the best wireless routers, but I overheard in the MacNN IRC chat that they have problems with Mac's. Can anyone recommend a good high quality 802.11g router our house can use to hook up this printer?

Thank you.

ghporter · Feb 21, 2005, 11:53 AM

What you overheard about Linksys is rubbish. They do NOT have trouble with Macs, any more than any other non-Apple brand does. They do not provide Mac support, but setting up networking on a Mac is usually fairly easy, so you don't need their support. (PC users don't either, considering the kind of support they provide at all, but that's another story!)

It sounds like you need either a wireless router with a print server, or a wireless router AND a print server. I'm a fan of Linksys, but to my knowledge they don't have a wireless router that includes a print server. There are separate print servers that support either parallel or USB printers. Since you don't say what model of Epson printer you have, I can't direct you to any specific print server.

I'd suggest that you start looking around for 1) a wireless router that does what you want. This is Linksys' Basic "G" router, this page links all their wireless print servers, and this one shows their wired print servers. You'll find generally similar offerings on Netgear's, D-Link's, and other manufacturers' sites.

groovn72 · Feb 21, 2005, 03:19 PM

Originally posted by ghporter:
[B]What you overheard about Linksys is rubbish. They do NOT have trouble with Macs, any more than any other non-Apple brand does. They do not provide Mac support, but setting up networking on a Mac is usually fairly easy, so you don't need their support. (PC users don't either, considering the kind of support they provide at all, but that's another story!)

It sounds like you need either a wireless router with a print server, or a wireless router AND a print server. I'm a fan of Linksys, but to my knowledge they don't have a wireless router that includes a print server. There are separate print servers that support either parallel or USB printers. Since you don't say what model of Epson printer you have, I can't direct you to any specific print server.

I own a Belkin F5D7231-4P and a HP Officejet 7100 series printer. The print server and my mac don't seem to be working together very well. The Mac does *not* detect any printer connected to the router although the router picks up on the printer. My PC prints via wireless easily.

Any ideas?

ghporter · Feb 21, 2005, 04:03 PM

You need the network driver for your printer, too. It is not the same as the driver for the printer connected directly to your computer. In this, I think that OS X is a little unfinished; it should be EASIER to network a printer in OS X than in Windows, and it ain't, at least for a lot of us.

finboy · Feb 21, 2005, 04:34 PM

Originally posted by ghporter:
What you overheard about Linksys is rubbish.

Maybe Linksys only works with Macs in Texas.

My linksys works great with all of my wireless and wired Macs. Seamlessly, in fact.

groovn72 · Feb 21, 2005, 05:22 PM

Originally posted by ghporter:
You need the network driver for your printer, too. It is not the same as the driver for the printer connected directly to your computer. In this, I think that OS X is a little unfinished; it should be EASIER to network a printer in OS X than in Windows, and it ain't, at least for a lot of us.

I'm still having trouble. I double checked to make sure I have the correct drivers and I do. There is an application called the "HP all in one setup assistant" and it is designed to detect the printer whether it is connected by USB or across a network. It just doesn't pick up on anything up when it scans the network.

-b

ghporter · Feb 21, 2005, 06:07 PM

I don't know anything about any of Belkin's products. Does the manual say anything about enabling or configuring the USB port? The only print server I have at this time is a USRobotics 8000A router with a parallel print server, and I did indeed have to tell the router to turn it on before it would work.

Flumpus · Feb 21, 2005, 10:54 PM

I just got a Canon Pixma IP4000 and configured it to work with my Airport Extreme basestation (I'm sure an Airport Express would work just as well, I have one, just not anywhere near the printer). My Powerbook found the printer immediately with Rendezvous, but the PC was a little trickier, until I found this -- Rendezvous Windows Tech Preview. It worked flawlessly on my WinXP machine and my wife's W2K machine. I was getting pretty frustrated until I found it, but now I'm giddy.