More and more of us now have more than one PC in our homes today and as such we have broadband internet and we all want to use it. So we have a router, a gateway to the internet in which each PC connects to the router and then the internet, we can do it with wires or without, but what about printing? Well for the home user it has become a standard that we dedicate a PC as a print server. But what does that mean and is there a better solution?

Well what that means is that you have a main PC, a family PC, maybe in an office area or living room, that PC has every accessory attached to it, a scanner, webcam, camera, and the printer. Then there maybe other PC’s or laptops, maybe in the kids bedroom, you may have set up a system like this. The most common connection to the internet is the main PC wired into the router and then the other PC’s connecting wirelessly. Some of you out there may have bought an extra printer for the other PC’s while some of us may have set up printer sharing where the ”other” PC’s send their print job to the printer connected to the main PC. It’s a great way to save money, one printer for all your PC’s, but there is a flaw, you may have spotted it already, if you haven’t here’s a clue, what does a router do? It allows you to share an internet connection without having to pass the internet through a main PC, which in turn means you don’t have to have both PC’s switched on at the same time if you don’t want to. So now you see, for the other PC’s to print the main PC has to be switched on.

And so here’s the big question, why not include a print server built into the router. Well I have seen one, and not available off the shelf, it was the new router from Orange and only available with their broadband service, but don’t cancel your broadband and order the Orange service just yet, I plugged in the printers USB cable and then made my way to the router control panel to set up the printer, I couldn’t find anywhere to configure the printer? So back to the manual it appears Orange have added the USB port for printer use that will be added at a later date, Orange can send updates to the router, but why not add the function now and worst of all why advertise on the box the fact that you can connect your printer and hide the small print deep in the manual that you can’t use it yet????

So here comes the solutions:

1. The one thats not going to happen! Manufacturers please add USB print server functionality to your routers.

2. The reality and best kept secret. The mini USB print server, networking manufacturers are making these units, Netgear and Linksys both make similar units and there are other brands available. But why can we not buy these off the shelf, when I needed one of these I called round just about every PC shop in Nottingham, and about 70% said they didn’t keep them in stock but could get them to order. Don’t let these units die away because we don’t know about them.

What are these units? Well their a very small box, they require a power supply and they connect to both your router and printer, they can be purchased with either USB for newer printers or parallel connections for older printers. They are basically a router for printers, the set up isn’t as easy as a standard plug and play printer and a little network knowledge is required.

The advantage is not having to have a dedicated PC switched on to print, and the cost isn’t that much, take a look at my special offers page, just £35 for the print server plus install charge. I think its a great purchase and I’ll certainly be promoting these. 

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